He was born on August 13, 1953, in
Yerevan. In 1974 he graduated from the
Khachatur Abovian Armenian State Pedagogical University and became the director of the house of culture in
Nairi that same year. He joined the Soviet Army in 1975 and served for one year before leaving in 1976. From 1970 to 1993, Shahsuvaryan worked in the
Public Television Service of the Armenian SSR. In 1993, he became the head of the culture department, then the head of information and press department of the Ministry of Defence of Armenia. In 1997, he became the deputy head of the Nork TV studio (NTV). In 1998, he was appointed head of Nork TV. In 1999, he became deputy head of information and censorship department under the Armenian government and in 2000 he became the head of the TV studio Prometei.
Press Secretary of the Armenian Defense Ministry In 2001, he was appointed press secretary of the Ministry of Defence. On January 7, 2002, Turkish Army chief of General Staff General
Hüseyin Kıvrıkoğlu made a statement that Armenia had weapons of mass destruction. Shahsuvaryan dismissed this as "an absurd attempt to compromise Armenia in the eyes of the international community." On July 7, 2007, false accusations were made by Azerbaijan and Turkey, accusing Armenia of buying weapons from Albania. Shahsuvaryan denied this and on September 11, 2007, more false accusations were made by Azerbaijani Defence Minister
Safar Abiyev, saying that there were hidden delivered equipment in Armenian bases from both Russia and Georgia, which Shahsuvaryan repeatedly denied.
2008 Presidential Elections During the
2008 Armenian presidential elections and the
subsequent protests, Shahsuvaryan denied all claims that ex-president and presidential candidate
Levon Ter-Petrossian made, especially Ter-Petrossian's claims that deputy defence ministers
Manvel Grigoryan and Gagik Melkonyan supported his 2008 campaign and would join the post-election protests. == Personal life ==