An homage to the rich, yet overlooked history of Armenian editorial illustrations, the “Archive-mine” exhibition, curated by Shamiram Khachatryan & EVN Report and on display during the EVN Media Festival this year, revealed works published in more than a dozen different Armenian periodicals in the last century, from Cairo to Istanbul, London to Tehran, Tbilisi and Yerevan. The satirical grit, the acerbic precision of illustrators like Alexander Saroukhan, Josef Rotter, Michael Hovikian, Dev and many others still resonate with the cultural, political, social and geopolitical realities of Armenia and Armenians. They are a testament to not only the role of the media to hold up a mirror to its readers but of the media’s innate predisposition to witness and relay its own times.

•••

Abdag [Slap]
Monthly Satirical Political Publication of the Hnchagian Party

1894-1896 Athens
1897 London

There are many kinds of slaps. There is the slap that a person who has been insulted delivers upon the one who insulted them. There is the slap that brings the arrogant to their senses. There is also the slap that is deserved by the ill-doer. And there is the slap that actors deliver on stage.  

Amongst weapons, the slap is not only a tool for self-defense, not only a means to injure, but also, the trace it leaves on one’s face, invisible as it may be, is indelible, and its moral meaning is the exact opposite of a kiss. 

Of all the kinds of slaps, we prioritize the slap delivered by those who have been insulted. The slap that we want to deliver in the name of Armenians to our oppressors, those who in their caring compassion, benevolent behavior, smiling savageness and sugar coated profanities endlessly offend the Armenian nation. 

There are also people in our national arena, who, as if by some innate drive, constantly strive to be slapped and we, naturally, would like to be kind enough to deliver their deserved slaps of shame. 

There are also those, again in our national arena, whose main character traits are rudeness and dilettantism. A slap for them is the same as a splash of cold water for the insane. With the utmost willingness we want to fulfill the role of delivering their medicine. 

The fourth kind of slap, the one deserved by the wicked, is also an important weapon but delivering this slap is an unpleasant duty, and the one who does gets their hands dirty.

The fifth kind of a slap, the kind that actors deliver, is from the realm of those self-serving, fake “nation loving” charlatans, who wearing their masks endlessly perform in a play they call, “The Armenian Issue.”

And we are at a loss as to which of these necessary, wonderful, meaningful slaps to use. To use all of them, one would need five hands. We, just like anyone else, have only two hands and our slap would not be that potent. This is a problem. But we believe that we have the solution, we will deliver the slaps one by one. 

Let’s see… 

•••

Hayeli, [Mirror]
(also published under the names “Khabarda”, “Satana”, “Hayeli-Khabarda”, “Hop-Hop”)
Cultural, Humoristic Illustrated Weekly Magazine

1906-1907 Tbilisi
Editor, V. Bedrossian

To Our Contributors
(Nine commandments*) 

We ask you to not be shy and send to our publication any useless and shoddy material you might have. It’s fine, if at times, the idea is not clear, is unreadable and takes weeks and months to figure out the words to construct a sentence. 

Write on all sides of the page, don’t leave a margin or any open space, write from the back, the top, the sides, the middle, from the right, the left, between the lines, beyond the lines, crooked. Write like one side is facing Tehran and the other Iran. 

Never use black ink, once in a while use red but mostly use white ink.  

Try to line up as many unknown words as you can, one after another, so that the readers, seeing Armenian letters, read Latin words and make out the meaning in Arabic.  

Use 45 different dialects to write one short article. 

Do not spare the eyesight of the typist, the time of the editor or the patience and taste of the reader. 

The articles must be long, a maximum of five and a minimum of ten times the content of “Mshag” (a social-political, literary newspaper published between 1872-1921 in Tbilisi).

If during these extremely interesting and historically turbulent days, you have set everything aside and have decided to dedicate your precious time to the craft of “humorous sketching” and out of intellectual vacuousness, you do not have a subject, let us know. We will instantly provide you with ample material. 

Write the articles on thick, cardboard paper, wrap them in straw matts and post them without a stamp to spare our publication the trouble of loading them and bringing them to the office and wasting time on reading these literary jewels. 

* Movses from our publication lost the tenth commandment on his way to the printing house.

•••

Saprich [Barber]
Literary Humoristic Satirical Monthly Magazine 

1906-1908 Petersburg
Editor, publisher, D(avid) Okroian 

A few words on the occasion of the publication of “Saprich” 

Starting today, “Saprich” enters the public Armenian literary realm. “Saprich”, to the extent of its abilities, will try to fill the lack of humor and satire in the Armenian literary space, persistent to this day even though this form of oratory has long established its citizenship in the civilized European world. The intent of “Saprich” is to present to the judgment of society the dark and negative corners of both societal and ongoing administrative dealings, which a healthy human logic would find harmful, unfair, and worthy of its strict and just criticism by subjugating these negative societal phenomena to humor. We believe we too have the right to laugh and make fun of the blind and boring analysts tied to the former authorities in the Caucasus whose motto was “Russification”… We will focus on the Armenians because for decades, it was the unfortunate Armenians, who in silence and with patience had to bear the heavy chains of the blind and senseless policy of “Russification”…

•••

Khatabala [Debacle]
Humoristic-Satirical Weekly

1906-1926 Tbilisi 
Editor, publisher A. Yeritsian

From the editorial staff,

Before we published our “Khatabala”, we wrote the following to our numerous acquaintances, relatives, in-laws, godfather-children, we also wrote to all the representatives of administrative, social, small and large organizations, that is if you can call them that. 

“Honorable Gentlemen, 

We will soon publish a humorous magazine called “Khatabala”. On its pages, with colorful and colorless illustrations, words, fables, riddles, rhymes and other similar, currently strictly forbidden weapons, we will be fighting against you on every occasion that we notice anything ridiculous or shameful in your actions even if you might consider them honorable. Therefore, to avoid any misunderstanding between us in the future, we have decided to ‘rejectingly reject’ you for the duration of the print run of “Khatabala”. Thereby, you are free to 1) not greet us; 2) not smile in our direction; 3) not shake our hands; 4) stay away from any situation that might remind you that we are acquainted.”  

This way, you will have obliged us and made our job easier. By the way, you can write to us at the enclosed address, which is sure to silence us within a couple of hours. But we warn you, you will only have contributed to the wider distribution of our paper because we have secured a dozen or so permits. Bearing this in mind, consider spreading the word about our publication amongst your wider circles. 

•••

Gavroche
Weekly Humoristic, National, Political and… Womanly Publication 

1908-1924 Constantinople
1927-1936 Paris

Editor, publisher Y. Tolayan
Editors, G. Torosian (first year)
Illustrator, M. Tashjian

Editorial note: It is permitted to beat up the editors… those interested can apply. It is free of charge for the poor. 

•••

Karapnad [Gallows]
Political and Humoristic Illustrated Weekly Magazine 

1909-1910 Constantinople

Editor, publisher A. Andonian
Later also, Y. Odian  

A few words 

None of the publications we started to date had a long life. And we were publicly criticized for our frailty. However, the fault was not as much ours, as it was the publishers’, who were expecting handfuls of gold but seeing only silver, shut down the publication in despair. There were also times when our somewhat independent character did not align with their pockets and the outcome was the same. 

To avoid such inconveniences, for the first time, we are launching “Karapnad” [guillotine] solely with our own means, without being contingent upon so and so. We should also mention that our means are not like the riches of Croesus, we would have liked them to be as wide as Ormanian’s (the Armenian patriarch of Constantinople) waist but alas they are more frail than Shahrigian Effendi (a renowned lawyer, public figure). It is obvious that, for us to be able to continue this work, we would need to have the trust of our readers and their encouragement, much more than the above mentioned two.  

Back to the publication, the name is telling of the direction we intend to take. Only truth and justice are safe from this guillotine. But alas they have already been executed elsewhere. 

•••

Bobokh [Boogeyman]
Satirical-Comical Biweekly Magazine
National, public, Social-Democratic, Tashnagtsagan, Hnchagian, “Cadet”-agan, Popular and…Neutral

1920-1942 Tehran
Editor, H. Karakash

Instead of an Editorial 

Greetings to you long-suffering bodies,
You worked hard and got tired.
Greetings to you public figures of the Armenian nation,
O’ gentlemen, virtuous and always respectable.

Greetings to you political friends,
Democrats, Hnchagians, Tashnags.
Greetings to all you beautiful madams,
And young ladies, gracious and gentle.

Bobokh is your friend, don’t be afraid
Truth is our path, don’t forget.
Laughter, joy, giggles, smiles,
You will find in the pages of Bobokh.

O’ men bored and sad,
Bobokh is your remedy.
Our Bobokh will work with all of you,
Let none be concerned in vain.

No tribe, no party, or union
are close to Bobokh.
If you are honest and act straight,
Bobokh will forever sing your praise.

But a scoundrel, or a charlatan, or a hypocrite,
They will not escape our strict pen.
We will write, mock and make fun,
Fearlessly and independently.

•••

Haygagan Cinema [Armenian Cinema]
Weekly Illustrated Satirical Publication

1925-1926 Cairo

Illustrator, publisher, A. Saroukhan
Editor, Y. Odian 

About our plans

We are not sure that it is necessary to speak about our plans now, but it is something that has become customary for every new publication.

And since it is already customary, then fine, we accept to do so but on one condition, that you do not confuse what we say for a promise but since what we intend to do is so ordinary, simple and so open that even if there is confusion, no harm will come to either us or to the ones confused. This is true so long as we do not directly or indirectly insinuate curiosity about what so and so have or will have or their money and honor and so long as we do not pursue the chairmanship of the political assembly, the head of the Diwan of estates, the supervisor of church construction, etc, etc, no matter how juicy these bits are.

Honestly, we do not have ample funds, and we do not need much, and we have promised not to covet what others own. 

Therefore, our plans will be to closely follow the Armenian community and those who are notorious, be their actions public or behind four walls or closed curtains, to film them and put them on the stage, without discrimination. 

Naturally, this is a considerable sacrifice on our part, but we cannot promise to do more than this. A person can at most give from what they own, although we know many who could get aggravated.  

Seems like our film is going to be a long one, because here, in this community, the swamps are not only vast and rotten but also filled with flies that find nourishment in these swamps.

•••

Anasdvadz [Godless]
Anti-Religious, Scientific, Political, Literary, Cultural Publication for the Masses

1928-1934 Yerevan

Editor, D. Torosyan Later, K. Ghazaryan
Later, V. Tatikyan
Later, Y. Khojamiryan

“Nowadays, both in Europe and in Russia, any, even the most refined and best-intentioned defense or justification of the idea of God, is a justification of reaction.”

Lenin   

•••