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DIASPORA WRITERS/ARTISTS CONDEMN CENSORSHIP OF HOVHANNES ISKHANYAN'S BOOK
Nancy Abagian, Nancy Kricorian
hetq
10:13, March 26, 2012
As writers, artists, intellectuals, and concerned members of the
Armenian diaspora (and beyond), we add our names to this petition to
express our outrage over the censorship of Hovhannes Ishkhanyan's novel
Demob Day by the Military Police in Armenia and by various bookstores
in Yerevan. Freedom of expression is the bedrock of any democracy;
the interrogation of an author and the removal of literature from
bookshelves harkens back to the primitive, brutal, unenlightened,
and fearful days of Stalinism and Fascism.
Literature is one means by which an open society examines, discusses
and debates the problems it faces. A celebration of the five hundred
year anniversary of books in Armenia rings hollow at this time when
even one book, dealing with a timely and crucial issue of Armenian
society, does not have a chance of being read.
We urge the authorities involved, including the Ministry of Culture
and the Central Military Prosecutor's Office of Armenia, to drop their
pursuit of charging Ishkhanyan with Article 263 of the Criminal Code
of Armenia (the illegal dissemination of pornographic materials or
items). We stand behind our fellow writers in Armenia as they defend
Ishkhanyan and will watch this case carefully to offer further support
in keeping literature in Armenia free from blatant intrusions and
threats from the government.
Nancy Abagian, Nancy Kricorian
hetq
10:13, March 26, 2012
As writers, artists, intellectuals, and concerned members of the
Armenian diaspora (and beyond), we add our names to this petition to
express our outrage over the censorship of Hovhannes Ishkhanyan's novel
Demob Day by the Military Police in Armenia and by various bookstores
in Yerevan. Freedom of expression is the bedrock of any democracy;
the interrogation of an author and the removal of literature from
bookshelves harkens back to the primitive, brutal, unenlightened,
and fearful days of Stalinism and Fascism.
Literature is one means by which an open society examines, discusses
and debates the problems it faces. A celebration of the five hundred
year anniversary of books in Armenia rings hollow at this time when
even one book, dealing with a timely and crucial issue of Armenian
society, does not have a chance of being read.
We urge the authorities involved, including the Ministry of Culture
and the Central Military Prosecutor's Office of Armenia, to drop their
pursuit of charging Ishkhanyan with Article 263 of the Criminal Code
of Armenia (the illegal dissemination of pornographic materials or
items). We stand behind our fellow writers in Armenia as they defend
Ishkhanyan and will watch this case carefully to offer further support
in keeping literature in Armenia free from blatant intrusions and
threats from the government.