Levon Zourabian

Levon Zourabyan was born in Yerevan, Armenia to a family of prominent intellectuals. He is the son of professor Aram Zourabian and screenwriter Agnesa Sevunts, and the grandson of writer Garegin Sevunts and poet Shoghik Safyan. In 1985 he graduated from the theoretical physics department of Yerevan State University. In 1989–1991 he worked at Yerevan Physics Institute as a researcher. He conducted research and published articles on quantum field theory, supersymmetry and supergravitation, and superstring field theory. He became actively involved in the Karabakh movement in 1988. In 1991 he was appointed an aide to the first president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrossian, and in 1994 he was appointed the head of the president’s press office. Zourabian resigned in 1998 following the resignation of Ter-Petrossian.

In 1998 Zourabian was awarded an Edmund S. Muskie Graduate Fellowship which allowed him to enroll at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He graduated from Columbia with a master's degree in International Relations. After his return to Armenia he worked as Team Leader for IBM Business Consulting/PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Armenia office in 2001–2004. From 2005 to 2007 he worked as an analyst in the International Crisis Group. In that capacity he contributed to reports on the conflicts in Nagorno-Karabagh and South Ossetia, as well as the report on the conditions of Armenian and Azerbaijani minorities in Georgia.

Following the return of Levon Ter-Petrossian to active politics in 2007, Zourabian resigned from the International Crisis Group and continued his career as a public figure supporting Ter-Petrossian’s candidacy during the presidential elections of 2008. After the formation of the Armenian National Congress in 2008 he became Coordinator of its Central Office.

During the 2012 Armenian parliamentary election, Zourabian was elected to the National Assembly of Armenia as a majoritarian candidate for the 9th electoral district. He led the Armenian National Congress's faction in parliament.

Levon Zourabian is married to Shogher Matevosyan, who is the editor in chief of Chorrord Ishkhanutyun weekly and the daughter of writer Hrant Matevosyan. They have two children.

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