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Tigran Khzmalyan
Tigran Khzmalyan (also known as Xmalian; Armenian: Տիգրան Խզմալյան) is an Armenian politician and film director. Since 2018, Khzmalyan serves as the chairman of the European Party of Armenia. Since 2023, Khzmalyan serves as the chair of the Board of Trustees of PanEuropa Armenia. Early lifeKhzmalyan was born in 1963. Khzmalyan's father, Eduard, was a construction engineer, who worked on several historically important buildings in Yerevan, including the Moscow Cinema.[1] Education
Khzmalyan holds a PhD in philology and in 1989, defended a thesis on Leo Tolstoy's works.[2][3] In the 1980s, Khzmalyan taught literature and history at the Yerevan State University.[4] Political and social activismBetween 1988 and 1990, Khzmalyan was a participant in the Karabakh movement for the unification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia. Between 1991 and 1993, he worked as a war correspondent for Armenian and international media in Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as an information assistant to the chairman of the Nagorno-Karabakh Supreme Council, Georgi Petrosian. Between 1993 and 1996, he worked as a political analyst for the Armenian Assembly of America, a lobby group of the Armenian diaspora in Washington, D.C. Between 1997 and 1998, he was appointed a deputy director of UNDP in Armenia. Between 1998 and 2005, he was the general manager of Yerevan Film Studio. In 2009, together with Jirair Sefilian and Alexander Yenikomshian, Khzmalyan founded the Sardarapat Movement. In early 2012, Khzmalyan was one of the leaders of the Mashtots Park Movement. Since 2014, he quit his cooperation with the Sardarapat Movement due to disagreements on the role of Russia in the Russo-Ukrainian War and in regional developments. Khzmalyan held an anti-Kremlin position, claiming that Vladimir Putin and his KGB regime had annihilated Armenian statehood and colonized Armenia. In 2016, he joined veteran dissident Paruyr Hayrikyan in a pro-Western political movement, called Independence. He underwent three trials on accusations of disobedience to the police during public rallies in 2012, 2014 and 2015. Being extremely critical of Russia's influence on Armenia and its state apparatus, Khzmalyan repeatedly assessed Russo-Armenian relations as colonial, and Armenia is seen by Khzmalyan as a de facto occupied country.[5][6][7] On 6 November 2018, Tigran Khzmalyan along with his supporters, established the European Party of Armenia (EPA), being elected as the party's chairman.[8][9] During the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, Khzmalyan joined the Armenian Armed Forces as a volunteer and took part in military engagements with Azerbaijan near Martakert, Artsakh.[10] In May 2020, Khzmalyan endorsed and joined the National Democratic Pole. On 10 May 2021, Khzmalyan announced that the European Party of Armenia is leaving the National Democratic Pole alliance, and that the party would participate in the 2021 Armenian parliamentary elections independently. Khzmalyan participates on the National Assembly's Standing Committee on European Integration as an observer member.[11] Khzmalyan is known for his vigorous support of Ukraine in the ongoing war with Russia. On 24 February 2022, when Russia started a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Khzmalyan and members of European Party of Armenia held an anti-war rally near the Russian Embassy in Yerevan.[12] In 2023, he and Armenian singer-songwriter Ruben Hakhverdyan, visited Kyiv and held a concert to collect donations for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.[13] The European Party of Armenia nominated Khzmalyan as their candidate for Mayor of Yerevan prior to the 2023 Yerevan City Council election. Following the election, the EPA received just 1.11% of the vote, failing to gain any seats in the Yerevan City Council.[14] Khzmalyan serves as the chair of the Board of Trustees of PanEuropa Armenia, the Armenian branch of the Paneuropean Union which was founded in September 2023.[15] Khzmalyan believes that Armenia's accession to the European Union should be carried out by means of a national referendum in accordance with article 205 of the Constitution of Armenia, which Khzmalyan proposed to call the "EuroVote" (Եվրաքվե).[16] The initiative was endorsed by Aram Sargsyan, the Hanrapetutyun Party chairman.[17] In May 2024, Khzmalyan joined the United Platform of Democratic Forces. Personal lifeKhzmalyan is married to Narine Mirzoyan, PhD in medicine, Head of Department of Pharmacology at the Yerevan State Medical University. The couple has two children.[18] Khzmalyan speaks Armenian, Russian, English, and French. Filmography
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