Khatchig Babikian (1924–1999) was a philanthropist, attorney, a Lebanese politician of

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

origin, and a former member of the Lebanese Parliament (1957–1999) and Lebanese government minister on many occasions as minister of Health, Tourism, Information, Planning, Foreign Affairs, and Justice.

Biography

Born in

Larnaca Larnaca ( el, Λάρνακα ; tr, Larnaka) is a city on the south east coast of Cyprus and the capital of the district of the same name. It is the third-largest city in the country, after Nicosia and Limassol, with a metro population of 1 ...

, on the island of

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

, he studied in France, Lebanon, and Italy. A perfect

polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all Eu ...

, he spoke Arabic, Italian, French, Armenian, Turkish, English, and Latin. He was imprisoned in 1940 in a concentration camp in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, where he finished his baccalaureate. He later obtained his law degree from the Saint-Joseph University of

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

. He became one of the most brilliant lawyers and most eloquent of his generation, always supported by the Tashnag party

Dashnak The Armenian Revolutionary Federation ( hy, Հայ Յեղափոխական Դաշնակցութիւն, ՀՅԴ ( classical spelling), abbr. ARF or ARF-D) also known as Dashnaktsutyun (collectively referred to as Dashnaks for short), is an Armenian ...

(Tachnag) in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

. Babikian was elected and appointed Armenian orthodox of

in 1957 and remained a member of the Parliament until the date of his death in 1999. He was replaced by André Tabourian. He was a minister of State to the administrative Reform (1960–1961), of Health (1969), of Tourism, of Information (1972–1973, government Saëb Salam), of the Plan and the Foreign Affairs (1973, government Hafez Amine) and of

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

(1980–1982, government Chafic Wazzan and 1990–1992).

Khatchig Babikian Fund

The Khatchig Babikian Fund was created in January 2007 by the five daughters of the late Khatchig Babikian (1925–1999). The fund honors the memory of Mr. Babikian, a philanthropist, attorney, former member of the Lebanese Parliament (1957–1999), cabinet minister successively of Administrative Reform, Health, Tourism, Information, and Justice in the Lebanon government, and former chairman of the executive council of the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia — Antelias,

. The fund is to contribute to the welfare of Lebanese Armenians in particular, and

Armenians Armenians ( hy, հայեր, '' hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diasp ...

in general. It was the will of Babikian to establish such a charitable fund to benefit Armenians in humanitarian, educational and cultural projects.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Babikian, Khatchig People from Larnaca Cypriot people of Armenian descent Cypriot emigrants to Lebanon Lebanese people of Armenian descent 1924 births 1999 deaths Tourism ministers of Lebanon Members of the Parliament of Lebanon Saint Joseph University alumni Information ministers of Lebanon Health ministers of Lebanon Justice ministers of Lebanon Foreign ministers of Lebanon