undiscovered by the ussr kremlin's censors for many months, however, charents (1897 - 1937) had used the first letter of each line to frame a quite different "message", which read: "o armenian people, your only salvation is in the power of your unity." whoops! like the distant mount ararat, it was a brave, hopeless symbol, as doomed as it was impressive. yeghishe charents was "disappeared" by the nkvd (kgb) in 1937 after being denounced by the architect alexsandr tamanyan - now hard at work building yerevan's new stalinist opera house - the moment yeghishe charents' schoolboy prank was spotted. then alexsandr tamanyan fell from the roof of his still unfinished opera house, and even today armenians - with their arab-like desire to believe in "заговор" the plot - ask the obvious questions.