Born in 1930 in the village of Khdr Bek on the slopes of Musa Dagh, Zeitlian was part of a family that had participated in the valiant defense of Musa Dagh against the Turkish genocidal onslaught during World War I. His grandmother, Varter, had fought beside the Armenian freedom fighters; his father, Tovmas was one of the heroic youth who acted as messengers, and later, joining the Armenian company of the French Foreign Legion, had shared in the victory at the Battle of Arar in 1918.