The arrest of editor of “Yerevan-Time” daily Arman Babajanyan wasn’t a tragedy, of course, but it was sad. It was sad because first, Armenian authorities just can’t tolerate dissidence and can arrest all journalists and editors at the right time and secondly, Armenian journalists, editors and political figures still don’t understand that they have to be clean if they want to be dissidents. They don’t understand that that is necessary not only for them, but also to all dissidents and oppositionists out there.
It’s a usual thing to see young Armenian men afraid to serve in the army. The 18-year old Armenian boy knows what to do not to get enlisted and especially the prices. As to who succeeds in doing that, that’s a different story. Someone doesn’t find a close friend, the other can’t find the money, while the third finds the money but doesn’t know how to send it and finds himself in the zone.
If one, two, ten or even twenty men afraid of army enlistment gather up and talk about the reasons why they are afraid (there are very few of them in the Armenian army), they will not only help the army, but also the state and society. People will understand that there are many obstacles when completing the mission of serving the homeland and find ways to overcome those obstacles. As they say in the West, they will stabilize a civil society.
But when the one, two, ten or even twenty men don’t gather and talk about the reasons why they are afraid, that doesn’t mean that there are no reasons; it means that they are not afraid based on those reasons. They are afraid because they don’t have respect for the state and the law and there are many reasons as to why they don’t respect the state and the law. They don’t speak out about the reasons because they don’t believe that they will help solve anything. They don’t believe in that because they help add more reasons.
It’s easier for each one of us to sit and think about the country’s situation-ask questions and wait impatiently for the answers. One time, a well-known Armenian intellectual (I won’t mention the name based on the humanism factor) raised his eyebrows and asked how far Armenia has gone to have young men afraid to serve in the army. I know him and also know that his children left Armenia for abroad right after the Karabagh movement and are still there. Since the average reader doesn’t know him, he is sharing his pain. The people whom the intellectual is asking also know about the “family tragedy”. They know. They laugh as they read and wait to see how far he will go.
The repatriate was telling me, the immature native, that the people who emigrated from Armenia didn’t leave the Homeland, rather they left because of the former government. Thus, the Homeland must always wait for the people who spent some part of Armenian history in America or Europe. In his opinion, the Homeland must be generous towards homesick people like him because whereas leaving the counry is a procedure, coming back is most definitely a heroic deed. These people get mad when they see that the native Armenians look at them as Armenians from the Diaspora and may sell something at an expensive price, but if they receive a note from the military registration and enlistment office, they will go beserk and start showing everyone their foreign citizenship certificates.
Now, if I were the lawyer of the “Yerevan-Time” newspaper editor, I would leave aside the lecture on freedom of speech, I would take the suspect’s testimony (if there really is one) and I would start asking questions to the authorities and the people in order to find out whether or not the suspect is guilty.
Question #1: What’s the difference between the suspect and, let’s say, Dashnak (federalist) Kiro Manoyan, when both haven’t served in the Armenian army and have come to Armenia from other countries to work with the public?
Question #2: What’s the difference between the suspect and the well-known intellectual, if the suspect presents false documents in order to not serve in the army, while the second’s son did everything he could to not go to the army until it got to the point where he had to present false documents?
Question #3: What’s the difference between the suspect and the sons of government officials, if the first presented false documents so that he wouldn’t go to the army, while the sons of the government officials registered at the headquarters offices and are serving at home, in cafes, night clubs, etc.?
Question #4: When the son, nephew or son-in-law of this or that official is appointed to high positions and nobody asks him if he has knowledge and experience, do they consider the fact that he hasn’t served in the army? I mean, is serving in the army considered as an honor or just a certificate in Armenia?
Question #5: If they sentence Arman Babjanyan to prison or enlist him in the army, will that be justice or will it be yet another try to cover up the other injustices?
Last question: If citizens of one of the communities of Yerevan settle a bloody score with each other, where innocent passer-bys die and all fingers point to the authorities, what other editors and journalists are they going to arrest and why?-for not paying the alimony, violating transportation laws, or accidentally letting the water flow from the faucet and flooding the neighbor’s home? Will this all be at the same time or part of the past?