Dashnaktsutyun - Armenian Revolutionary Federation

[Anoush]

Re: Dashnaktsutyun - Armenian Revolutionary Federation

Ooox tsavet tanim lave asetsir

Shenorhagal em Sero jan, ourax em vor Haygagan garavaroutyoune hamatsayn e ayjem Hay Heghapoxagan Tashnagtsoutyan hed te tar me aveli Haygagan zinaneshane bedk che yerpevitse poxel yev bidi sharounage nouyne menal. Sagayn tsavetsa yerp tourk naxakahe entounads jamanagnin Haygagan foutboli mer xoumpe Araradyan embleme hanetsin marzignerou shabigneroun verayen. Sagayn himag garavaroutyoune djishd ge xorhi yev chouzer vochinch poxel mer zinaneshanen.

[Eddo211]

Re: Dashnaktsutyun - Armenian Revolutionary Federation

To the contrary. Just because a turkish president went to Armenia for the first time, that does not give our newly elected government to kiss the enemy's feet and bow real low to the turks and forget ourselves and with it our cultural, national, and historical existence and beliefs. Be it turks, the Brits, the Israelites or anyone else in the world we should remain levelheaded and not lose our heads. We don't need to do that. We have had beliefs and roots; and those deep rooted convictions must not be uprooted at any time or at any place.

Bravo
Well said Anoush Jan.

[Eddo211]

Re: Dashnaktsutyun - Armenian Revolutionary Federation

I have gone back and read some of the earlier posts on this thread which is back in 2007. Wow, such strong criticism of our Hero General and our Dashnaks, specifically by Armenian and Artsakh.
I have not read many books or done detail research on the subject but knowing what I know about this world we live in I can understand how our political leaders in Yerevan at that time, shell shocked, desperate, panic stricken and in disarray with a country in ruins would not want to engage in a war that could very possibly finish off what has been salvaged of our nation, but to turn our General over to Turks instead of just controlling him??!! Now that is beyond comprehension, no matter what was at stake. Regardless it is safe to say that both were looking into the interest of the Armenian Nation in their own way and there were many brave Armenians who sacrificed everything.

With that said I truly believe that General Andranik knew exactly what he was doing and he would have been successful having the experience that he had and learned all the lessons that he learned the hard way. He knew that he could not completely destroy Turkey but by applying the right amount of pressure to a large enemy and taking a aggressive stand against a morally bankrupt Turkey who only understood one language he could have maneuvered Armenia in a much better negotiating position and could have very possibly free Western Armenia. It was not a matter of how many soldiers/fighters you have but a matter of strategy which he was a brilliant at. Politicians couldn’t even start to comprehend it even if he spoon fed it to them. He was aware of Turkish pressure points and he knew how to apply them in a strategic way, I cannot accept that he was just a good General….he was a leader of our Nation sort of speak. He never abandoned Armenia……We abandoned him because we were scared to loose what we had.

When the time came to put all the chips down on the table we folded and betrayed one of the greatest Generals of all time. He has a special place up there among few other great Warriors who we as men have been privileged within human history.

It seems like this political fighting never stops. I remember this same problems we had when I was a child. We had to have seperate Churchs, picnics, parties,and schools. It was stupid then and it is stupid today.

We are Armenians, this infighting is what hurt us in the past, enough. Let us be one arm, one body, one sword and one people.

Agreed

Turkey’s greatest weapon against Armenia was our division and lack of unity. This is still true today, even to a greater degree.
What we must never do is to repeat the mistakes of the passed and allow the lessons that we have learned to be in vain.

We must become truly independent and united as one people, we are running out of time.

This is a great Thread.

[Federate]

Re: Dashnaktsutyun - Armenian Revolutionary Federation

Outcome of Metn polls may hinge on Armenians
Tashnag's Choices come down to maintaining ties with Aoun or returning to partnership with Murr

By Michael Bluhm
Daily Star staff
Saturday, March 07, 2009

BEIRUT: The looming decision of the dominant Armenian party Tashnag to join forces with either the March 14 or March 8 camps might well determine the outcome of the Metn district in June's pivotal general elections, a number of analysts told The Daily Star on Friday.

"If the Armenians side with March 14, then [the Metn] is guaranteed for March 14," said Oussama Safa, executive director of the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies. "If not, then there will be a battle." The 1989 Taif Accord reserves six of Parliament's 128 seats for Armenians, who make up about 9 per cent of Lebanon's Christian population, said a December 2008 report from the Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections and Democracy Reporting International.

The choice before Tashnag comes down to continuing its relationship with Change and Reform Bloc head MP Michel Aoun, the March 8 coalition's top Christian politician, or returning to a previous partnership with Metn heavyweight MP Michel Murr and his freshly minted electoral ally, Phalange Party chief and former President Amin Gemayel, said Walid Moubarak, director of the Institute of Diplomacy and Conflict Transformation at the Lebanese American University. Tashnag will also have to factor in its traditionally close ties to the country's presidents, as well as pressures from Armenian groups outside Lebanon favoring one side of the political rift here, he added.

In considering Aoun, Tashnag and Armenian voters will be asking whether Aoun, the popular politician in the predominantly Christian Metn region, will have coattails long enough to carry the rest of his lists into the legislature and unseat March 14 as the parliamentary majority, said retired General Elias Hanna, who teaches political science at Notre Dame University.

In the feverish run-up to the June 7 poll, Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) is vetting potential candidates to see whether they had their own constituencies preceding Aoun's unexpected 2005 electoral success, or simply depend on the retired general to attract voters, Hanna added.

Hanna said he expected Tashnag to stay with Aoun because their 2005 electoral alliance restored Tashnag, which is supported by the majority of Armenian voters, to its full strength after five-time former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri had for years teamed up with two smaller Armenian parties to deny Tashnag the Beirut district's two Armenian parliamentary seats.

"The Armenians consider that Michel Aoun gave them what Rafik Hariri took out of their hands," Hanna said. "They consider that Michel Aoun gave them their rights."

On the other hand, Safa said the Armenians seemed be leaning toward the March 14 Forces, which would deal a major blow to Aoun and March 8 hopes. Many analysts have said the elections will be won in Christian districts such as the Metn, Kesrouan and Zahle.

If March 14 can secure an electoral bond with Tashnag, "they will make a very strong statement that they have chipped away at the leadership of Michel Aoun in the Metn," Safa said.

Longtime Tashnag ally Murr can also offer the party meaningful incentives to throw in their lot with the March 14 camp, Safa added. The peripatetic Murr has for decades cultivated close relationships with a succession of presidents, including President Michel Sleiman, and Murr's son Elias is serving as defense minister on Sleiman's nomination.

Murr "would mediate a larger role in the next government [and] being closer to presidential decision-making," Safa said. Tashnag would likely be able to name the Armenian minister in a 24-member cabinet, or two ministers in a 30-member administration, Safa added. "That's significant. That's monopolizing Armenian representation, also."

If Tashnag does side with March 14 in the Metn, they will have to smooth over the "strain" between the Armenians and Gemayel caused by the bruising by-election campaign in 2007 to fill the seat of Gemayel's assassinated son, former Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel, Moubarak said. Armenians interpreted some of Gemayel's electoral rhetoric as ethnic slurs, and their support for FPM candidate Camille Khoury was crucial in Khoury defeating Amin Gemayel by some 400 votes.

While Tashnag's favor carries significant weight in the Metn, both camps have to strive to cobble together alliances broad enough that neither camp will lose the district by splitting votes among a raft of candidate lists, Hanna said.

For example, the Murr-Gemayel tie-up needs to coordinate with March 14 stalwart and Minister of State Nassib Lahoud to avoid cannibalizing March 14 votes in the Metn, Hanna added.

Tashnag will also weigh its historic tendency to stick close to the nation's presidents, the analysts said.

Sleiman has largely remained above the polarizing dispute between March 14 and March 8, and his status as a Lebanese president who is not a Syrian flunky also represents a new element in the equation for the Armenian's thinking, Moubarak said.

"The president has been able to make a positive impression on the Lebanese citizens," he said. "We haven't had a president like this in some time."

While Sleiman will probably not endorse any specific candidate list, his legitimizing of a nonaligned political center could give independent candidates a key role in the Metn and elsewhere, Moubarak added.

"There is a middle vote," he said. "This middle vote is basically a reaction to the ongoing tensions - many people are fed up. There will enough votes for those independents to pick up."

As a result, questions linger about how many votes Tashnag can deliver from the typically monolithic Armenian electorate, Hanna said. All the analysts said a majority of Armenians backed Tashnag and have usually voted as a unified bloc, but Hanna said some in the Armenian elite were wavering in their support for the party and its MP Hagop Pakradounian because Pakradounian did not reflect the elites' interests.

"The Tashnag are like an authoritarian regime, highly controlled from the center," he said. "The Armenians are like the Shiites. They vote as one bloc, for one person."

The Armenians will also have to deal with attempts by Armenians outside Lebanon to push Tashnag toward March 14 or March 8 - for instance, Armenian groups in the US will probably lobby Tashnag to side with the US-backed March 14 Forces, Hanna said. At the same time, rumors persist that Tashnag backers in Armenia are working with Iran and so will urge the party to forge an electoral coalition with the Iranian-backed March 8 alliance, Moubarak said.

In the end, it remains too early to predict either how the Tashnag will decide or how other campaign coalitions will evolve in the Metn, despite the ongoing flurry of talks between the party and the various representatives from the feuding political camps, the analysts said. The negotiations have yet to bear any fruit, and all sides have been waiting to see the candidate lists submitted by the deadline, Safa said.

"It's been eerily dull," he said.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=99909

[Federate]

Re: Dashnaktsutyun - Armenian Revolutionary Federation

Dashnaks Urge Sarkisian To Ensure Clean Polls In Yerevan

By Anush Martirosian

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) urged President Serzh Sarkisian on Wednesday to publicly promise that his Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) will not use its extensive government levers to win the upcoming mayoral elections in Yerevan.

The extraordinary call came amid opposition allegations that Yerevan’s incumbent Republican Mayor Gagik Beglarian and his subordinates are pressuring public sector employees to help the HHK in the May 31 elections of a new municipal council. In particular, several pro-opposition newspapers have reported in recent days that the heads of public schools across the capital were instructed by the Yerevan municipality to submit the lists of their employees, their family members and other individuals pledging to vote for the Republicans.

Eduard Sharmazanov, the HHK spokesman, on Wednesday denied any foul play on the part of the ruling party. “I am calling on everyone not to sign such things because that is illegal and has nothing to do with the Republican Party,” he said. “People doing that are provocateurs.”

The press reports seem to be taken more seriously by Dashnaktsutyun, one of the three junior partners in the HHK-led ruling coalition. “There is an attempt to use administrative levers,” said Artsvik Minasian, a senior Dashnaktsutyun candidate topping the list of the party’s candidates in the polls. “I am aware of that. Representatives of our party have raised the issue with our coalition partners.”

“Only the president of the republic can guarantee that administrative resources will not be used,” Minasian told a news conference. “Election commissions must also counter such actions. But like many other things in our country, [a solution to] this issue depends on the behavior of the commander-in-chief.”

The HHK was likewise accused of using its government levers and resorting to dirty tricks to win last year’s presidential election and the May 2007 parliamentary elections which Western observers described as flawed. It strongly denied any wrongdoing.

The list of the HHK’s 180 candidates for the 65 municipal council seats includes the elected mayors of all of Yerevan’s ten administrative districts as well as at least 60 other local government officials and civil servants. “These people play a serious role in particular areas [of the city,]” explained Sharmazanov. He claimed that they will not illegally exploit their positions to earn the HHK votes.

But a spokesman for the Armenian National Congress (HAK), the only opposition force contesting the elections, insisted that the heavy presence of state officials on the HHK list is a clear sign of an impending vote manipulation. “The experience of the last elections suggests that the officials will be used for that purpose this time as well,” said Arman Musinian.

http://www.armenialiberty.org/armeniareport/report/en/2009/04/B4AFB7AC-F766-4086-A7E1-4805620ABEAC.ASP

[Federate]

Re: Dashnaktsutyun - Armenian Revolutionary Federation

ARF in Lebanon - “We also believe in resistance and thus will support Hezbollah in elections”


[ 2009/04/17 | 18:40 ]

According to a BBC report dated April 16, the ARF in Lebanon has stated that it will back the Hezbollah-led alliance in upcoming parliamentary elections.

The vote of the 150,000-strong Armenian community may sway the outcome of the bitter and close race between the pro-Western government and the opposition led by Hezbollah, a Shia group backed by Syria and Iran.

In Lebanon’s confessional political system, Armenians - like other major religious and ethnic communities, have an assigned number of seats in parliament. For years, these seven seats were always won by the Tashnak Party.

But in 2000, a new law backed by Prime Minister Rafik Hariri redrew the electoral map of Beirut, dividing the Armenian neighbourhoods among districts with Sunni Muslim majorities. As a result the Tashnak party lost seats to lesser-known Armenians who supported the Sunni Muslim prime minister.

“We were forced to go to the opposition,” says Tashnak MP Hagop Pakradounian. “We simply cannot trust the government anymore.”

For the Tashnak party and its supporters, the June election is a chance to re-establish its parliamentary foothold. Tashnak MP Hagop Pakradounian argues that his Christian constituency has plenty in common with the radical Shia movement, with its powerful armed militant wing, known as the Islamic Resistance.

“We, as Armenians, are also against oppression, against occupation,” he says. “Hezbollah was set up to fight Israel, and the occupation. We too know what it’s like to have your land occupied”

Not everyone agrees - an editorial in one of Beirut’s newspapers recently warned the Armenian community to be “prudent with their choices”, and to examine the consequences of “any breach of their historical neutrality”.

Anjar itself is one potential example of how such alliance with Hezbollah could backfire.It is surrounded by Sunni Muslim villages and some think there is a danger these could turn against the Armenians if they help the Shia Muslim bloc get into government.

But the main Armenian party is adamant about the choice it has made.

“In politics, there are priorities,” says Mr Pakradounian. “Our priority is to be independent as a community, because that is the only way for us to keep our identity and our heritage,” he says.

“Today, it’s Hezbollah that makes us feel safe, and we believe that its Hezbollah that can help us protect our identity,” he says.

http://hetq.am/en/politics/7928/

[Federate]

Re: Dashnaktsutyun - Armenian Revolutionary Federation

ARF to leave coalition?


The Armenian Revolutionary Federation released the following statement:

"Normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations has been a key issue on Armenia's state-political agenda for the past months. The Armenian Revolutionary Federation has stated several times that the two countries may establish friendly ties after Turkey's recognition of the Armenian Genocide and the restoration of the Armenian people's rights. The eradication of the blockade and establishment of diplomatic relations without preconditions may be the first steps to be taken. The normalization of relations with Turkey at the price of our independent statehood and the state and national rights of our future generations is absolutely unacceptable for us.

Staying true to these principles, we condemn the signing of the joint statement made by Turkey and the Armenian Foreign Affairs Ministry on April 22 and consider it unacceptable.

We believe that the signing of the document, which comes a day before the tragic events of April 24, causes a blow to Armenia and the interests of the Armenian people and comes amid the recent anti-Armenian statements made by Turkish against leaders, the statements regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the preconditions set forth by Turkey.

Recording the fact that this process assumes a negative shift in the course of Armenia's foreign policy, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation will soon discuss the issue of whether it is appropriate for the party to remain in the coalition or not," as stated in the statement.

http://www.a1plus.am/en/politics/2009/04/23/arf-an

[Gavur]

Re: Dashnaktsutyun - Armenian Revolutionary Federation

They feel the need to protect their own territory, this reapproachment makes them feel insecure and vulnerable.

[Federate]

Re: Dashnaktsutyun - Armenian Revolutionary Federation

ARF Dashnaktsutyun will brief RA President on his position on Armenian-Turkish relations

25.04.2009 15:54 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ If Yerevan and Ankara truly reached an agreement over route map, ARF Dashnaktsutyun being a coalition member feels defrauded, Head of Hay Dat Bureau Kiro Manoyan told a news conference in Yerevan. Kiro Manoyan stressed that if the route map agreement had actually been concluded, its contents have to be publicized.

MFA statement did not say the parties actually singed the route map agreement. Turkish media has already published the route map, which reminds of a several-points agreement, rather than route map, Manoyan noted.

According to Kiro Manoyan, Recep Tayyip Erdogan made it clear in his statements that Turkey will continue negotiations with Armenia but will not sign any agreement unless NKR issue is settled. This means Ankara still sets preconditions. “Football diplomacy term will be completed in October 2009. If Armenian President does not visit the return football match, it will become clear that Armenian-Turkish relations are up against a deadlock,” Hay Dat Bureau Head noted.

http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=30917

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Dashnaktsutyun to leave coalition?

25.04.2009 16:28 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ ARF Dashnaktsutyun meeting has just been completed. As well-informed circles reported to PanARMENIAN.Net, leaving coalition and joining opposition was the only issue on Dashnaktutyun agenda today. A decision to leave coalition is already taken, moreover, the party resolved to resign from their ministerial positions.

On Apr. 23 RA MFA issued a joint Armenian –Turkish statement on route map.
Commenting on the statement, Kiro Manoyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reported, “Demands of Turkish authorities, determining the opening of Armenian –Turkish border by NKR conflict settlement, Armenia’s abandoning territorial claims are deliberately putting Armenia in a disadvantageous situation. Even if document is of symbolic character, it is capable of changing the whole course of country’s external policy. The whole range of issues including leaving governmental coalition will be discussed tomorrow.”

http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=30919

[Gavur]

Re: Dashnaktsutyun - Armenian Revolutionary Federation

I hope the divorce won't be messy!