Anna Hakobyan is the wife of 16th Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, and the editor-in-chief of a famous Armenian daily, “Haykakan Zhamanak” (The Armenian Times).
Wiki/Biography
Anna Hakobyan was born on Wednesday, 1 February 1978 (age 42 years; as of 2020) in Yerevan, Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, USSR (now the Republic of Armenia). Since her childhood, she aspired to become a professional journalist. Therefore, to fulfil her ambition, she graduated from the Department of Journalism at the University of Yerevan in 1997. Post that, she did various small-duration courses from the American University of Armenia till 2001 and then returned to the journalism field. She took training in journalism at local and international institutions to refine her journalism skills before embarking on her career as a journalist in 2003.
Family
Even after having four children, the couple, Anna Hakobyan and Nikol Pashinyan, did not officially marry each other until 2018. They got married legally on 8 May 2018, when Nikol Pashinyan was elected as the Prime Minister of Armenia. They together have four children – three daughters, Mariam, Shushan & Apri and a son, Ashot Pashinyan (born in 2000), who is currently serving in the Armenian Army.
An old picture of Anna Hakobyan with her husband Nikol Pashinyan
Anna Hakobyan with her husband, Nikol Pashinyan, and their children
Anna Hakobyan with her son Ashot Pashinyan
Career
She worked at the Haykakan Zhamanak” (The Armenian Times) as a journalist from 2003 to 2008. Later, she temporarily took over the position of editor-in-chief of the newspaper after the previous editor-in-chief, her husband, went underground and then was imprisoned in the aftermath of the 2008 Armenian protests. She officially assumed the position of editor-in-chief of the Armenian Times in 2013 and has been serving at the position since then.
Philanthropic Work
After the election of Nikol Pashinyan as the PM of Armenia in 2018, she initiated two charitable foundations, “My Step” foundation and “City of Smile” foundation. “My Step” foundation works towards improving Armenia in five major areas, i.e., social, educational, health, cultural and environmental. Apart from that, “City of Smile” foundation was started to assist and provide professional support service to children and young people on their journey to conquer cancer.
Anna Hakobyan interacting with cancer-ridden children
Women for Peace Campaign
She is also the ambassador of an Armenian peace campaign, “Women for Peace,” started for promoting peace and harmony between Azerbaijan and Armenia and also for peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh region dispute between both the countries. This campaign is entirely non-political in nature. After establishing the campaign, she stated,
Women can consolidate, unite, raise their voices and make an effort for the sake of peace so that no more shootings happen along the Armenian-Azerbaijani and Artsakh-Azerbaijani border, and both sides suffer no casualties until the governments and leaders of the two countries achieve conflict settlement.”
Facts/Trivia
- Ever since she started journalism, she has actively taken part in various political and public events and has been vocal about social issues in Armenia. She also participated in Armenia’s Velvet Revolution 2018, led by her husband, Nikol Pashinyan.
- In October 2020, amid the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, she underwent military training exercise with 12 other women in her squad to join the Armed Forces of Armenia fighting against Azerbaijan in the Karabakh border region.
