Poladian was born on May 15, 1950, in Ras al-Eyn in the Syrian province of Hassaka. He lived in Syria till 1963 then immigrated to Armenia with his family at the age of 13. He received his BA and MA in history in 1968-72 from Yerevan State Pedagogical Institute, Faculty of History and Geography. From 1978 till 1982 he was visiting scholar at Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) Institute of Oriental Studies, Soviet Union Academy of Sciences.
