– What was the Soviet Union’s strait jacket which did not let people get lost in freedom?
– The water and mirror are our first philosophy. The human being can’t look at his face with his eyes. He should believe based on the experience of the humanity that the appearance in the mirror is himself … Freedom is sometimes too far overseas, and sometimes it is very close, inside people, and if you don’t believe in freedom and don’t see the light in the end of the tunnel, your life will not continue. I think that the highest feeling in the physical and spiritual world is the freedom. The human being was left out of the Paradise as changed the promised eternal life with the freedom to know the good and bad. After that poems and painters started teaching their children to go through the path of possible death in order to look for freedom. Prometheus, Ikar, Mher, Davit, Charents – they were the children of the light, who always appeared on dark ways. The question should not be asked in a manner that we suffered as a result of losing the strait jacket of the Soviet Union. People were forced to live in the cold Siberia where time was going backwards, they were forced to forget themselves. Even in such bad conditions there were people such as Mahari, Molzhenitsin and Brodski who brought good news about the freedom from there. I think that the highest value the human beings have reached ever is the first constitution, which defines the freedom of the human being. I don’t think that the people who got out of the Soviet hands have lost because they were looking for freedom, and I believe the philosophy of water and mirror is the right way.
– As an Armenian writer what do you think about the Armenian-Turkish initial protocols?
– The Armenian-Turkish protocols are not the wish of our people. They are imitating discussions, showing known people who are speaking out their ideas, all these discussions are imitation, which does not correspond to the wish of people. In other words, it is not true that they are saying that the National Academy has discussed the issue and is for it. There are bright people there too who were the ones who kept the light of the country during the 70 years of the soviet times. What is the goal of organizing such discussions if the Armenian and Turkish prime ministers say that these protocols cannot be changed? The more people are involved the less responsibility will they have and it will be easier for them to prove that people backed their initiative too. I have always been for open borders but not with the price we are paying. Germany and Europe are against the membership of Turkey because they say their societies are not ready to meet with the 70 million population of Turkey. We have not choice even though some provisions in the protocol are unacceptable. Have they ever asked for pardon or said anywhere that they have shed the blood of people? I don’t mean Orhan Pamouk who was doing his best to get a Noble price but he had to say that word genocide in his speech but not play with it like a professional magician. They were the ones who closed the border, and now we have to pay a price of taking out the word genocide from the international arena, we will have to give the seven regions to Azerbaijan and they will launch a commission to prove that the ghosts in the desert are not our ancestors… No diplomacy is worth a coin if the price is so big and breaks the spirit of the nation… But the fact is that we are again faced with the enemy of the Turkish diplomacy of 900 years. You can watch Erdogan on TV; he is the same “askyar” in a modern suit and tie. It is standing at the European wall but its war has not finished yet. It is knocking at the European door with one hand, and with the other hand taking the lands of others, taking Nakhijevan, Cyprus, slamming the president of Israel, etc. It is a soldier, a warrior. This is the country that will penetrate in our country with its developed economy, influential cultural background, and 70 million population. Are we able to resist this power of a strong hand that has annihilated us for centuries? Who says that they may tell us what to do? The history shows that our people were always able to tell the power what to do. The history shows that in the fourth century the people made Arshak king to give up his throne. This issue, which concerns all Armenians, can either be approved or stopped by demanding the president’s resignation.
– Do you think that the society deserves the hero in a situation when the real heroes are forgotten and fake heroes are created? How does a man become hero? How do people make heroes?
– In all times there is competition between the power and people. The power always tries to bring up fake heroes to compete with the heroes of people in order to manipulate them easily whenever they want. But eventually the real heroes of the people can survive. People have a feeling which can predict the cold weathers and other things, which they need to say who the real heroes are. When their heroes disappear, they get in pain and look for a new hero. Now the people are waiting for new Sasun and Aram Bareghamyan.
– Who are the heroes of our days?
– The standards have changed; the understanding that the joker may save the country by saying the truth to the king has changed. People are flattering more and more. I don’t exclude the possibility that time may come and the books about cuisines may be declared the highest values among books.
– The Armenian Constitution writes that the in Armenia the human being is a highest value. Do you think that the authorities think this way?
– What is the Constitution? It is like funny colors in this country; if it worked ten people would not be killed so cruelly. If it really existed, the parliamentary ad hoc would not blow the minds of people and would discover who were the ones guilty in the crime. These people have a lot of relatives and friends, are all these people protected by the Constitution?
– What can bring peace to the war inside a man? Especially when this conflict is not with your neighbor or someone else, but yourself, the government and the surrounding world.
– When we respect the Constitution, when expensive cars stop to cross the streets whenever and wherever they like, when banks develop, when children feel happy, when old people don’t miss the bread, when young and strong people stand near the mirror and feel proud with thick purses, the fright will go away.
– There is a rule about the situation when the society does not like its government. Do you think that people never love their governments? Do you think that this idea of love in politics is a funny thing?
– There is no need to ask this question this way. The history has proven that there have been and are a lot of beloved leaders in the world.
– It is very interesting; people tend to power but they don’t like the power, the government.
– There are honest people too.
– Levon, some of your friends are in prisons, your literature friends are exiled, are you alone?
– I would not say I am alone. In the world any human being is creating something and looking for free soul and motherland. When your friends are missing it is like turning the light in the room on and off; when they are missing it feels dark. Sometimes it feels that these people who fight for freedom have done it in a dream.
– Currently artists have become a target for critics as they don’t take part in the inner developments of the country. Do you think that intelligentsia should keep away from everything and continue creating or they should be politically active?
– When artists don’t take part in the political life of a country, it means this is an ideal country. They should not be blamed but encouraged for silence. They are participating in the construction of the country in silence. It is their nature; they can stay far from everyone on a tree, but in decisive moments it is time for them to keep with people and be back home.