Epress.am News from Armenia
I consider holding a festival of Azerbaijani films to be quite positive. Of course, I don’t know the quality and themes of the works that will be shown, but the fact that, say, in some sense it is a “forbidden fruit” makes it sweet, said theater critic Ara Nedolyan, referring to the festival of Azerbaijani films to be screened from Nov. 2 to 4 in Yerevan.
“I am convinced that there should be no forbidden fruit for a citizen of the Republic of Armenia; this citizen has the right to use everything, whatever he wants, including Azerbaijani films, regardless of [whether] a part of the Azerbaijani state or the public is unpleasant, because they hate Armenians,” he said.
In his opinion, “No one has the right to decide for an RA citizen, that is for me, [whether] I watch the Azerbaijani films or not.” Nedolyan asked those who make such claims (i.e. asking him to watch the films or not) to voluntarily remove themselves from his friends’ list.
As for the threats and hateful comments directed at writer Lusine Vayachyan who apparently created the film festival event page on Facebook, Nedolyan deemed them “hooligan and criminal acts,” and advised Vayachyan to appeal to the police.
On one side of the issue there are human and RA citizens’ rights, while on the other side, according to Nedolyan, is that such an initiative is an expression of serious human and civil courage.
“It’s those people who go there [to the festival] who will change the current regressive and bellicose Azerbaijani state and society, and if only for showing support for those people, I think, we should actively attend the festival.
“I thought that Armenian society was a little bit higher in its standards from the Azerbaijani [society], but the unpleasant uproar related to Lusine and [event organizer] Georgi Vanyan proves that not so much.
“In any case, the cooperation agreement signed between the Pan-Armenian National Movement and Müsavat [“Equality” Party, Azerbaijan] basically means that now, he who wants to change his society must strive to change also his attitude toward so-called ‘enemy nations,’ understanding that there are no enemy nations, just regressive and bellicose societies and ruling systems, and there are those who are fighting against all this, ignoring even the threat to their own life, and it’s those people who are our true allies and the embodiment of hope for radical changes,” concluded Ara Nedolyan.