WE NEED AN ENCYCLOPEDIA

[MosJan]

WE NEED AN ENCYCLOPEDIA

Right after Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to sign a Russia-mediated truce in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in 1994, I got down to the first volume of a book which was supposed to give a full picture about the origin and process of the Karabagh movement. In its introduction I wrote that many books would be written about our Patriotic war (I used this word frequently knowing that the war in Karabagh was regarded as a Patriotic war according to all the laws of the historical science, as it was deciding the fate of our homeland, a question of to be or not to be was at stake. I wrote that a new Yeghishe (a mediaeval Armenian historian) would come to write down the story of Karabagh heroes to leave it for the coming generations. I wrote that a new Leo Tolstoy would be born to create the epic of war and peace. I wrote that we would have everything, final victory, chronicles and epic.

 

 

Bu t I would have never thought that right after the establishment of the cease-fire regime the book market would be saturated with works which I can hardly describe as memoirs. In the first years after the truce they were thin booklets about the deeds and lives of the Karabagh heroes who sacrificed their lives for the sake of their land. There were people who covered all these expenses. A major work by that time was completed by Andranik Arshakian, who released the first volume of short biographies of the soldiers killed in the war from the start of the Karabagh movement up to December 31, 1991. Sasoun Grigorian, another devotee is also conducting a huge amount of work, who issued several books, still under the Soviets, about Armenian writers, poets, painters, composer and musicians perished in the World War II.

 

 

Meantime dozens of poetry books of both live and killed authors were released. But the lion’s share of these books was created in a genre, which can be named as “About Time and Self,” or “Autobiographies.” And this is quite natural. There were times when an author had to overcome a thousand and one obstacles to have his book published. The book should have been included in the so-called “state plan” and the author had to patiently wait, sometimes, for years, to see his book published. After the book was released the author’s text was sometimes as much changed by the editors that he could hardly recognize it. Ernest Hemingway, and especially William Saroyan used to admit that irrespective of what they wrote about, even about the past, it was about themselves It is well known that every front-line soldier describes the battle in his own way, mincing his memories and it is regarded as chronicle. This is why all the so-called biographies present the events in a subjective manner. The publishers do not check out either geographical names or the dates of the battles or the heroes’ names.

 

 

Naturally, it is not possible to either stop these processes or manage them. This all is called market economy and freedom of speech. By the way, this is observed in all countries, except those suffering from totalitarian syndrome. People write about what they want, the only problem is the money to cover expenses, but this, however, does not mean that after passing to the market economy we have to put up with this phenomena which discredits and falsifies the history.

 

 

This may have a negative impact on further studies. But there is a way out. We have to start working on a true history of the Karabagh Movement from 1988 up to 1994. I think we should start from preparing a one-volume encyclopedia. The editorial office of the Armenian Encyclopedia is the only body that will be able to cope with this task of huge importance. The encyclopedia should elucidate all the sides of the life of our people before the Karabagh Movement and in the process of national-liberation movement, which grew into a wide-scale Patriotic war.

 

 

Fortunately, the Armenian Encyclopedia has acquired a big experience in preparing and publication of such editions. It is enough to name a major Armenian Encyclopedia consisting of 13 big volumes. Despite the hardships the editors and the entire staff had to go through, they have not quit their work. It is high time to publish this one volume encyclopedia that would contain a thorough information about all the battles, strategic military operations, defense of such settlements as Karintak, Khnabad, Askeran which altogether were the defending shield of the capital Stepanakert.

 

 

The book has to include not subjective stories but scientifically processed articles, written by experts, about the people who started the movement, about the Diaspora and its aid, about Diaspora benefactors who rendered concrete assistance. A special place should be given to description of battles on the front line and at the rear. For the first time the heroic feeds of Armenian pilots who flew to Karabagh on warplanes and helicopters should be elucidated. The same should be said about the doctors thanks to whom nearly 80 percent of the wounded recovered.

 

 

The book should be well illustrated, with different pictures showing how the towns looked before and after bombardments. Today few people remember how the capital Stepanakert looked like before liberating the town of Shoushi, located above the capital and from where the Azeris fired at the capital. People have forgotten that they left basements only to bury the dead. The pictures should also illustrate what kind of weapons the warriors used before formation of a regular Karabagh army.

 

 

I have visited all the places both in Karabagh and Armenia where monuments to the soldiers perished in the war were erected. Many of them are made in the traditional Armenian style; the book should include the pictures of all these monuments.

 

 

The book should have an historical introduction, a short military-political article about the turning points in the movement when from sporadic shootings it grew into a war. This book should contain unbiased information only, as “history is as exact as Mathematics.” My opponents, while agreeing with my idea about creating this book, may argue that publication of such an encyclopedia would be too expensive under our scanty resources. It is true, but we think that the Institute of History affiliated with the Academy of Sciences, the defense ministry, the Union of writers and other creative unions may contribute to it. We also believe that our compatriots from Diaspora will also take interest in this undertaking and will render material assistance for its implementation. This book will be a strong weapon and an argument both in endless negotiation process on all levels and in propaganda and information wars.

 

 

Zory Balaian

 

© Copyright AZG

[Paul bunyan]

Sounds good, I hope they will get the

support they need for the encyclopedia