Kim Kardashian and her Armenian Roots

Kim Kardashian is a world-famous reality TV star.

She’s also the daughter of an Armenian family.

So what do the people of Armenia make of her?

Anchor Marco Werman gets the answer from the BBC’s Armen Shahbazian.

Read the Transcript
The text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

Marco Werman: Now, here’s a name you probably never thought you’d hear on this program–Kim Kardashian. Yes, she is a world famous reality TV star, recently making news for her pregnancy with current boyfriend, Kanye West. And no, she doesn’t need us to feed her publicity machine. But given that Ms. Kardashian is the daughter of an Armenian family, it’s totally fair game to ask what do the people of Armenia make of her? Well, Armen Shahbazian has the answer. He’s with the BBC monitoring unit in Caversham, England and was based in Armenia for many years. Armen, Kim Kardashian, one of the most famous women on the planet. Are Aremians proud of Ms. Kardashian?

Armen Shahbazian: The young generation, yes, Kim Kardashian somehow is for them as a mother, like other famous mothers in the world. But in general, TV programs, some commented programs, they usually try to show that no, we are not proud of Kim Kardashian being the image for our nation.

Werman: And how do the young people who kind of do follow her, how do they get their news about Kim Kardashian in Armenia?

Shahbazian: The Surge, an Armenian website, which shows that every activity by Kim Kardashian is the first news in Armenian news. In forums they discuss her activities and even TV programs, positively or negatively, discuss her activities. So every Armenian can access information, the latest information.

Werman: Yeah, I get it. It’s kind of a silly question isn’t it. The question really ought to be how do you not find out news by Kim Kardashian? But the older generation in Armenia, do they ridicule her if they don’t kind of appreciate what she is and what she represents?

Shahbazian: After Kim Kardashian activities on Armenian genocide story, news programs and news bulletins, they start reporting her activities on this and

Werman: So back up a second, what did she do or say on the genocide?

Shahbazian: In Twitter she posted something that it’s time to recognize the Armenian genocide, so after that, Armenian, not the younger generation, but others started to say that we have lots of famous, well-known people, I think Armenian people who can represent our nation in that kind of serious issues. And we don’t want someone with that kind of activities that for Armenian people is not proper activities to represent our nation.

Werman: Would you say that Armenia is a religious and conservative society?

Shahbazian: Yes, yes, not that much religious, but conservative and they are trying to follow their traditions.

Werman: Armen Shahbazian, with the BBC, thank you very much.

Shahbazian: Thank you.

Copyright ©2012 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.