YEREVAN. – There are approximately 10,000 Armenian jewelers in Syria, Syrian-Armenian jeweler Viken Toutoundjian, told Armenian News-NEWS.am.  

According to Toutoundjian—who is taking part in the large international jewelry exhibition that is underway in the Armenian capital city Yerevan—, prior to the destabilization of the situation in Syria, jewelry was a booming business in the country and most of the jewelers was Armenia. But once the situation destabilized in Syria, jewelry virtually ceased to exist in the country.

At present, there are 25-30 Syrian-Armenian jewelers in Armenia, and they are attempting to settle in the country. But the overwhelming majority of the jewelers are still in Syria partly because they have no money to leave the country and, also, because they have gold and the Syrian government bans the exporting of gold.  

Viken Toutoundjian stated that it was easy to sell jewelry items in Syria, since its population is 28 million. Armenia’s jewelry market, on the other hand, is far smaller yet the businessman sees opportunities for exporting jewelry products to Iran, or Russia.      

Photos by Arsen Sargsyan/NEWS.am