CHER, KIM KARDASHIAN AND ANDRE AGASSI: ARMENIA’S A-LIST DIASPORA
Armenians fleeing the 1915 genocide landed in countries across the
world – and flourished. Here are 10 of their descendants who excelled
in a variety of fields
Cher in concert at the Saddledome, Calgary, Canada. Photograph: Rex
Kate Lyons
Wednesday 22 April 2015 11.18 BSTLast modified on Wednesday 22 April
201512.26 BST
The Armenian diaspora, estimated at 10 million, is three times the
population ofArmenia itself, with migrants and their descendants
sprinkled across the continents from Russia to the United States,
UK, Lebanon and Australia.
As with many diasporas, Armenians have often flourished in their
adopted homelands, contributing to business and sport, as well as
cultural and political life. That diversity is reflected in 10 of
the world’s most famous people of Armenian descent.
A small country but a big nation: how genocide shaped the Armenia
of today
Read more
Cher The 68-year-old singer and actor was born Cherilyn Sarkisian,
the child of an American mother and an Armenian-American father. The
multi-award winner has revealed that for much of her life she did
not feel strongly connected to her Armenian heritage. However, that
changed when she travelled to Armenia on a humanitarian mission in
1993 while the country was at war with Azerbaijan. Last week she
took to Twitter to share a “horror story” her grandmother had told
her about the events in Armenia 100 years ago and urged the Turkish
government to acknowledge them as genocide.
FacebookTwitterPinterest Kim Kardashian and Kanye West visit the
memorial to the victims of genocide in Yerevan, Armenia. Photograph:
Hrant Khachatryan/AP
Kim Kardashian The 34-year-old reality television star and professional
selfie-taker (a book of her selfies is released next month) is
one of Armenia’s most famous descendants. Kardashian (officially
Kardashian West, since she married the hip-hop star Kanye West last
year) travelled to Armenia, the ancestral home of her late father,
Robert, for the first time last week, where she met Hovik Abrahamyan,
the prime minister, and laid flowers at the Armenian genocide memorial
complex. Not one to make her cultural pilgrimages in secret, the
trip was filmed for Keeping Up with the Kardashians, the family’s
reality show. The visit has been praised for raising awareness of the
anniversary of the genocide, something that Kardashian draws attention
to each year. Her father was a defence lawyer in OJ Simpson’s 1995
murder trial.
FacebookTwitterPinterest Andre Agassi at Wimbledon. Photograph:
Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images
Andre Agassi The 44-year-old was born in Las Vegas to an American
mother and an Iranian-born, Armenian father. The family’s surname was
originally Agassian, but an ancestor changed it to Agassi to avoid
persecution. Agassi, who won eight grand slam singles titles and is
married to fellow tennis star Steffi Graf, has devoted himself to
philanthropy since retiring from professional tennis in 2006.
FacebookTwitterPinterest Charles Aznavour in 2009. Photograph:
Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images
Charles Aznavour Dubbed France’s Frank Sinatra, Aznavour is a beloved
French-Armenian singer, actor and public figure. The 90-year-old
was born Shahnour Varinag Aznavourian to Armenian immigrants and his
mother, Knar Baghdasarian, is a survivor of the 1915 genocide.
Aznavour got his break at 22 when Edith Piaf heard him sing and asked
him to accompany her on a tour of France and the US. Over the course
of the 20th century, he released more than 100 records and appeared
in more than 60 films. He was named entertainer of the century in
1998 by CNN and Time Online.
FacebookTwitterPinterest Sergei Lavrov glares at the press in
Moscow. Photograph: Ivan Sekretarev/AP
Sergei Lavrov Russia’s foreign minister since 2004, Lavrov was
previously Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations for a decade. The
65-year-old was born in Moscow to an Armenian father and a Russian
mother and has been quoted as saying: “I have Armenian blood in
my veins.”
FacebookTwitterPinterest Kirk Kerkorian in 2008. Photograph: Nick Ut/AP
Kirk Kerkorian The world’s most prominent businessman of Armenian
descent. The 97-year-old, who lives in California and is chief
executive of Tracinda, is believed to be worth $4bn (£2.7bn). He once
owned the film studio MGM and is credited with being the “father of
the the mega-resort” for his influence on Las Vegas commerce.
Kerkorian’s parents were Armenian immigrants and the billionaire has
donated more than $1bn to projects in Armenia since the aftermath of
the 1988 Spitak earthquake, which killed 25,000 people.
FacebookTwitterPinterest Alain Prost after winning the British grand
prix in 1990. Photograph: Daily Mail/REX Shutterstock/Daily Mail/REX
Shutterstock
Alain Prost The four-time Formula One drivers’ champion held the record
for most grand prix victories from 1987 until 2001, when he was beaten
by Michael Schumacher. The 60-year-old French racing driver’s maternal
grandparents are Armenian. His grandmother fled from the genocide
to France, where she met her husband and gave birth to Marie-Rose
Karatchian, Prost’s mother.
FacebookTwitterPinterest Serj Tankian of System of a Down performs in
Inglewood, California, in April. Photograph: Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Serj Tankian The lead singer of the metal band System of a Down,
Tankian was born to Armenian parents in Lebanon and moved to Los
Angeles at five. His grandfather is a survivor of the Armenian
genocide. Tankian’s three bandmates are also of Armenian descent. The
singer has campaigned for the events of 1915 in Armenia to be
recognised as genocide, efforts for which he received the Armenian
prime minister’s Memorial Order medal in 2011. In 2014, the band
announced a tour to commemorate the centenary of the genocide, with
a free concert on 23 April in the country’s capital, Yerevan.
FacebookTwitterPinterest Gollum, Andy Serkis’s most famous
role. Photograph: AP
Andy Serkis The 50-year-old actor is most famous for playing Gollum
in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Serkis, who also starred
as King Kong in Peter Jackson’s remake of the film and as Caesar in
Rise of the Planet of the Apes and its sequel, was born to a British
mother and Armenian father. His father’s family’s original surname
was Sarkisian, which an ancestor changed to Serkis.
FacebookTwitterPinterest David Dickinson, of Bargain Hunt
fame. Photograph: James Stenson/BBC
David Dickinson The 73-year-old British antiques dealer and television
presenter was born to an Armenian mother, Eugene Gulessarian, and then
adopted as a baby by Jim and Joyce Dickinson. The host of Dickinson’s
Real Deal and Bargain Hunt did not know he was adopted until he was
12 and never met his biological mother, though they corresponded
until her death. In 2006, Dickinson participated in the BBC’s Who
Do you Think you Are?, which led him to travel to Turkey, where his
Armenian ancestors lived before they moved to Britain.
From: A. Papazian