‘I Disapprove of What You Say, But…’ Nikol Pashinyan Responds to Aravot

Chief editor of local daily Haykakan Jamanak (“Armenian Times”), imprisoned journalist Nikol Pashinyan responded to a letter sent to him by local daily Aravot (“Morning”) chief editor Aram Abrahamyan. Recall, local news media have begun a campaign to ensure Pashinyan right to correspondence is not violated by sending him letters daily and awaiting his response.

Pashinyan’s response to Abrahamyan was published in today’s issue of Aravot:

Dear Aram, I’m happy that I have the opportunity to write you. I know you’re well because I see you on GALA TV on the Hetgrutyun program. Naturally, I also read Aravot. And though I’ve never underestimated the role of print media, its importance is emphasized more here. You can not listen to the radio, not watch television, but by reading the papers, be fully informed. In today’s Armenia, however, the opposite is not possible. One can only be fully informed by reading print media. And in this sense, newspapers, it seems, complement each other.

Now I receive Aravot, Chorrord Inqnishkhanutyun [Fourth Self-Authority], Hraparak, Jamanak, Haykakan Jamanak, and I’m beginning to perceive these newspapers as a single whole. No newspaper in Armenia taken separately can provide such variety in information, but the noted newspapers taken together serve this purpose: without any agreement, one completes the other. It’s not like this n the TV sector: each [channel] repeats the other; more so, they mimic Hay Lur. Of course, in this instance, I don’t mean GALA, but, unfortunately, its reach is very limited.

I know that there are many things in what I say and do that are not acceptable for you. And I don’t agree with you in a number of issues. But who said that’s a bad thing? Who said that it shouldn’t be this way? Isn’t this what we want, after all, for each to have the prerogative to disagree? It probably sounds stupid, right, citing a classical quote that “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”?

My Best Wishes,

Nikol Pashinyan