We choose titles to attract readers and to do justice to the theme we will be expounding. I will be interested to learn if readers found the wording, I borrowed for a title appropriate for the text they will be reading below.
What I will expound upon pertains to the banishment of the longstanding contributor to and editor of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation press Nazareth Berberian from the very press he served for over forty years and what that act signifies to me.
I would not have felt compelled to write about it had it not been Nazareth Berberian’s emotionally charged introduction, although unrelated to the text of his daily column on his Facebook page he maintains pertaining to events that happened on that day years ago and left an enduring mark in our history. He titled the posting “Pari Louys” (good morning). Ignoring his introductory remark would have haunted me.
His introductory comment read as follows: “As long as my body is willing and my mind an alert guard of the TASHNAGSOUTIUN (Armenian Revolutionary Federation) LEGACY, I will attempt to share with my readers, friends, relatives, under the headline “PARI LOUYS” (Good Morning), a meaningful reflection that has remained entrenched in our collective national memory and which brightens our path. I will not be able henceforth to say “Good Morning” from the pages of the ARF press because a command bearing the signature of the ARF Bureau has gone to our press, which for half a century proudly presented to its readers subjects that bore my signature, commanding them not to publish henceforth articles that bear my signature. However, thanks to modern social media I have the means to communicate to the reader my “Pari Louys” without restraint. “
And true to his words no article bearing his signature has been appearing in the Armenian Revolutionary Federation press lately. The last article I read that bore his signature appeared in the ARF “Aztag’ Daily on December 7, 2019, whose editor he was appointed at the age of 22. His article pertained to his critical review of the Armenian press concluding the year Catholicos Aram designated as the year of the Armenian press (2019). He titled his article “The Armenian press is a school for public education; the ARF Press is more than a party medium”, where he noted: “…Tashnagtsoutiun is a national asset and belongs to the nation and not only to the Armenian Revolutionary Federation party members, but also to the sons and daughters of our nation who espouse its Ideology (Ծրագրին) and its mission ((Գործին). Consequently, the ARF press is accountable not only to this or that party body but above everything else to its readership and to the people who embrace it.”
I met Nazareth Berberian in the greater family of the ARF Zavarian Student Association in Beirut when I was elected to an administrative position and he was another junior member in his teens, being five to six years younger than I. Even then he appeared to be naturally endowed as a promising publicist / journalist and was already contributing articles to “Aztag” Daily. He remained true to his natural calling and continued serving the ARF press in highest capacity in Lebanon, Greece and in Armenia. In 2011, Catholicos Aram I bestowed upon him the ecclesiastical order of Saint Mesrob Mashdots recognizing his services to the Armenian press, (You may read my translation of the autobiography wrote on that occasion in my blog dated December 27, 2019.)
Lately the Armenian social media has been inundated with the news of his expulsion from the ranks of the ARF although he noted that no one in official capacity informed him of his expulsion or sat with him before. His expulsion from the ranks of the ARF is an internal matter but his banishment from the ARF press is altogether a different matter and pertains the public no less for the very reason “Aztag” Daily also espoused as quoted above that “the ARF press is accountable not only to this or that party body but above everything else to its readership and to the people who embrace it.”.
The banishment of Nazareth Berberian’s deprives the readers of an experienced, knowledgeable and a naturally gifted eloquent pen who served the ARF press for decades disseminating its ideology and contributing immensely to its enrichment. His banishment also insults the readers of the ARF press for they are apparently viewed incapable of separating the wheat from the chaff, so to speak. Furthermore, it does contribute to the credibility of the the present and past editors of the ARF press who completely neglected and ignored the banishment of one of them as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. I wonder if Leeza Arakelian, the assistant editor of the Armenian Weekly will expound on this sad aspect of the ARF press as she will take part in the upcoming NAASR organized debate on “ Armenian American Press in Perspective”.
This sad episode is a watershed moment in the history of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation press, the dominant press in the Armenian Diaspora and whose dominance is surely because of the trust the readership vested in it. Resorting to silencing, relying that time will remedy this sad episode by erasing it from memory is very much a worm that will continue to grind the ARF press.
If there is anything I conclude from this sad and saddening happening is the following: “what goes around, comes around”. An ARF member who is entrusted with disseminating the ideology of the ARF for years on end as the editor of the party organ as Nazareth Berberian was and served with distinction for decades, matters not. He or she is a fair game that can be cast off simply because his or her words do not suit what the party whirlwinds have carved for the day.
Yes, indeed, “Words Get Easier The Moment You Stop Fearing Them”.
Դաշնակցական մամուլի էջերէն պիտի չկարենամ այս «բարի լոյս»ը ըսել, որովհետեւ Հ․Յ․Դ․ ԲԻՒՐՕ ստորագրութեամբ հրահանգ գացած է շուրջ կէս դար իմ ստորագրութիւնս հպարտութեամբ հայ ընթերցողին ներկայացուցած մեր մամուլին՝ արգիլելով լոյս ընծայումը եւ տարածումը իմ ստորագութիւնս կրող նիւթերու։
Բայց համացանցի մեր դարուն ես արդէն ուղղակի կապի ու հաղորդակցութեան հնարաւորութիւն ունիմ ընթերցողին հետ՝ իմ «բարի լոյս»ը անկաշկանդ ըսելու բոլորին”։
