Born in
Larnaca, on the island of
Cyprus, Babikian studied in France, Lebanon, and Italy. A
polyglot, he spoke Arabic, Italian, French, Armenian, Turkish, English, and Latin. He was imprisoned in 1940 in a concentration camp in
Italy, where he finished his baccalaureate. He later obtained his law degree from the
Saint Joseph University of Beirut. Babikian was elected and appointed Armenian orthodox of
Beirut in 1957 and remained a member of the Parliament until the date of his death in 1999. He was replaced by
André Tabourian. He was a minister of State to the administrative Reform (1960–1961), of Health (1969), of Tourism, of Information (1972–1973, government
Saëb Salam), of the Plan and the Foreign Affairs (1973, government
Hafez Amine) and of
Justice (1980–1982, government
Chafic Wazzan and 1990–1992). Babikian was also the former chairman of the executive council of the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia — Antelias,
Lebanon. In 1969, during Babikian's first year as Minister of Health, he attained and distributed 1.5 million doses of the polio vaccine throughout Lebanon for all children aged under 5. Polio cases dropped from 600 nationwide in 1969 to 22 in 1970. For his notable contribution to the French language, Babikian was awarded the
Legion of Honour (officer rank) in 1986 along with one of the highest ranks of
L'ordre de la Pléiade in 1998 which recognises the work and contributions to the development of the French language globally. In 1972, Babikian pioneered social housing in Lebanon creating the country's first state funded housing in the Beirut suburb of Fanar. The project called Leylavan focused on providing housing to displaced Armenian families and was composed of 272 housing units, a school, a social and sport club, a medical dispensary and several work places. ==References==