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Suren Tovmasyan

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Suren Tovmasyan
Սուրեն Թովմասյան
Suren Tovmasyan monument, Shinuhayr, Syunik Province, Armenia
Ambassador of the Soviet Union to Libya
In office
6 April 1965 – 14 February 1970
Preceded byDmitrii Zaikin
Succeeded byIvan Yakushin
Ambassador of the Soviet Union to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
In office
10 April 1961 – 7 September 1964
Preceded byLeonid Sokolov
Succeeded byIlya Shcherbakov
First Secretary of the Communist Party of Armenia
In office
30 November 1953[1] – 28 December 1960
Preceded byGrigory Arutinov
Succeeded byYakov Zarobyan
Personal details
Born
Suren Hakobi Tovmasyan

20 December 1909 (2 January 1910)
Shinuhayr, Zangezur uezd, Elizavetpol Governorate, Russian Empire
DiedFebruary 10, 1980(1980-02-10) (aged 70)
Yerevan, Armenian SSR, Soviet Union
NationalitySoviet Armenian
Political partyCPSU
Occupationpolitician, diplomat

Suren Hakobi Tovmasyan (Armenian: Սուրեն Հակոբի Թովմասյան; 20 December 1909 (2 January 1910) – 10 February 1980) was a Soviet Armenian politician and diplomat who served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Armenia from 1953 to 1960, and later as Soviet ambassador to North Vietnam and to Libya.[2]

Biography

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Born in the village of Shinuhayr in the Syunik region of Armenia,[2] Tovmasyan rose through the party ranks to become the First Secretary of Armenia at the recommendation of Pyotr Pospelov on 30 November 1953, following the downfall of Grigory Arutinov.[1] As First Secretary, Tovmasyan oversaw the beginning of the Khrushchev Thaw in Armenia and worked with Anastas Mikoyan to rehabilitate several former political prisoners in the republic.[3] Following Mikoyan's example, he praised the poet Yeghishe Charents in a speech before the 20th Party Congress.[4] Tovmasyan was later dismissed from his post in 1960,[5] and transferred to diplomatic work, serving as Soviet ambassador to North Vietnam from 1961 to 1964 and then as Soviet ambassador to Libya from 1965 to 1970.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b Shakarian 2025, p. 37.
  2. ^ a b c Harutyunyan, Avag Aramaisovich (9 November 2023). "Товмасян Сурен Акопович". Большая российская энциклопедия (in Russian). Retrieved 29 July 2025.
  3. ^ Shakarian 2025, pp. 52–53.
  4. ^ Matossian 1962, p. 201.
  5. ^ Grybkauskas 2020, pp. 97–99.

Bibliography

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Further reading

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  • Astsatryan, Yeghishe T. (2004). XX դար. Հայաստանի կառուցման ճանապարհին (in Armenian). Yerevan: Edit Print.
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