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March 2008 post-electoral events in new Armenian history book
tert.am
21:30 - 24.11.12
Photo by Photolur
A new Armenian history textbook designed for university students has
provoked heated debates in the social networks due to a chapter
relating to the March 1-2, 2008 post-electoral clashes in capital
Yerevan.
The book written by Dean of the Yerevan State University's History
Department, Edik Minasyan, was published earlier this year.
`Violently rejecting the election results, the radical wing of the
opposition launched a series of rallies in Yerevan on February 20,
ignoring the procedures of law in an atmosphere of permissiveness ...
Serzh Sargsyan, who had won the election, made a call for cooperation
to the other challengers on February 26,' says the author.
Minasyan then notes that `the radical opposition continued its mass
protest. The unsanctioned rallies eventually destabilized the
situation across the country in just 10 days. The statements by
different NGOs, art critics and scholars, and the Armenian catholicos
were met with contempt by the co-thinkers of [first president] Levon
Ter-Petrosyan who had taken a radical stance in the existing
environment of distrust. '
Minasyan took liberties with words and phrasings expressing his
personal evaluation of the events
In comments to Tert.am, Lyudmila Sargsyan of the opposition Armenian
National Congress faction in parliament described the author's
wordings as an attempt to act against his own conscience.
`If people try to misrepresent the reality and write history, we will
not be able to bring up a generation. That means there is no truth in
this country at all,' said the opposition lawmaker.
`If this concerned the remote past, many might believe. But such a
representation of a tragedy which happened in our times and which was
provoked by the tyrannical regime ... I don't think such a person has a
right to be a dean, let alone communicate with the younger
generation,' Sargsyan said.
Gurgen Yeghiazaryan, another representative of the opposition
alliance, was also critical of Minasyan's description of the above
events. `What happened was an evil deed. A barefaced villain, who
considers himself a scholar, ignores the historical reality and facts
concerning the March 2008 developments and communicate favored by the
authorities to his students,' he said, adding that he is ready to meet
the author anywhere to discuss the topic.
The mass protests which followed the February 2008 presidential
election lasted about ten days and ended in clashes between the
opposition co-thinkers and the police, leaving ten people dead and
scores of others injured in Armenia's capital.
tert.am
21:30 - 24.11.12
Photo by Photolur
A new Armenian history textbook designed for university students has
provoked heated debates in the social networks due to a chapter
relating to the March 1-2, 2008 post-electoral clashes in capital
Yerevan.
The book written by Dean of the Yerevan State University's History
Department, Edik Minasyan, was published earlier this year.
`Violently rejecting the election results, the radical wing of the
opposition launched a series of rallies in Yerevan on February 20,
ignoring the procedures of law in an atmosphere of permissiveness ...
Serzh Sargsyan, who had won the election, made a call for cooperation
to the other challengers on February 26,' says the author.
Minasyan then notes that `the radical opposition continued its mass
protest. The unsanctioned rallies eventually destabilized the
situation across the country in just 10 days. The statements by
different NGOs, art critics and scholars, and the Armenian catholicos
were met with contempt by the co-thinkers of [first president] Levon
Ter-Petrosyan who had taken a radical stance in the existing
environment of distrust. '
Minasyan took liberties with words and phrasings expressing his
personal evaluation of the events
In comments to Tert.am, Lyudmila Sargsyan of the opposition Armenian
National Congress faction in parliament described the author's
wordings as an attempt to act against his own conscience.
`If people try to misrepresent the reality and write history, we will
not be able to bring up a generation. That means there is no truth in
this country at all,' said the opposition lawmaker.
`If this concerned the remote past, many might believe. But such a
representation of a tragedy which happened in our times and which was
provoked by the tyrannical regime ... I don't think such a person has a
right to be a dean, let alone communicate with the younger
generation,' Sargsyan said.
Gurgen Yeghiazaryan, another representative of the opposition
alliance, was also critical of Minasyan's description of the above
events. `What happened was an evil deed. A barefaced villain, who
considers himself a scholar, ignores the historical reality and facts
concerning the March 2008 developments and communicate favored by the
authorities to his students,' he said, adding that he is ready to meet
the author anywhere to discuss the topic.
The mass protests which followed the February 2008 presidential
election lasted about ten days and ended in clashes between the
opposition co-thinkers and the police, leaving ten people dead and
scores of others injured in Armenia's capital.