President Armen Sarkissian’s congratulatory message on the occasion of the 85th anniversary of the Writers’ Union of Armenia: Writers’ Union should not only feel the pulse of time but also be ahead of time

Distinguished members of the Writers’ Union of Armenia,

Masters of words and letters,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

At the outset, allow me to congratulate you all on the occasion of the 85th anniversary of the creation of the Writers’ Union of Armenia.

Before the creation of the Union, there were structures which united writers. Let’s recall the Vernatun literary club-assembly created by the Great Toumanian at the end of the 19th century. Let’s recall the members of Vernatun – Ghazaros Aghayan, Hovhannes Toumanian, Avetik Isahakian, Levon Shant, Derenik Demirjian, Nikol Aghbalian…

The membership of the Writers’ Union of Armenia created in 1934 was certainly not less revered – Charents, Totovents, Alazan, Bakunts, Mahari… It was a period of time when the heavy mallet of ideology forged its seal on the word and mind while those who resisted it were branded as traitors or enemies. It was a period of time when national was labeled as nationalistic, human - as nihilistic. It was a period of great and small, remarkable and ordinary, probably the most difficult time in the life of the Writers’ Union of Armenia.

It was difficult to just live in that period, much less to create. Nevertheless, along with all that, literature was being created – prose and poetry, acceptable and unacceptable, praiseworthy and outrageous.

In my youth years, the Writers’ Union was perceived as a structure with dignity, one which had something to say, one that had a mentality, a structure which was shaping literary taste.

The Writers’ Union, in the person of its members, was perceived as a time- shaping and making time meaningful, time-appreciating organization. Within its structure, there were both those who inspired the time and those dejected by the time.

In my memory, it was a unique island of free thinking where Eghishe Charents, Aksel Bakunts, Avetik Isahakian had lived, where Paryur Sevak, Hovhannes Shiraz, Khachik Dashtents, Gevork Emin, Silva Kaputikian, Hamo Sahian, Vardges Petrossian, Hrant Matevossian were living and were lived also Mushegh Galshoyan, Hrachia Hovehannissian, Vahagn Davtian, Perj Zeytuntsian, Razmik Davoyan, Aghasi Ayvazian and many more of their praiseworthy colleagues.

On that island, the time feeling was different because the Writers’ Union was not a place for ordinarily thinking people but of those who had personality and opinion, a union of those who created lasting literature.

Circumventing ideological restraints and remaining true to the traditions of the national literature, the literature of that very period educated new generations in the spirit of patriotism and devotion to the national ideals. The generation of 1988 was the product of that very literature.

Today Armenia lives in different times, in the time of changes and changes in mentality, perceptions, even sensations have become an imperative.
The Writers’ Union time should never stop. The Union should move in step with times and in the today’s rapidly changing world should feel not only the pulse of time but be ahead of time and command it.

I am confident that new times will produce new creative thinking and new quests, new literary pieces and new literary achievements.

I once again congratulate the Writers’ Union of Armenia, all its members and wish you all the best, creative vigor, impartiality and fidelity to one’s own individuality, letters, and truth.