Zori Balayan born February 10, 1935 in Stepanakert

Stepanakert

Stepanakert is the largest city and capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, a de facto independent republic, though is internationally recognized as a part of Azerbaijan...

 is an Armenian

Armenians

Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....

 novelist, journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

, sports doctor

Sports medicine

Sports medicine is a branch of medicine that deals with physical fitness, treatment and prevention of injuries related to sports and exercise...

, traveler and sports expert. He awarded by the "Renowned master of the Arts" Armenian official title.

Biography

Born in Stepanakert

Stepanakert

Stepanakert is the largest city and capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, a de facto independent republic, though is internationally recognized as a part of Azerbaijan...

, Nagorno-Karabakh AO, Azerbaijan SSR

Azerbaijan SSR

The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic , also known as the Azerbaijan SSR for short, was one of the republics that made up the former Soviet Union....

. He graduated the Ryazan State Medical University in 1963. From 1971 to 1973 he traversed the Kamchatka and Chokotskaya

Chukchi Peninsula

The Chukchi Peninsula, Chukotka Peninsula or Chukotski Peninsula , at about 66° N 172° W, is the northeastern extremity of Asia. Its eastern end is at Cape Dezhnev near the village of Uelen. It is bordered by the Chukchi Sea to the north, the Bering Sea to the south, and the Bering Strait to the...

 tundra

Tundra

In physical geography, tundra is a biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes through Russian тундра from the Kildin Sami word tūndâr "uplands," "treeless mountain tract." There are three types of tundra: Arctic tundra, alpine...

s on dog-sleds, traveling as far as the North Sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

.

Balayan participated in the Karabakh

Karabakh

The Karabakh horse , also known as Karabakh, is a mountain-steppe racing and riding horse. It is named after the geographic region where the horse was originally developed, Karabakh in the Southern Caucasus, an area that is de jure part of Azerbaijan but the highland part of which is currently...

 movement. In 1988 he and Armenian poet Silva Kaputikyan

Silva Kaputikyan

Sirvard Barunaki "Silva" Kaputikyan was a 20th century prominent Armenian poet, writer, academian and public activist....

 were received by Mikhail Gorbachev

Mikhail Gorbachev

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...

 and discussed the absence of Armenian-language television programs and textbooks in Nagorno-Karabakh schools as well as other concerns of Karabakh's majority-Armenian population.

In October 1993, he signed the Letter of Forty-Two

Letter of Forty-Two

The Letter of Forty-Two was an open letter signed by forty-two well-known Russian literati, aimed at Russian society, the president and government, in reaction to the events of September – October 1993...

.

Balayan is a journalist for the weekly Russian-language publication Literaturnaya Gazeta

Literaturnaya Gazeta

Literaturnaya Gazeta is a weekly cultural and political newspaper published in Russia and Soviet Union.- Overview :...

.

Interpol

The authorities in Azerbaijan allege that Balayan was involved in a terrorist bombing of the metro in Baku in 1994. General secretary of Interpol, in a letter to Balayan, stated that the agency considered the complaint politically motivated and that it had removed Balayan from its wanted list as a result.

Books

• My Kilikia, (Russian), Yerevan, 2004
• Zim Kilikia (Զիմ Կիլիկիա (Armenian)), Yerevan 2005
• Kilikia (Կիլիկիա (Armenian)), vols. 2 and 3, Yerevan 2006 - 2007
• Chasm, (Armenian and Russian), Yerevan, 2004
• Heaven and Hell (Armenian, Russian and English) Los Angeles, 1997, Yerevan, 1995
• Hearth, Moscow 1984, Yerevan 1981
• Between Two Fires, Yerevan 1979
• Blue roads, Yerevan 1975
• Required Man's opinion,(Russian) Yerevan 1974