Ambassador Sergio Tutikian: a pioneer in the Middle East/Embaixador Sergio Tutikian: um pioneiro no Oriente Medio

Sergio Tutikian is a pioneer for two reasons: on the one hand, he is one of the first diplomats of Armenian origins in the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and on the other hand he is the first one to have served in the key posts of the Middle East, mastering many local languages, cultural aspects and political sensitivities. The testimony here is an Oral History interview, in which the deponent shares the story of the arrival of his family in Brazil--in the context of persecutions the Armenians suffered in the last phase of the Ottoman Empire--, their settlement in Rio Grande do Sul, his non obvious choice for the diplomatic career, and then focuses his testimony on events he witnessed in Iran, Iraq and Kuwait, among other Middle Eastern places.