Burying the “Armenian”
By Jirair Tutunjian
Last year, I published “Armenian Greats—Known and Unknown”—a book which featured the profiles of forty personalities whose Armenian identity/roots were not known, even to Armenians. The book was an obvious reaction to non-Armenian media’s traditional refusal (ignorance? dismissal?) to recognize the Armenian identity or roots of Armenians prominent in diverse fields…from military to medicine, from editing to entertainment.
Exhibit I
On Nov. 7, MSN published an article titled Everything History Never Told You About Shah Jehan and Mumtaz Mahal. Mahal’s original name was Arjumand Banu Begum. She was beautiful, intelligent, strong-willed, and graceful. She was not only the Shah’s consort but also confident and advisor. She was also Armenian, descended from Armenian nobility of Iran. She died when she was thirty-eight years old. It’s believed the shah built the Taj Mahal, where she is interred, in her memory.
There was nothing in the article about Mumtaz Mahal’s Armenian roots.
Exhibit II
On Sept. 24, The Economist magazine published the obituary of celebrated Italian actress Claudia Cardinale who had died at the age of 87. The full-page article said sultry Ms. Cardinale was born in Tunisia and spoke fluent Arabic. Although she had spent her seventy acting years mostly in Italy, appearing in 100 Italian and non-Italian movies, the obituary writer made a point of mentioning Ms. Cardinal’s Tunisian background.
Exhibit III
On Sept. 4, The Economist magazine published a full-page obituary of clothes designer Giorgio Armani. It was titled The Italian master-designer of a whole lifestyle dream. The article didn’t mention that Armani’s father was an Armenian Genocide survivor who had fled to Italy. Since Armenians rarely bear “Armenian” as a last name, the “Armani” was an invention of Armani Sr., as a means to preserve his identity. We know that some years ago, Armani Jr. introduced a series of dresses inspired by traditional Armenian clothes. The obituary didn’t mention the Armenian connection, unlike the Tunisian roots of Claudia Cardinale. By the way, The Economist has traditionally been either indifferent to hostile to Armenians. Unlike Azerbaijan, Armenia has no black gold and BP, which has been in Azerbaijan since day one, is a pillar of Azerbaijan’s energy industry.
It would be cold day in hell before The Economist would say anything positive about the Armenians. It’s not only that we have no black gold but we are hostile towards Turkey and Azerbaijan, and were for a long time a squire of Russia-Soviet Union.
In the current issue of Vanity Fair magazine there’s a full-page interview with Larry Gagosian, the retired superstar art gallery owner. Of course, nary a word about his Armenian identity.
Ask your computer about Nobel Prize-winning Armenian economist Daron Acemoglu. It will tell you he is a Turkish-American economist with dual citizenship.
Ask your computer about Henri Troyat, the most successful “French”novelist of the 20th century, and it will tell you Troyat is French and has a Russian background. No mention that his real name is Tarasian.
What should we do about the ignorance, if not the mischief-hostility, of a media which try to bury the identity of so many Armenian greats? Write to the offending media. Write, complain, and educate. If our rebuttals are widespread and consistent, the hostile-to-indifferent media would take note. Don’t mind being a “nuisance.” I was a magazine editor for forty years. I know reader letters have an impact. You know the adage about the baby and the milk.
The October 18th issue of The Economist published a full-page obituary of upscale grocery store owner Saul Zabar. The obituary said: “His parents, Louis and Lilly, Jewish refugees from pogroms in Ukraine…”The Economist’s obituary of Giorgio Armani did not say his father had fled to Italy from the Turkish massacres of Armenians.
