Aram Manukyan Արամ Մանուկյան

After the election of Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the very next day, a 15-member Committee was created headed by professor Karen Yuzbashyan, who was Ter-Petrosyan’s mentor in Leningrad, in Aspirantura, an excellent scholar. A multi-party Committee was established under his leadership, and there were 10 drafts in 20 days. There were 10 drafts of the Declaration of Independence, multi-party, I repeat. Eduard Yegoryan was leading the so-called HHSh [Հայոց համազգային շարժում, Pan-Armenian National Movement] fraction. At the end they, that Committee, voted for three out of 10 drafts to be presented to the Parliament. And the Parliament voted for one out of three, with attached comments. And on the 23rd the Parliament voted for the Declaration of Independence with 183 votes. On the next day, by the way, I read the Declaration of Independence on August 24, not 23. Everywhere, even in the textbooks, it is written that the Declaration was read on the 23rd, but that was not so, the Declaration was adopted on the 23rd with 183 votes, and Ter-Petrosyan tasked the Committee to go, work on/edit the clauses, not the content, but the letter/the language, to bring it to an appropriate condition, as it had to be made public for the world on the next day, to commence the independence process of Armenia, and there should not have been any flaws. The Committee worked at night. They came ready in the morning, and already 193 parliament members voted in favor.

And already in [19]89, the process of independence started at the end of [19]88. We saw that the Movement in its nature could not solve the Karabakh issue: both the society was demanding, and the “Karabakh” Committee gradually came to the conclusion that we needed to take the path of independence, and to take that path it was necessary to take power. It was then that slowly, already in [19]89, the issue of taking the power and solving the Karabakh question in that way had matured. And what was also… let me justify why we did not go to an open confrontation. In [19]89 several members of the “Karabakh” Committee, five people, and Khachik Stamboltsyan as well as Robert Kocharyan, were elected to the Supreme Council of Armenia, and Rafael Ghazaryan was elected Deputy President of the Presidium of the Supreme Council [deputy speaker of the parliament]. These were high positions. This was the law at the time: if a mandate was vacated somewhere, elections were held in the Supreme Council, in the Supreme Council of Soviet Armenia. And in all those elections, five, then two, representatives of the Pan Armenian National Movement were elected. In other words, without opposing the Communists, without announcing a war, by getting elected into the Communist Parliament and with the pressure of people, if it wasn’t for the pressure of people on the back, they would neither get elected, nor could raise questions in the parliament, they started to raise questions. We were not in power yet, on December 1, [19]89 a Decree was adopted on the unification of Karabakh with Armenia. And many other things happened too. A Decree on the Armenian Language was adopted, a Decree on not sending the Armenian conscripts to the Soviet Army, many things like that were a result of people’s pressure. The Communist authorities accepted and slowly stepped back, but they did not crash it down. Of course, there were some cases. Particularly the biggest bloody event happened in May of that same [19]88 in Erebuni district, then in that so called “Stalichny Polk” military unit. We lost 35 people, 26 victims in one place and 10 in the other, there were also wounded. The first victims were at that time, i.e. The Soviet Union tried to do everything to crash it down.

Of course, during this period me, our activists, delegations came from the Prosecutor’s Office of the USSR, together with our local KGB they started interrogating, making our pictures, scaring us, warning us- it would be like this, you are playing with fire, etc., etc. Of course, there were people who gave up. But when you had the support of hundreds of thousands behind you, you became a hero, you were not afraid of them, and they would step back, they were not able to break anyone. Thus we became active and we always kept in touch with the “Karabakh” Committee in Yerevan, and the “Karabakh” Committee in Yerevan had an approach of sending its people to the meetings in the regions, and there were people responsible for that. For example, Davit Shahnazaryan and Samson Ghazaryan worked with Lori province. Often when there were important things they would come and present. But there have been many cases, a very maybe funny but logical thing․․․ The local structures were very independent. Central decisions of the “Karabakh” Committee were applicable, acceptable for us, but there were cases when we refused even the decision of the central “Karabakh” committee or the decision made in Freedom Square. For example, mass strikes were commenced in Yerevan to put pressure on central authorities to make decisions favorable for Armenia and Artsakh. The organization of those strikes was a very difficult task. It took days. This organization would not join, that educational institution would not join, some were active, some were passive, etc. So, the messengers came to Vanadzor to tell us that we had to start a strike, and as soon as it got active here, like many were already on strike, and we had just started and it already became massive, in Yerevan they made a decision that the strike should stop. At that moment stopping the strikes was the right thing to do. We had just been able to take Vanadzor organizations on strike, through very hard work, working day and night. It was just gaining momentum, and here we receive an order to stop. We said we were not going to follow the order, these people have just rebelled, just took to streets, it is just a demand, how can you tell them to go home after working hard for a week? No, the order to stop the strikes came again. We in Vanadzor, we the “super brave” political activists, said: “if you are going to force us, we will declare Vanadzor independent and will join Georgia.” Of course, it was not serious, but they got afraid and started taking into account that you cannot upset local structures, local organizations have the right to make independent decisions. Democracy really worked here. The movement did not work only through messages and orders.

The painters, who would often get together, around a drink or would organize exhibitions, after the news about the movement, after the news coming from Yerevan, they started gathering to discuss political issues. And exactly that core was the “Karabakh” committee of Vanadzor, which brought around it other, younger painters, scientists, and actors. And I was already the second echelon, yes, and a bit younger than them, and thus it spread and we tried the next step, and they have tried to select activists from different institutions, different organizations. They [the activists] appeared almost by themselves, i.e. they were getting interested or they would learn that the painters were gathered there, they would come and say “can we participate in your gatherings, meetings, discussions?” Then they would receive suggestions, tasks, and each of them would go back to her/his organization and create a “Karabakh” committee. Those were called “Karabakh” committees. “Karabakh” committees were created in every institution, large structures of every industry. And those, exactly those “Karabakh” committees started influencing the leadership of their enterprises, because that committee could not do anything, i.e. to write a letter to Moscow, or make a statement, or organize a meeting. We in these small inside groups were forcing the heads of institutions to organize meetings for discussing those questions, or to write an appeal to Moscow, to the Kremlin demanding the liberation of Karabakh, etc. Thus, such cells were created in every institution, which again cooperated with those central organization, and thus it spread and spread, and became all-national, and we started to organize rallies, and the rallies became more and more crowded, influential, and then the authorities, the communist authorities you refer to, or either central or local bureaucrats began to slowly put up with it.

It was the beginning of the movement, February of [19]88. And the news in [19]88 has an interesting explanation. With no TV, no Facebook, no media, no social media, the news was spread not less quickly. At a lightning speed. Just due to the human factor, i.e. if something happened in Karabakh, and that started in the beginning of February, February 13, 18 then 21st, the news from there reached Yerevan and then it would immediately spread all over Armenia. How was it spread from Yerevan, as people in Yerevan say “to the regions”? And we got upset when they called Lori or Shirak “the regions”… One person was enough, we had such postmen, heralds who participated in Yerevan demonstrations, and in the evening, with a difference of a couple of hours, the news would reach all regions of Armenia. And those rebellions, rallies, pickets, demonstrations, strikes spread very quickly with a rule of communicating vessels and started to work in harmony. So, there were no means back then, just human beings as a physical information tool worked, and worked very rightly, precisely, since let’s put it this way, there was no individual, party question, or the question of taking the power. There was an all-national issue: it was necessary to get the help of your compatriots who were subjected to hardships and massacres in Karabakh. Then the Sumgait happened. Hours later [the information] spread in Armenia and the escalation of events went on. The so-called organizational committees were formed in all areas. Initially those were irregular groups, groups of active people that were trying to organize the public to prove support to the people of Karabakh. So, that was the method of the Movement, the spreading method. Then Samizdat started to work. Leaflets started to be published. Moreover, the leaflets, it was very interesting, were typed on typewriters, copies were made, let's say there was no photocopier, there was no computer. For example, when I was working in the “Avtomatika” Scientific-industrial Complex of Vanadzor, there was one typewriter in our department. So, we would put five-six-seven pages of paper and make copies with that typewriter and would give a copy to each person, and then these people would distribute those in their organizations. Five-six-seven, this is how it was spread. Leaflets had become the best means of information, information technology, and thus it was spread.

A very interesting story came to my mind. My father was a communist, he was even a communist leader, a leader in an organization. And when I was working in a scientific organization they had announced a call for a head of a scientific-educational organization. I was experienced, already had work experience and sufficient knowledge to apply for that position of a unit head. I have applied. They told me “stop! You should join the Communist party in order to participate in the selection.” And I wanted that position, it was a scientific organization, it was necessary for the career to get accepted. So I asked my father for his help. He said: “let’s try it if it is necessary.” And he used his circumstance of being a communist, a local communist leader. He went to an acquaintance at the City Council to tell him that there was such an issue and he needed help. He was told that 3000 Rubles were required for that, for becoming a member of the Communist party. It was a shock. It was a shock for me that communism… I have heard, but that you had to pay that much money for that… It was not as shocking for me as for my father who was disappointed, got sick, and was broken that the 50 years of his just work, back then it was called “the work of communist justice” was broken. And it became a very important turning point for me to hate that society, that party, the empire. It was a turning point and I started more actively… Of course, my career was stopped there, I was not able to advance further, since I did not have that membership card. Instead, the passion of going against the flow, the motivation of going against the flow grew, I actively got engaged in politics with all its accessories. And thus I became a public leader, a well-known public person.

The communists did not disturb us much. They could not. Our spirit, readiness was much higher. Let me tell you a strange example. In [19]91 we are voting on the draft law to nationalize the property of the Communist Party. Approximately 160 people voted for, 7 people voted against. Remember, that half were communists, but most of those communists voted to hand over their property to the state. In other words, the communists no longer had the opportunity to act with that momentum, to carry out activities, even though they were trying to spoil and corrupt. The session of July 20, when it was the first session, the Parliament gathered, when the Catholicos welcomed, the Minister of Interior officially stated in the Parliament that he was not taking the responsibility for ensuring our security and the security of our sessions. This was a demarche. Thus, the Communists stated that the security of the legitimately elected Parliament was not their business. It meant that no matter what happened, they would not protect. And there were cases when armed people climbed up to the podium. We witnessed a case, when someone with a grenade, holding a grenade in his hand, reached the central podium, and started to scare like this. Thanks to Babken Ararktsyan’s prudence, this calculated, calm things, his ability to quickly adapt, he calmed down that person, took him to a back room, the recreation room of the parliament, using right words, etc… and only after that the security came and disarmed that person.

First, it was difficult, because it was the first time. We had Ashot Voskanyan’s case. Once Ashot Voskanyan went to the podium and could not speak. That heavy tension, the burden, does something to you, you experience contractions and you cannot speak. I had that feeling in the first second. My knees were just shaking. Not figuratively, my knees were really shaking. And that's why I knew that there would be tension, I felt the weight of the historical moment, I felt this responsibility. I had 50 grams of vodka, I read it one time with Hovik Matinyan in our cafeteria, in the canteen. I read it for the second time, after drinking those fifty grams, he hit me on the shoulder and told me to go read it. Something else happened there before that. It was not at the time we expected that I should read, Ter-Petrosyan called me a bit earlier and told me that I would read in 15 minutes. I said: ‘how come, boss, wait, I still have to rehearse,’ and so on. He found the way: ‘if you don't want, I'll ask someone else, someone else will read it.’ ‘Who says I don't, okay, I'll be ready in 15 minutes.’ I went down, read it, rehearsed two times, loudly read it twice, and then went to the podium, my knees trembling... Later I have watched it many times. I am inexperienced while reading the first sentences. The emphasis and punctuation are not professional; they are not good. After a few sentences, I just fall into place, I can already read the words beautifully, the intonation is normal. And after that I became a kissing object for the people. Like [saint’s] door. Everybody would hug and kiss me on the streets, there was no selfie option back then, no mobile phones… I was an object of worship in those days.

The Declaration is a fully consensual document. And the leaders of the Pan-Armenian National Movement, Babken Ararktsyan, Vano, and Levon, believed that any arbitrary, illogical, legally not-grounded suggestion should be discussed. We have discussed it for days and nights only for the author of a suggestion to leave the room satisfied, so as they would then vote, so as their points were discussed, they were not upset. The meaning was the following: to create a document for centuries to come, so that on the next day of its adoption no political party could say that the parliament was not democratic, that the leadership was not democratic, we brought these wonderful suggestions and they were not accepted. Therefore, Ter-Petrosyan would patiently discuss all the suggestions in detail, put those for voting, then move forward, put it for voting, then move forward. And as a result, no one, no single politician or a political party later tried to cast a shadow on the Declaration of Independence. In other words, its strength was its consensual nature, being agreed with all political forces. Of course, there were points in those discussions that were very sharp in terms of perception, it was very hard to convince them that this or that clause should be in or out. The first one was the stipulation on the [19]89 unification of Karabakh with Armenia, which was in the preamble, and the last one that caused lengthy discussions, was the issue of the Genocide recognition. There were many sharp proposals related to the recognition of the Genocide, so to say “brave” suggestions, but Ter-Petrosyan always said that the victims of the Genocide are in the Diaspora, the “owners” of the Genocide are Diaspora Armenians, and the recognition of the Genocide is the issue of humanity. If France needs to recognize the Genocide, it should not do so for us. France itself should be interested in avoiding genocide as a crime against humanity, it would recognize by itself. The Genocide recognition is not a present, not an advance payment, like “we want to recognize the Genocide in order to help Armenia”, it is not a gift, not an advance payment to us. Therefore, our approach was the following: we should not beg the world to recognize our genocide, if you need it, then recognize it, if you believe it had happened. So, there were many discussions around this. And at the end it was adopted still like a compromise, that the Republic of Armenia takes forward, supports the process of the Genocide recognition. This was a compromise. Maybe they were a bit upset, but the clause stayed. There was a suggestion to not include that clause at all, not with nation building, independence… such a viewpoint: what does the Genocide have to do with it? If it was there, then there was a suggestion to consider other cases in need of restoring historical justice as well… but the role of this document, and that was the pragmatism, that you should try to avoid romanticism, it is the nation-building document. Do you build a nation through gaining enemies, or do you declare that you are a nation?

We entered the Parliament. The first session took place on July 20, a wonderful, historic session, which was welcomed by Catholicos Vazgen. We still did not have the majority, we were large in number, but were not more than half. And the first most difficult obstacle that stood in our way was the elections of the President of the Supreme Council on July 3, or rather August 3. Two candidates: Levon Ter-Petrosyan and Vladimir Movsisyan, equal votes. Levon Ter-Petrosyan received 110 votes and he needed 140, it was not enough. Movsisyan received 95 votes. They were almost equal. And for 2-3 days, with 4-5 votes, Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s votes hardly reached 140 in three days. And how? What happened in the politics of Armenia? Seeing that their candidate would not pass, the Communists, so to say the young wing of the Communists, who had just entered the ranks of the Communist Party, Vigen Khachatryan, Artashes Tumanyan, Gagik Harutyunyan, those who had also received education, were a little more liberal, they saw for themselves that the Movement was moving forward, while they did not succeed, and they joined us.

Some members of the “Karabakh” Committee were against the Movement’s becoming a political Party, because the Movement was broad-based, it included like-minded people who would not be obliged to become party members. In other words, the Movement was more powerful. But the other wing of the “Karabakh” committee argued that the Movement should be regulated, governed by democratic principles, and the decisions made from above should be binding for the bottom, and the proposals from below should rise to the top, in accordance with the rules of democratic centralism. However, at the end, after those long and heated discussions, we had to regulate in order to both comply with the law and to build relations with other structures, to have legal relationships. We had to organize and wanted to organize congress in order to establish a political party. The congress lasted two or three days. There were more than a thousand delegates, and there were also several thousand people outside the congress who were watching our work. It was really historical in its content. After that, all our congresses have always produced documents, historical documents, regarding the principles of nation-building in the future. And at that time, a comprehensive document was adopted regarding Armenia’s independence, its future activities, and all spheres of the party’s activities. Back then we were differentiating the following spheres: external, culture, internal, political, etc., etc. All those were historic documents. And the most beautiful part was at the end. The governing body, the board of the Pan-Armenian National Movement had to be elected for the first time. One thousand people voted, maybe 30 people should have been elected, but the counting, there were no computers back then, there was nothing, let's say about 50 people had to count by hand. And all night, those 1000 people gave a concert in today's hall of the American University. Everyone sang. Patriotic songs, uplifting songs, beautiful songs. And what was good? Everybody was singing well. I also sang, and I sang. “I am Aram, brave Aram, they are taking me to the gallows”, that song, “but I will shout from the gallows until... um...freedom…”

Vanadzor has always been a city of painters, and all my friends… also scientists… I was working… The biggest number of scientific institutions were in Vanadzor. these scientific institutions later started producing weapons for Karabakh.․․․ This is how the activists of the Movement sprung up: it was a natural selection from there. Those who spoke good, whose text was good, who could be trusted, or had convinced that they were trustworthy. All around me were those people of science and artists, who later became really heroes of the movement, leaders of the Movement. And we were the first to react to those things. For the sake of justice, I must say that the Gorbachev thaw contributed to this. Gorbachev’s movement, that Gorbachev process allowed the society to get active. Of course, there was a taboo at the top, you had to be active, but not to the degree of political activity. Culture, education, ecology- do whatever you want, but do not enter the politics, do not raise party issues․․․ This was sufficient for the start. Thus, the spirit of freedom, the spirit of relative freedom, made it possible for us to fill the streets, to propagate people, hold events and demonstrations. Back then there were councils of working collectives in the organizations. Those were supposedly leading/managing the organizations. These councils started leading the Karabakh Movement. These were such times that even the Communist Party was not against the Movement. Formally it was against, it was forbidden to allow such things, we were being taken to the KGB, to the Prosecutor’s Office, but when you'd speak with them privately, they all knew that Karabakh was Armenian, that Armenia’s salvation was in freedom and independence. Also, they have seen the movements in Eastern Europe. We had information from Poland, The Czech, Baltic states. We had contacts. Later these connections always worked. We visited them, they visited us. Let me give an example, a very good one. After the earthquake Ukrainians, Estonians and other people came to Vanadzor and Spitak. We made Estonians and Ukrainians part of our movements. Since they were also from the so-called liberal countries, countries undergoing liberation, they gladly joined us. What were the benefits? It was very important. We took the Estonian flag, with their consent, with their activists, the flag of Ukraine, put the [Armenian] tricolor in the middle and went out into the streets. This is about Vanadzor. The Police could do nothing anymore. Ukraine, Estonia, Armenia - we went to a march, a demonstration, it was an international thing, it was an action. Then of course we kept in touch.

I hadn't heard about the Karabakh issue at the beginning. Initially, when our conscious things started, it was more the ASALA, the Genocide, it was more people who had killed Turkish pashas, and we were printing and making copies of those books. So, the patriotic note worked, it was there, as at the end of the day we also knew, in [19]65 commemorations took place on the 50th anniversary of the genocide in Armenia, and that information was being spread. But the Karabakh reunification was not there as a specific/concrete issue. And it was moderate, you had to do it cautiously, you had to do it secretly. Back then you could not even listen to Radio Liberty or Voice of Europe [America]. Not only Radio Liberty, but at that time even for listening to Pink Floyd, or say Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple or Pink Floyd, even during Gorbachev’s period, listening to those would not be possible. We would save money for months to buy a Pink Floyd disk, we’d gather at a friend’s house who would have a music player to listen to the forbidden bourgeois music. Exactly the sweetness of that forbidden fruit pushed us to try it. So, we were also educated that way: since it is forbidden, since there are only five copies, since you have to read it in two days, you would always go in that opposite direction, against the flow.