Zaven Biberyan


Zaven Biberyan was a renowned writer, editor, and author of Armenian descent.

Early life

Zaven Biberyan was born in Cengelkoy, a district of Istanbul in 1921. He first attended the local Aramyan-Uncuyan Armenian school and later he attended Saint Josephs High School. He then attended the academy of Commercial Sciences in Istanbul.

Career as writer

Zaven Biberyan had always written in Armenian. When Biberyan was conscripted to the Turkish Army in 1941, he met with Jamanak chief editor Ara Kocunyan. Kocunyan was impressed by Biberyan's Armenian linguistic skills and encouraged him to write an article for Jamanak. After returning to Istanbul, Biberyan wrote his first article called "The End of Christianity". This article caused a great tumult among the Armenian community and the series of his articles were suspended. He later wrote for Armenian newspapers such as Nor Or and Nor Lur. After receiving a lot of pressure for some of his socialist oriented articles, Zaven Biberyan went to Beirut, Lebanon in 1949 and continued to be a writer for Zartonk. He also served on the Ararat editorial board in Aleppo and Paris. In 1953, he returned to Istanbul and married Seta Hıdıryan and had a daughter. He then worked for the Ottoman Bank. Zaven Biberyan contracted an ulcer disease in 1984 and died on October 4. He is buried in Sisli Armenian Cemetery.

Political career

During the Workers Party of Turkey 1965 general elections, Zaven Biberyan was selected as a would-be parliamentary candidate. However, he was not elected. In 1968 he then served as an assistant to the vice president of the Municipal Assembly.

Works