Armenia’s Chief Turkey Negotiator Ruben Rubinyan Elected Parliament Speaker

Ruben Rubinyan, Armenia's chief negotiator in talks to normalize relations with Turkey, was elected speaker of the country's newly formed 9th National Assembly on Monday, moving from the front lines of diplomacy to one of the nation's most powerful political posts.

Lawmakers from the ruling Civil Contract party nominated Rubinyan for the position. He secured 63 votes in favor and 28 against. A total of 91 of the parliament's 105 deputies took part in the vote, while the opposition Hayastan Alliance declined to participate.

Rubinyan succeeds Alen Simonyan, who served as speaker throughout the previous parliamentary term. Following the June 7 parliamentary elections, Simonyan did not take up a mandate in the new National Assembly after the ruling Civil Contract party nominated Rubinyan to lead the legislature, making him the governing party's choice for speaker.

Over the past four years, Rubinyan has become one of the most visible faces of Armenia's foreign policy. Since 2022, he has served as the country's Special Representative for the normalization process with Turkey, holding multiple rounds of direct negotiations with Turkish Special Representative Serdar Kılıç. The talks have produced several agreements, including plans to open the Armenia-Turkey border to third-country nationals and holders of diplomatic passports, but the broader effort to restore full diplomatic relations remains unfinished.

Before taking on the Turkey portfolio, Rubinyan served as Armenia's deputy foreign minister from 2018 to 2019. He entered parliament after the 2018 elections and chaired the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations. Following the 2021 snap elections, he was re-elected to the National Assembly and chosen as deputy speaker.

A founding member of the ruling Civil Contract party since 2015, Rubinyan studied international relations at Yerevan State University before earning master's degrees in Politics and Security from University College London and in European Studies from Jagiellonian University in Poland.

His early career included an internship with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, work as a translator, and academic research in Istanbul through a Hrant Dink Foundation program.

Rubinyan completed his compulsory military service in the Armenian Armed Forces between 2012 and 2014. He is married and has one child.

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