Gagik Tsarukyan
| Gagik Tsarukyan | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born |
25 November 1956 Arinj, Armenian SSR, USSR |
| Political party | Prosperous Armenia |
| Spouse(s) | Javahir Tsarukyan |
| Children | 6 |
| Alma mater | Yerevan Institute of Physical Culture |
| Website | Official website |
Gagik Tsarukyan (Armenian: Գագիկ Ծառուկյան) is an Armenian businessman, sportsman, and politician. He is seen as the most influential of Armenia's government-connected oligarchs, and a key business partner of former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan. owning over a dozen big businesses and living in a large mansion on a hilltop in the village of Arinj, overlooking the northern outskirts of Yerevan.
Tsarukyan is the founder and former leader of the Prosperous Armenia political party, with it gaining 15.1% of the vote in the Armenian parliamentary election, 2007. In the ensuing Armenian parliamentary election, 2012, his party increased its share to 19.1% of the popular vote. Announcing his departure from politics for a hiatus in February 2015, he announced his return to politics in January 2017, forming the parliamentary Tsarukyan Alliance, an electoral Alliance made up of Prosperous Armenia, the Alliance party and the Mission party. During the Armenian parliamentary election, 2017, the Tsarukyan Alliance obtained 27.35% of the popular vote, becoming the second biggest parliamentary bloc in the Armenian Parliament with 31 MPs in the 105-member house of representatives, after the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (with 49.17% of the popular vote and 58 MPs).
An avid sportsman, he practiced boxing, wrestling and arm wrestling, becoming world champion in arm-wrestling in 1996 and winning the European championship in 1998. Tsarukyan is also the president of Armenia's National Olympic Committee. (was reelected on December 4, 2008).
Tsarukyan studied at Arinj village school. He met his future wife Javahir Tsarukyan in Arinj school, who was also studying at that same school. Tsarukyan was distinguished with physical abilities which influenced his higher education choices.
Tsarukyan graduated from Armenian State Institute of Physical Culture in 1989. He was involved in sports, mainly boxing, wrestling and arm wrestling. Gagik Tsarukyan is a world champion in arm-wrestling, winning a world championship in 1996 and the European championship in 1998.
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