Catch me if you can - 1 -

Vaհe H Apelian

I will be referencing the book the PM Nikol Pashinyan wrote, “The Other Side of the Earth”. The book was edited by Arkemenik Nikoghosyan (Արքեմենիկ Նիկողոսյան)։

“The Other Side of the Earth” was published in the Armenian Times (Haykakan Zhamanak) from May to December 2008. Armenian Times (Haykakan Zhamanak) is a leading socio-political news outlet in Armenia. It was founded as a print daily newspaper in 1999 by the current Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. It now operates exclusively as an online news platform and is edited by Anna Hakobyan. It is noteworthy to know that Nikol Pashinyan was 24 years old when he took over as the editor of Haykakan Zhamanak - Armenian Times, in 1999. He held the position until 2012. Prior to Armenian Times, Pashinyan founded and edited another daily newspaper, Oragir - Diary), in 1998.

I chose “Catch me, if you can” as this blog’s header, because he was taunting the authorities when he wrote the fictional novel, and had it published in installments in the Armenian Times daily.   The authorities had officially stated that Nikol Pashinyan had fled the country in March 2008 and illegally returned to Armenia. Pashinyan claims that, while he was in hiding among his friends and supporters, he never left Armenia, “even for one minute”.

On July 1, 2009, Nikol Pashinyan came out of the underground and presented himself to the Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Armenia, “where he was arrested, then detained, and then sentenced to 7 years in prison. He spent 1 year and 10 months in the "Yerevan Center", "Nubarashen", "Kosh", and "Artik" penal institutions and was released under amnesty on May 27, 2011.”  (page 3).

Nikol Pashinyan’s incarceration seems to have mostly gone unnoticed in the Diaspora press, other than Keghart online journal, established by Dikran Abrahamian MD, where on November 27, 2010, Dikran Abrahamian had issued an appeal, soliciting Kegharl’s readers support. The appeal was  addressed to the Armenian authorities against coercion Nikol Pashinyan was reported to experience in the prison. You may read Keghart’s November 27, 2010 appeal below.

Nikol Pashinyan lays down the reason he wrote the book on page 4, which may very well be considered the forewardt of his fictional novel. This is what he wrote:

“Reader, have you started reading?, I don’t know what is your name; which date, what day of the month of that date is now. I don’t know what perceptions, sentiments, thoughts, and feelings, the expression, “Yerevan, March 1, 2008”, evoke in you.

Eight citizens of the Republic of Armenia were killed that day, two more died later from the wounds they received that day.

March 1, 2008 was a Great Day, of great courage, of great cowardice, great awareness, great lawlessness, great reawakening, great decline; of great love, great hatred, blood and tears, prayer and curse.

March 1 was a clash of Freedom, of Law, of future confronting abject let it go (ամենաթողություն), past illegality.  

Being an active participant in those events, I found myself in the status of a wanted person. The Armenian Police, the National Security Service, and private detectives, hired by the authorities, searched and searched for me but could not find me. Meanwhile, dozens of my friends were in prison, bearing the heroic name of a political prisoner. Thousands of friends continued their struggle, on the streets of Yerevan, in courts and in international tribunals.

This book was created in such times.

It is dedicated to the eternal memory of the ten victims of March 1: Gor Kloyan (Գոռ Քլոյանօ, Tigran Khachaturyan (Տիգրան Խաչատուրյան), Davit Petrosyan (Դավիթ Պետրոսյան), Samvel Farmanyan (Սամվէլ Ֆարմանյան), Tigran Adpkaryan (Տիգրան Արգարյան)Hovhannes Hovhannisyan (Յովհաննես Հովհաննիսյան), Hamlet Tadeosyan (Համլէտ Թատեոսյան), and Zakar Hannisyan (Զաքար Հաննիսյան).” (page 4)

The protagonist’s fictional, if not also improbable journey began in the dead of the night on March 2 and lasted in the book’s 383 pages and in 53 chapters with different headings. As noted, the book was published in Armenian Times from from May to December 2008, a span of 245 days. Surely more than one page of the book is expected to have been written daily detailing the fictional itinerary. 

In a reflective mood, the journeyman wrote. “Is it right what I am doing? Isn’t my place also with my comrades who are in the prison? Am I abandoning them at these trying times? But voluntarily going to prison is basically giving up, and giving up is not possible. It is necessary to fight back. It is necessary to win. I will not hide, here is my traveling route, catch me if you can.” (page 13).

The last paragraph of the book is two sentences long. It reads: "The human ocean surged. We all moved towards the Liberty Square, our march is unstoppable." “Մարդկային ովկիանոսն ալեկոծվեց։ Բոլորով շարժվեցինք դէպի Ազատոթյան հրապարակ.....Մեր ընթացքն անկասելի է։»      

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Note: Keghart on line journal's appeal on November 27, 2010: «It was in Keghart on line journal that I learned about an Armenian journalist named Nikol Pashinyan. On November 27, 2010, the journal posted an appeal that read: “We, Armenians living in the Diaspora and our non-Armenian friends, are deeply concerned in the imprisonment of Nikol Pashinyan, editor-in-chief of Haykakan Zhamanak (“Armenian Time”) daily in Armenia, and his treatment in jail. While Mr. Pashinyan’s voluntary surrender to law enforcement agencies should have been duly noted by the Armenian authorities, the veteran journalist has experienced coercion behind bars. We attest that these reprehensible acts of the authorities–aimed at silencing Mr. Pashinyan and punishing him for his political views–will have the opposite outcome, making the editor’s voice heard more forcefully in Armenia and in the Diaspora. Deeply concerned with the treatment of the journalist, we are following the “judicial process” with vigilance, hoping that he will be released soon. Meanwhile, we demand that the Armenian authorities put an end to the unlawful acts against him and ensure his security.”