HO 144/16898; HO 334/226/159; HO 334/789/3998

            Mamas Haroutunian was born in Bor Sub-District, Konia District, in the Anatolian Peninsula on November 16, 1899 to Haroutun and Takouhi, both Ottoman subjects (deceased in 1917 and 1915, respectively). Haroutunian married Makrouhi Haroutunian, née Makrouhi N. Bagdikian, on August 2, 1929. They had one child, a daughter named Nelly Takouhi Haroutunian, born July 19, 1930. Formerly an Ottoman subject, Haroutunian obtained Palestinian citizenship under Article I of the Palestine Citizenship Ordinance of 1925. He entered Palestine from Syria with the British Army in 1919.

            Haroutunian held several positions. He was Interpreter with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, with the British Army, serving in Syria, Palestine, and Egypt (December 14, 1918-July 18, 1922); Clerk in the Palestinian Public Works Department (February 5, 1923-May 31,1923); Policeman in the Palestinian Police Force (February 5, 1925-November 11, 1925, discharged at his own request); and finally Clerk in British Residency, Amman (beginning on August 10, 1927). The Palestinian government ruminated over whether his clerkship in British Residence should count as Crown service. An official concluded that this position, “tho’ humble, seems genuine service to the Crown; and his previous service as interpreter goes to show that his employ under the Crown is not merely incidental to earning a living.”

            Haroutunian applied for British naturalization once in 1931, and was asked to reapply after he had completed five years of service to the Crown (Trans-Jordanian Crown Service). His second application, submitted in 1932, was successful. In his recommendation letter, Major T. S. Patterson says that Haroutunian worked under him as interpreter with the British Army in Palestine, was “pleasant mannered,” “hardworking,” and a “tactful man,” and knew five languages well. Patterson added that Haroutunian’s English was excellent. When Haroutunian obtained British naturalization in 1932, he applied as a Palestinian national, but renounced his British citizenship and that of his daughter in 1957. Haroutunian’s case suggests that career army officials used Palestinian citizenship and Crown Service as stepping stones to British citizenship. Haroutunian’s reasons for renouncing his British citizenship, after a quarter of a century, and after becoming a Jordanian national are unknown.

            This file was originally closed until 2033 and declassified at my request on January 6, 2022.