YEREVAN, 25 APRIL, ARMENPRESS. Egyptian-Armenian Ramy Zakaryan has recently learned that he is an Armenian. In a talk with “Armenpress” he said that the surname ”Zakaryan” told him nothing, but his heart and blood reminded him that Egypt is not his homeland.   

“My grandfather's father and mother Grabid and Mary Zakarian were born Dikranagerd and married there. During Hamidian massacres, they fled to Egypt. My grandfather Samuel was born in 1904 and baptized in the Armenian Church of Egypt,” Rami tells, emphasizing that his grandfather has married three times. The third wife was Egyptian and his father, after his birth, was baptized in the Armenian Church of Egypt. "When my forefathers came to Egypt, they had nothing. The Turks seized everything that they were created over the years. Therefore, we lost all ties with our past and history," Rami says.

"Over the years, I didn’t know about my national identity, I did not know that I am Armenian. I did not know about the peculiarity of suffix "yan" of my last name. I had never heard of Armenia and Armenians, but I would not consider myself an Egyptian, it was a very strange feeling," he says.

In 2006, Rami was informed of his national roots in a result of a casual conversation. "One of my friends hearing my surname asked: “Are you Armenian?". "What does Armenian mean?". My friend explained me that all surnames of the Armenians end by "yan". He advised me to go to church and try to clarify the history of my family and I began to explore my past," he says.

Rami Zakaryan tells, that when he was informed of his story, the Armenians and Armenia, he has decided to come to Armenia. He left his home, friends, work in Cairo and lives in Yerevan today. Rami have created his own family. He has married an Armenian girl and assures that he is very happy in Armenia.

“When I was in Egypt, I always felt the lack of communication, environment and human warmth. I would like to have the same history and past with those people, who were around me. There is no one past, I could not understand that why I have those feelings and why I am a stranger in Egypt. I think that feeling is conveyed to me genetically from my Grandpa. My heart took me by one direction, about which I was not aware. When I came to Armenia, I was surprised. I received many answers, why I am here and why my heart called me to come to Armenia. I began to love Armenia, the Armenians’ traditions. They are unique, non-European, or the Eastern. It is unique. It has a taste, peculiarity and it is what I felt. I re-found myself in Armenia," he says.