Kevork Ajemian – Co-Founder of ASALA

Kevork Ajemian (1932-1998) was an Armenian writer, publicist, as well as public and political figure. He also was one of the founders of the militant organization “ASALA“. In particular, he developed the political line of the organization.

Born in Syria into a family of Armenian refugees, Ajemian at an early age moved to Beirut. There, he studied at the American University of Beirut. After graduation, he established a bookstore in the city.

As a writer, Ajemian was a prominent representative of the new literary trend of foreign Armenian prose of the 1960s. He wrote in Armenian and English, and his works were published in Lebanon, the USSR, and the US. Ajemian’s works were filled with the tension of the story and coarse realism.

In 1978-1989, Ajemian was the editor of the newspaper “Spyurk”, from whose pages he defended political prisoner Gourgen Yanikian and the rights of Armenians to Western Armenia. He also addressed the problems of the Armenian population of Karabakh and Nakhichevan before the beginning of the Karabakh movement. In 1979, Ajemian participated in the First Armenian Congress Organizing Committee in Paris.

Ajemian passed away in Paris on December 27, 1998. In 1999, the best journalistic works of Ajemian were published. Among the works of Ajemian were “Remember sometime Western Armenia?”, “Ruling over the Ruins”, and “A Time for Terror.”