Letter to and from Nikol Pashinyan, translated

A letter to Pashinyan, and his response, were recently posted on Pashinyan's website. Here's the translation:

A letter from Hayk

I think I will address you as Mr. Pashinyan. This is already my third message to you. You didn’t answer the first two. I hope, however, that you will not leave this one unanswered. PACE perhaps did what most people expected. Yet I, for one, wished from the bottom of my heart, that they would deprive these authorities, or this state, as it were, of their right to vote, and even more, that they would apply sanctions. But Friday came sooner than Saturday. Everything happened just as it was intended to happen.

On the evening of February 29 my wife was saying to me: “Hayk, what have you found on Liberty Square that you don’t have at home?” I told her: “Tomorrow we’ll all go—I, you, my sons and my yet unborn daughter, and you will see what I have found there.”
Do you know that deep in my heart, I couldn’t believe those ten days, everything that all that was happening to us, in Yerevan; or, was I was afraid that all of that—I mean the feeling of Freedom and feeling worthwhile—would end all too soon.

You know, only at Liberty Square, and not even at home, did I feel so HUMAN. But it seemed that in a single second, by the wish of a single person, everything came to an end, was erased and disappeared.

Do you know that you and I met on March 1 near Myasnikyan’s statue? We even exchanged a few words. You may not remember, but at that time you thought I was—how do they say it?—an instigator. I was saying that those animals, armed with machine guns, are waiting to ambush us. That day I was crying as I never have before. I don’t know why. No, I think I was crying for Armenia, because it was dying. And now, after PACE’s slavish decision I am convinced that the Armenia I dreamt of is no more; that it died. I don’t know, but it seemed like a collection of meaningless sentences. But quite honestly, I no longer have the wish to live in this country, where the authorities will now be allowed to do everything; in a country where the likes of Edvard Sharmazanov announce that PACE’s decision was the victory of democracy in Armenia; where those who speak of democracy attain power with guns.

Nikol, these people will never leave by their own free will. Convince me that I’m wrong.
I hope this time you will answer me. At any rate, let me tell you that I believe, I believe that we will WIN.


Nikol’s answer:

Dear Hayk, my dear brother, don’t you dare despair. Forgive me, but I say it again—don’t you dare despair, don’t you dare despair. I don’t accept the nostalgia for the 10 days on Liberty Square because, despite the fact that those were such dazzling days, they are already in the past. We should not fill ourselves with memories of a romantic past but with the will for the future. We have a purpose, in the form of a Free and Happy Armenia, and we should have the manhood to actualize that purpose. I am convinced that we do.

Dear Hayk, Nelson Mandela served 28 years of a life sentence in prison. During that time what he did was serve that sentence, which he did, without any hopes for a victory. He won because of one thing only: he did not surrender, he did not despair. Of course these authorities will not cede power by their own free will; they would go only because of our own will. And for that to happen, we must have the will.

By the way, this web page was launched in early January. Since then, I’ve received around 100 questions, but of those who wrote, no one asked about the expected deliberations at PACE. Only in one question, I think, there was a passing reference. That made me very happy because it means that people see that which should be done within their own selves. At the same time, I liked the fact that despite your despair, you finished your letter with faith in our victory.
Faith and will—these are our issues. Each one of us must nurture in him or her that faith and that will. Yes, the former Armenia is no more; you’re right. In the period following March 1, a new Armenia is being shaped, and now, at this moment, at each moment, I, you and the other, forecast the kind of Armenia that is being shaped. We decide that in ourselves. I understand all your feelings, but I say to you that you owe it to your children; you must bequeath to your children the kind of Armenia where they feel free and wholesome.

Paying this debt to our children is above all other feelings, above despair or excitement. This is a task, this is a mission, this is a duty that rests on our—yours and mine—shoulders, and we must carry that burden without complaints, and without any complaints dedicate ourselves to that mission. Again I say, the issue is not about that which is taking place in the internal political life, but what is taking place within each one of us. To win the political struggle, we must first win over the struggle being waged within ourselves. We must allow to grow and nurture in ourselves, our will and our resoluteness, and cleanse them of our melancholy, our despair and lack of trust, just as the harvest is cleansed of weed.

Forgive me for thinking you were an instigator on March 1. And let me add that I have answered your earlier questions. It’s just that because of the large number of questions, it has been difficult to answer them all within the deadlines expected by their authors.

Be well.