Mourad Papazian
Khorèn was just an adolescent when he saw his own father decapitated with his own eyes. He and his younger brother Avedis were the family’s only survivors.
A menu from Khorèn Papazian’s restaurant in Kavala. |
From left to right: Mourad, Odette, Maral and Henri. |
Mourad as a student. |
Among the various Dashnak leaders who inspired him, he often mentions Hraïr Maroukian, former secretary general of the ARF party, whom he knew as a young man. “He was a true personality, with the stature of a head of state, a political figure in the noble sense of the word, and for me he was a spiritual father – I really sought out his presence,” he says. “When I was both an adolescent and a young adult, he and I had a true relationship, both personal and political.”
Mourad celebrates 40 years of the Hayastan newspaper in 1986. |
“I remember as if it were yesterday how persistent I was not to listen to them. I clung to my decision – I was right-handed and would remain so.”
Mourad Papazian and François Hollande Hollande at a rally in support of the latter’s candidacy for the 2012 presidential election. |
Mourad in Karabakh in 2015. |
That promise was kept on May 12, 2014.
François Hollande, president of the French Republic, and Mourad Papazian during commemorative ceremonies in Paris on April 24, 2014. |
Papazian is proud to observe the sympathy that Armenians enjoy when it comes to French opinion. “They realize that for 100 years, Turkey has not admitted to the Genocide – that’s a form of injustice, and the French don’t like injustice,” he says.