Tatos Kardashian

From 1915 to 1917, the Ottoman Empire systematically exterminated 1.5 million citizens within their empire. It became known as the Armenian Genocide, as the majority of people killed were of Armenian descent. Similar to the Jewish Holocaust, men, women, and children were starved, beaten, and killed at the hand of Ottoman leaders during which time, their oppressors treated them as animals who were forced to plead and beg for survival. The Turkish government claimed to be "deporting" the Armenians, but it was later learned they were removing food, shelter, and means for survival. In Constantinople, 300 Armenian leaders, writers, skilled thinkers, and working professionals were murdered in the streets, while 5,000 of the lower-class Armenians were slaughtered in their own neighborhoods. Afterward, Turkish soldiers began to systematically find, torture, and destroy all Armenian life. The Ottoman Empire feared the Armenians would collaborate with the Russians and used military force to stop prevent Russian assistance. In the aftermath, the Armenian population was obliterated. Only those who fled survived. A group of Armenian Christians were familiar with exile and managed to survive. According to historians, they were religious rebels, rejecting the orthodox faith in their homeland. Their sect believed in modern-day prophets and migrated to California after a person claiming prophecy convinced them to leave. Shortly before the First World War broke out, Saghatel Kardashian and his wife Hrepsema boarded the SS Brandenburg for America. One month later their son Tatos sailed to America on the SS Köln,[1] a sister ship of the Brandenburg), which was seized in 1917 at Boston harbor by the US government and renamed the USS Amphion by the US Navy. (In October 1918, the Amphion fell under attack in the Atlantic Ocean by the German submarine SM U-155, its deck guns destroying five lifeboats and riddling the upper works of the ship. The Amphion outran the submarine, however, returning safely to the United States.[2] Among them were the Kardaschoffs, who would later become known as the Kardashians. In September of 1913, Tatos Kardashian, his wife Hanna, and their family came to the United States for refuge. After arriving, Tatos officially filed a declaration of intent to become a U.S. citizen. Shortly after, in 1923, he filed his petition for naturalization. He had migrated from Kars, Russia, and was a Los Angeles citizen. Having been naturalized, he legally changed his name from "Tatos" to “Tom”. Tatos was married to Hanna Shakarian, the aunt of Demos Shakarian, the "prophet's" close business associate. They had sponsored Avak Hagopian to come from Iran to "heal" Krikor Arakelian's son and were connected to the Arakelian family through the marriage of Arthur Kardashian. Krikor was the "godfather" of the vineyards, with connections to Chicago. More than 1,000 Armenians in the San Joaquin Valley considered him their leader. Yet all his wealth and power could not heal his son. The Kardashians placed unusual significance on modern-day prophecy, which was a key point in Roy E. Davis’ criminal trial in the mid-1940s. Davis' defense of impersonating a Federal Agent, mail fraud, concealed weapon, and swindling was ... “prophecy". He had publicized his "vision" story, claiming he went into a trance while eating a peach and the "vision" gave him a "great desire" to rescue parentless children and give them a home. He and Congressman William D. Upshaw had convinced several people to fund an “orphanage”, the Ussher-Davis Children’s Orphanage during the time Davis began to raise funding to launch the Third Wave of the Ku Klux Klan. This "vision" would have been very popular in Los Angeles, especially within the Armenian community. The Kardashian's and Shakarian’s religious views would have aligned with Davis' Pentecostal extremism. But Davis' published propaganda did not just include religious views. It mixed religion with white supremacy. According to Jerry Oppenheimer’s “The Kardashians: An American Drama”, this would have been aligned with the views of the Kardashians at that time. The Kardashian family were strong supporters of Clem Davies, an over-spoken white supremacist that also worked with Avak Hagopian. In fact, the sudden surge of the masses to see faith healers Hagopian and Branham in Palm Springs would have been seen as a business opportunity. It should come as no surprise that Demos Shakarian, Tatos' nephew, founded the Pentecostal Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship International. On the recordings still available to the public, William Branham never mentioned the Kardashians or Shakarians when discussing Avak Hagopian. Instead, he would mention Avak's sponsors sending for him, sponsoring his own “healings”.[3] Transcripts now include several ”[Blank spot(s) on tape-Ed.]”, and when talking about the publicity events, significant words were "unintelligible", replaced with "...?..." Branham often mentioned how “they” offered him a Cadillac[4] or custom Packard,[5] and claimed that he "refused" it. Yet Branham did accept a Cadillac from Minor Arganbright, Vice President of the Full Gospel Businessmen's Association — which meant that he accepted the Cadillac from the Shakarians and/or the Kardashians.