Survivors

The Akian Grafica Editora print shop is one of the largest publishing houses in Argentina. Founded by Jose Akian in Buenos Aires in the 1950s, it is renowned for its high-quality products and original designs. Eighty two-year-old Akian still comes into the office every day, himself an embodiment of the company’s policy of perfectionism.

After Armenia regained independence in 1991, the new state had no diplomatic relations and no political or economic ties with Turkey. The only direct connection between the two countries was by air. The man behind that route was Dikran Altun, a Turkish Armenian businessman. For Altun, who was born in Erzurum, lived in Istanbul and studied at the finest institutions of the Armenian diaspora, it hasn’t always been easy to identify with his heritage. Yet Armenia has always been his source of inspiration.

Sylvia Unjian-Tataryan has been an active participant in a number of Armenian organizations since 2000. As a tour guide who accompanies all manner of dignitaries, presidents, philanthropists, cultural figures and ambassadors on their trips to Lebanon, she is rather an ambassador-at-large herself, not only for Lebanon, the country of her birth, but also for Armenia, the country of her heart.

The child of Armenian Genocide survivors, renowned Canadian scholar Isabel Kaprielian-Churchill has dedicated much of her professional life to researching and chronicling Armenian immigration and culture of the Diaspora. Her recent studies have focused on the little-known aspect of Armenian culture that played an important part in helping Armenians survive the Genocide: lace and needle arts.

“I married both the man and the pearls,” says Dalita Alex (née Dalita Vartanian) in her charming, half-joking way. Born in 1949, this warm, vibrant and accomplished woman has lived on several continents, finally settling in Switzerland. There, with her husband John Iskenderian Alex, she helped create a successful pearl cultivation business. She has since authored four books and has also started organizing annual exhibitions of her jewelry.

When Aline opened her first restaurant in Beirut she called it “Mayrig,” which means “mother” in Armenian, because she learned to cook from her mother. Today, Kamakian owns an international chain of Armenian restaurants. The walls are decorated with photos of Aline’s ancestors who miraculously escaped the Genocide, while the menu is full of traditional Western Armenian dishes.

For the past 40 years, a two-story building in Istanbul’s famous Nişantaşi quarter in the Şişli District has housed a number of rare art collections. Its walls are adorned with works of prominent painters and rare manuscripts are also on display. The sign on the façade bears the name “Portakal.” Raffi Portakal, the son of Aret Portakal and grandson of Yervant Portakal, is the third generation of his family to manage this art house.

The life of Rakel Dink, widow of the late Turkish journalist and founder of the Agos newspaper Hrant Dink, has been continuously shaped by the past 100 years of Armenians’ history in the Ottoman Empire and present-day Turkey.

“When you are having a really good espresso, which doesn’t happen too often, you know exactly what enjoying an excellent coffee means. For me, it must have a full body, that’s what I call the essence of coffee. That’s why it mustn’t be too watery. Moreover, I love cocoa and dry roasting flavors with a slight but clear tinge of sourness,” Professor Chahan Yeretzian describes his perfect cup of coffee.

Eva Harut lives and works in Germany. As a journalist reporting for Armenia’s GALA TV, Eva has a way with words. Burdened by the story of her great-grandmother Hripsime’s survival in the Armenian Genocide for so many years, Eva finally decided to write it down to mark the 100th Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. In September of 2015 she published a book titled “One Week in the Rug,” based on her grandmother’s accounts. Her true calling, however, is art.