INFLUENTIAL BROTHER OF ARMENIAN PRESIDENT DIES.

President Levon Ter-Petrosian’s politically powerful elder brother, Telman Ter-Petrosian, is being buried in Yerevan today following a fatal heart attack at the age of 59. Born, like his brother, in Syria, Telman Ter-Petrosian was the director of Soviet Armenia’s largest defense plant, Hrazdanmash. He was also a prominent member of independent Armenia’s parliament, and a founding leader of the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. Telman Ter-Petrosian used his influence to encourage industrial protectionism, resisting International Monetary Fund recommendations to scale back heavy industry in favor of the consumer goods and service sectors. His last statement, issued last week, reasserted that position in response to the latest proposals made by a visiting IMF delegation. At the same time, Telman took the lead in promoting Armenian trade with Turkey and headed several delegations of Armenian businessmen to that country to seek ways around the blockade. The opposition, along with many independent observers, regarded Telman Ter-Petrosian as the epitome of the "clan" exploitation of the Armenian economy by the incumbent administration. (Noyan-Tapan, May 20-21)

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