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FICTION?: ARMY PURSUES AUTHOR AS ARMENIA CELEBRATES ITS STATUS AS "WORLD BOOK CAPITAL"
By Gayane Lazarian
ArmeniaNow
23.03.12 | 15:24
NAZIK ARMENAKYAN
ArmeniaNow
The author of a book that is said to defame the Armenian Army has been
charged with dissemination of pornographic material and his book,
"Demob Day", has been removed from some bookstore shelves following
pressure from the Military Police.
Author Hovhannes Ishkhanyan, 24, a computer programmer and former
army conscript, published the book in only 300 copies, about 120 of
which have been sold.
Enlarge Photo "Demob Day" He says he wrote the book in part before
his army experience and completed it after his service and that the
language in the book - while fictional - is based on his experience.
"There is a problem of esthetics here. I have used the real language
which exists in the army, which has caused shock among officials. Had I
written it in nice words, they would not have complained," Ishkhanyan
says.
Nonetheless Military Police attorney Anahit Yesayan says Ishkhanyan's
work of fiction distorts truth, defames the military, defends the
state religion of Armenia and Armenian mothers.
Two bookstores in Yerevan have removed the 'Demob Day' from sale;
Artbridge cafe/bookstore did not. Director of Bureaucrat bookshop
refused to explain why the book was removed from his shelves, even
though his shop hosted a presentation of the book when it came out
last May.
A Bureaucrat shop assistant who didn't not want to be named, said
the store was warned by Military Police to remove the book and that
the shop received a follow-up visit from police to make sure it was
not for sale there.
"A private economic entity has the right to choose the products which
are for sale in its shop. I am not against this style of business,"
Ishkhanyan says. "I am against that they impose censorship, and they
do not care what fortune the book will have."
Helsinki Committee of Armenia attorney Robert Revazyan is surprised
that the Military Police got involved over a piece of fiction.
"It is not important that the fictions are about the army. This is a
piece of literature, where no real characters are represented. They
[the Military Police]were simply offended and try to get revenge,"
Revazyan says.
Samvel Lazarian, editor and translator of 'Foreign Literature'
literary magazine, believes that Ishkhanyan has presented the reality
surrealistically.
"The force institution has no right to interpose in literature,
in case when murders are committed in its army almost every day,
and almost none of them is being revealed," he says.
The Military Police report that they have turned to the Ministry
of Culture asking for an expert opinion to find out whether or not
the texts in the book are pornographic. The case materials are sent
to the Central Military Prosecution Office of Armenia to decide the
further actions to be taken related to the book and its author.
Ishkhanyan says that his fictions are not realistic works, they are
absurd and one can never come across such things in life.
In the 'Military March' fiction the author described the march of
dead soldiers in the parade ground. The soldiers lug their military
identification cards fastened with thread.
"I remember myself only in the present and I remember all my experience
in the army. I wake up every morning hearing someone's crying. I wake
up and see that someone, huddled himself up, is sitting on my bed and
crying. When I saw his face I realized that it was me. I asked why
I was crying and I answered that I cry because I serve in the army,"
tells the main character of the book.
Another character of the 'Demob Day' is walking along the parade
ground with a throat in his hand, "Was it my fault that I was serving
with people like me, who had said that my throat was golden? Was it my
fault that zampolit (deputy commander in charge of policy) Hovakimyan
catches those things which smell of money, and was it my fault that
zampolit Hovakimyan was so stupid that he did not know that a human
being's throat cannot be golden? He looked at me greedily, raised
his hand from my shoulder, caught my neck and tore off my throat. I
fell down and died, and he [Hovakimyan] examined the throat and did
not find what he was looking for inside it, so he spat at me and left."
And in the fiction, according to the preliminary investigation,
here the soldier attacked the officer.
Writer Hovik Chakhchyan says that literature must undergo no
censorship; it is the free expression of mind.
"Here classically only half a step is left to reach censorship. A
book is not a document or a protocol; this is simply a piece of
literature the characters of which can be fictitious. If they [the
Military Police] have found some common features and similarities it
does not mean that they can pursue someone [the author of the book],"
Charkhchyan says.
Ishkhanyan is being pursued under the Article 263 of the Criminal Code
of Armenia (Illegal dissemination of pornographic materials or items).
Those who are charged with this crime are "punished with a fine or
with arrest for the term of up to two months, or with imprisonment
for the term of up to two years."
The literature circles of Armenia are united to defend the young
writer; his supporters have a page on Facebook. Ishkhanyan has turned
to the Ombudsman of Armenia.
"Personally I am against any bad language or vulgarism in literature;
however I leave all this alone and speak merely about a piece of
literature. Shame on our country, which is going to celebrate the world
book capital day soon, however a writer is being pursued in the same
country, and restrictions are imposed on literature," Charkhchyan says.
By Gayane Lazarian
ArmeniaNow
23.03.12 | 15:24
NAZIK ARMENAKYAN
ArmeniaNow
The author of a book that is said to defame the Armenian Army has been
charged with dissemination of pornographic material and his book,
"Demob Day", has been removed from some bookstore shelves following
pressure from the Military Police.
Author Hovhannes Ishkhanyan, 24, a computer programmer and former
army conscript, published the book in only 300 copies, about 120 of
which have been sold.
Enlarge Photo "Demob Day" He says he wrote the book in part before
his army experience and completed it after his service and that the
language in the book - while fictional - is based on his experience.
"There is a problem of esthetics here. I have used the real language
which exists in the army, which has caused shock among officials. Had I
written it in nice words, they would not have complained," Ishkhanyan
says.
Nonetheless Military Police attorney Anahit Yesayan says Ishkhanyan's
work of fiction distorts truth, defames the military, defends the
state religion of Armenia and Armenian mothers.
Two bookstores in Yerevan have removed the 'Demob Day' from sale;
Artbridge cafe/bookstore did not. Director of Bureaucrat bookshop
refused to explain why the book was removed from his shelves, even
though his shop hosted a presentation of the book when it came out
last May.
A Bureaucrat shop assistant who didn't not want to be named, said
the store was warned by Military Police to remove the book and that
the shop received a follow-up visit from police to make sure it was
not for sale there.
"A private economic entity has the right to choose the products which
are for sale in its shop. I am not against this style of business,"
Ishkhanyan says. "I am against that they impose censorship, and they
do not care what fortune the book will have."
Helsinki Committee of Armenia attorney Robert Revazyan is surprised
that the Military Police got involved over a piece of fiction.
"It is not important that the fictions are about the army. This is a
piece of literature, where no real characters are represented. They
[the Military Police]were simply offended and try to get revenge,"
Revazyan says.
Samvel Lazarian, editor and translator of 'Foreign Literature'
literary magazine, believes that Ishkhanyan has presented the reality
surrealistically.
"The force institution has no right to interpose in literature,
in case when murders are committed in its army almost every day,
and almost none of them is being revealed," he says.
The Military Police report that they have turned to the Ministry
of Culture asking for an expert opinion to find out whether or not
the texts in the book are pornographic. The case materials are sent
to the Central Military Prosecution Office of Armenia to decide the
further actions to be taken related to the book and its author.
Ishkhanyan says that his fictions are not realistic works, they are
absurd and one can never come across such things in life.
In the 'Military March' fiction the author described the march of
dead soldiers in the parade ground. The soldiers lug their military
identification cards fastened with thread.
"I remember myself only in the present and I remember all my experience
in the army. I wake up every morning hearing someone's crying. I wake
up and see that someone, huddled himself up, is sitting on my bed and
crying. When I saw his face I realized that it was me. I asked why
I was crying and I answered that I cry because I serve in the army,"
tells the main character of the book.
Another character of the 'Demob Day' is walking along the parade
ground with a throat in his hand, "Was it my fault that I was serving
with people like me, who had said that my throat was golden? Was it my
fault that zampolit (deputy commander in charge of policy) Hovakimyan
catches those things which smell of money, and was it my fault that
zampolit Hovakimyan was so stupid that he did not know that a human
being's throat cannot be golden? He looked at me greedily, raised
his hand from my shoulder, caught my neck and tore off my throat. I
fell down and died, and he [Hovakimyan] examined the throat and did
not find what he was looking for inside it, so he spat at me and left."
And in the fiction, according to the preliminary investigation,
here the soldier attacked the officer.
Writer Hovik Chakhchyan says that literature must undergo no
censorship; it is the free expression of mind.
"Here classically only half a step is left to reach censorship. A
book is not a document or a protocol; this is simply a piece of
literature the characters of which can be fictitious. If they [the
Military Police] have found some common features and similarities it
does not mean that they can pursue someone [the author of the book],"
Charkhchyan says.
Ishkhanyan is being pursued under the Article 263 of the Criminal Code
of Armenia (Illegal dissemination of pornographic materials or items).
Those who are charged with this crime are "punished with a fine or
with arrest for the term of up to two months, or with imprisonment
for the term of up to two years."
The literature circles of Armenia are united to defend the young
writer; his supporters have a page on Facebook. Ishkhanyan has turned
to the Ombudsman of Armenia.
"Personally I am against any bad language or vulgarism in literature;
however I leave all this alone and speak merely about a piece of
literature. Shame on our country, which is going to celebrate the world
book capital day soon, however a writer is being pursued in the same
country, and restrictions are imposed on literature," Charkhchyan says.