It behooves the editor of Hairenik Weekly

Vahe H. Apelian

 

The other day I started reading Sarkis Mahserejian’s article in the Hairenik Weekly. Although I subscribe to the printed Weekly, but I also receive in the email a listing of the week’s articles. Sarkis’ article was among those listed on Friday, November 11, 2022. The headline of the article read “ՓԱՇԻՆԵԱՆ Կ’ԱՄԲԱՍՏԱՆԷ… ՓԱՇԻՆԵԱՆԸ’. According to the Nairi dictionaries the Armenian word «ամբաստանել-ampasdanel” means “to accuse, to indict, to denounce, to impeach.” Consequently, the headline means Pashinyan accuses, or indicts, or denounces or impeaches himself. I will have to admit that it’s a catchy phrase to entice or draw a prospective reader to read the article. It did to me.

However, I ended up reading only the first two sentences and stopped reading further. In those first two sentences Sarkis Mahserejian, who is a friend of mine, came to reinforce in me what Hairenik Weekly has become, an anti- Pashinyan platform, if not a hotbed. 

In the very first line Sarkis calls the PM of Armenia – “Հայաստանի վարչապետ կոչեցեալը”, that is to say, “the so-called PM of Armenia”. Nayiri dictionary defines the Armenian word «կոչեցեալ» as a noun that means “called, named.” It is used as a demeaning address. 

In the second sentence Sarkis Mahserejian refers to the PM as “Մարդուկ – martoug”. This time around I did not find the word Մարդուկ listed in the Nayiri dictionary for good reason. It is a derogatory slang that means humanoid, a   lesser man. The term “Մարդուկ–martoug” is a play on the Armenian word «Մարդ–mart”. Surely and naturally, Nayiri lists the word «Մարդ–mart” and notes that it is a noun, and it means a “man, person, soul, the human race.” Nayiri not only does not list “Մարդուկ–martoug”, but it also does not list the word “humanoid”. But Marriam-Webster Dictionary does. Humanoid means “having human form or characteristics”, which the PM of Armenia is, according to Sarkis Mahserejian. 

Suddenly my train of thoughts took me to James G. Mandlian and to his abridged translation of Roupen Der Minassian famed memoirs that has been printed several times and consists of a few volumes. James G. Mandalian abridged and translated it in a 244 pages long book. Our khnami Gary Arvanigian had gifted the book to me and I had read it. The reason my train of thoughts diverted there is what I will attempt to expound.

Nikol Pashinyan is the PM of Armenia. The citizens of Republic of Armenia elected him in a democratically orderly and transparent election. The PM governs with the consent of the citizens of Armenia. Not only foreign observers but also the Constitutional Court Armenia unanimously ruled that the last election that brought Nikol Pashinyan led coalition to power was legal and binding. The opposition cannot allege that the Constitutional Court ruled on the legality of the election under duress. The same justices of the Constitutional Court, unanimously also ruled against PM Pashinyan and exonerated president Kocharian of the charges and set him free from jail. He now leads the opposition. 

Customarily, a prime minister is addressed or referenced courteously in a newspaper. I have not come across such demeaning terms in Aztag Daily when referencing the PM of Lebanon. I doubt that Sarkis would have referenced the Lebanese PM in such terms he used for the PM of Armenia or has ever referenced a PM of Lebanon with such a demeaning address when he was the editor of Aztag Daily. A prevalent dichotomy in the Diaspora psyche.

The other thing that connected me to James G. Mandalian was his note in the book and the quotation he cited. In his introduction of the book, James Mandalian noted that he had the privilege and  the honor of being the first Executive Director of the Armenian Youth Federation. Consequently, I imagine James G. Mandalian upheld values that he would have liked the young and upcoming AYFers to espouse.  Surely it was for that lofty goal that he quoted President Theodore Roosevelt for the benefit, especially of the young readers of his book.

 The quote that James G. Mandalian chose reads as follows: “It is not the critic who counts; nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself on a worthy cause; who, at best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

Would James G. Mandalian, as the long-standing editor of Hairenik publications have allowed the use of such terms? I surely cannot second guess whether he would have or not. But I tend to think that he would have avoided using demeaning or derogatory terms when referencing the PM of the Republic of Armenia.

 Legitimate discourse on diverging policy matters is one thing, using demeaning terms to make a point, is altogether a different thing. Such terms in the esteemed Hairenik Weekly does not elevate the editor to have allowed their use. Nor does the use of such demeaning terms alleviate the writer or further the  credibility of the argument the writer puts forth. On the contrary. 

It behooves the editor of Hairenik Weekly to be more vigilant and curtail such terms in the historic Hairenik Weekly.