The speech is dedicated to the transformations that took place in the street life of Yerevan in the post-Soviet period, particularly the formation of the so-called “thief” subculture and the spread of its influence on the organization of human relationships on the street. In the second half of the 1950s, more than a million prisoners were released from the gulag camps. Among them were also Armenian prisoners who, returning to civilian life, brought the language and behavioural practices characteristic of criminal discourse from those camps to the urban environment. Already in the 1960s, it gradually took root in neighbourhood and yard environments and soon became an essential component of the “men’s world”, receiving the name “thief”. The “robber” soon became dominant, especially in the environment of the working classes, and acquired a dominant role in regulating social relations in the districts. This phenomenon was based on the concepts of the “world of thieves” and the practices derived from them, which occupy a high position in the hierarchy of the criminal world in prisons. Right and wrong actions were defined and regulated through those concepts. The authorities of the thief world, who led a relatively moderate life, and were not distinguished by wealth and luxurious lifestyle, formed an alternative justice system in neighbourhood environments for all those people who preferred solving issues through these authorities rather than turning to the court, police or other state power structures. Because according to the accepted opinion, for ordinary people, issues were solved here more fairly than in the police or court. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, street life practices in Yerevan changed significantly.
AGHASI TADEVOSYAN