He started his career as an avant-garde writer and became a significant figure in the Hungarian emigration in France before the political transition.
A descendant of the Transylvanian Armenian Ajtony family (original name: Ajváz/Ajváh),[1] he was born in Székelykeresztúr, at the time in Hungary, now Cristuru Secuiesc, Romania.
He worked in psychiatric institutions and taught sociology and anthropology courses for healthcare workers.
He also organized French-Hungarian cultural events and research projects, mainly related to the psychological processes of ideological development and reassessment.
During this period, his previously banned works began to be published, and for his book The Loss of the Empire, written in the 1970s, he received the Sándor Bródy Prize for first-time authors in 1999.