Lyudmila Ter-Petrosyan, née Pleskovskaya (; hy, Լյուդմիլա Տեր-Պետրոսյան, born December 20, 1948, in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

) was the first

First Lady of Armenia First Lady of Armenia ( hy, Հայաստանի առաջին տիկին) refers to the wife of the president of Armenia. The country's current first lady is Anahit Minasyan, who has held the position since March 13, 2022. To date, there have been ...

from 1991 to 1998, wife of the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...

Levon Ter-Petrosyan Levon Hakobi Ter-Petrosyan ( hy, Լևոն Հակոբի Տեր-Պետրոսյան; born 9 January 1945), also known by his initials LTP, is an Armenian politician who served as the first president of Armenia from 1991 until his resignation in 1998 ...

. She is the founder (1994) and leader of ''All-Armenian Women Union'', a non-governmental organization working to protect the rights of women and children.

Biography

Lyudmila Ter-Petrossian was born in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. Her father was an army officer who fought in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and her mother was a doctor who took part in the defense of Leningrad. She graduated from the Department of Germanistics of the Leningrad State University. In 1972 she married

Levon Ter-Petrossian Levon Hakobi Ter-Petrosyan ( hy, Լևոն Հակոբի Տեր-Պետրոսյան; born 9 January 1945), also known by his initials LTP, is an Armenian politician who served as the first president of Armenia from 1991 until his resignation in 1998 ...

, then a young post-graduate student, and moved to

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and i ...

. During the 20 years she worked at Armenian State Radio as a journalist and editor. Since the 1990s she became a public activist, working for the

children's rights Children's rights are a subset of human rights with particular attention to the rights of special protection and care afforded to minors.

and supporting disabled children in Armenia. For her public activities in 1995 she was awarded by a medal from

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to ...

. In 1996, at the initiative of Ter-Petrossian and the All Armenian Women's Union, the

National Assembly of Armenia The National Assembly of Armenia ( hy, Հայաստանի Հանրապետության Ազգային ժողով, ''Hayastani Hanrapetyut'yan Azgayin zhoghov'' or simply Ազգային ժողով, ԱԺ ''Azgayin Zhoghov'', ''AZh''), also infor ...

was one of the first among the post-USSR republics of to adopt a law on the rights of children.Ludmila Ter-Petrossian, Biography
In 1997, the Developmental Services for Armenia (DSA) organization was established in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

by the initiative of Lyudmila Ter-Petrossian. Ter-Petrossian was an honorary participant of different International conferences organized by

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

Rosalynn Carter Eleanor Rosalynn Carter ( ; née Smith; born August 18, 1927) is an American writer and activist who served as First Lady of the United States from 1977 to 1981 as the wife of President Jimmy Carter. For decades, she has been a leading advocate ...

Anne-Aymone Giscard d'Estaing Anne-Aymone Marie Josèphe Christiane Giscard d'Estaing (née Sauvage de Brantes; born 10 April 1933) is the widow of former President of France Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. Biography She is a daughter of François Marie Joseph Abel Henri Sauvage, ...

and others. She organized 4 International Women Conferences (1994, 2005, 2006, 2007) in

. In 2006, she established an informal club for the women of the

South Caucasus The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arme ...

. She has one son, David Ter-Petrossian, and four grandchildren.

References

External links

Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ter-Petrosyan, Lyudmila 1948 births First Ladies of Armenia Living people Armenian people of Russian descent Saint Petersburg State University alumni Armenian journalists