Given its enviable political history and proven selfless service to the Armenian people and the nation, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) still remains a marginal political party in Armenia. In the May 2012 parliamentary elections, the ARF garnered less than 6 percent of the votes cast. From a cadre of 16 parliamentary members, the party’s representation was reduced to just 6 members. This poor showing was due in part to a combination of fabricated obstacles and questionable activities that gave the ruling party a distinct and unfair advantage.
However, that being said, whether the ARF is engaged in a parliamentary or a presidential election, it never rises above its marginal political status. This raises the question why. The obvious answer may be that the party’s message of hope and change does not resonate with the voter. One of several reasons may be that the Armenian voter has survived for some 20 years under a political system that easily bred skepticism and cynicism. This, in turn, tends to induce a degree of resignation and acceptance of conditions as they are.
The compendium of shortcomings that formed the election platform of the ARF for the recent parliamentary elections essentially promised to correct almost everything that was wrong with the present system. The proverbial man-in-the-street who has suffered the consequences of this debilitating system could have compiled this platform for the ARF. The party must have realized that it could not deliver on such an extensive range of issues even if it had doubled its representation in parliament from 16 to 32 members. Obviously, the voters must have understood as much.
I don’t know at what point we will accept the fact that something is seriously amiss. Each year that passes and each election where we join the other five percent-ers (parties that just meet the five percent vote threshold) diminishes our influence, our prestige, and our credibility. It is an intolerable situation that must be corrected if the ARF is to continue in a manner that does justice to our political heritage.
The Dashnaktsutiun is unlike any of the political parties that clutter the Armenian political landscape. Vahan Hovannessian put it succinctly in a recent interview when he stated that the enduring strength of the Dashnaktsutiun is based on a foundation of ideas, ideology, and vision for the future.
Hovannessian added that the present political parties in Armenia have formed around either a charismatic figure such as a military leader; a center of power; or simply a source of wealth. Such political parties have no ideological moorings and are free to pursue courses of action that may or may not reflect the needs of the electorate or the interests of the Armenian state.
Our agenda is determined by the enduring value of our core beliefs. We are a revolutionary party, or at least that is the defining term in our name. We cannot be the fedayees of 100 years ago, but that does not prevent us from being the political fedayees of the here and now. The role of the revolutionary in society is a difficult one to fulfill as he constantly challenges the status quo to improve the quality of life of the worker or to protect the interests of the nation. It is a challenge that carries the serious risk of retribution from an administration that may feel threatened, or from entrenched interest groups such as the Armenian oligarchs who are concerned that their power and wealth are at stake. No one can force a man to be a revolutionary, but neither can a man be one simply by donning the cloak of a revolutionary.
Maybe it is just me, but I see the Dashnaktsutiun as a crusade, not as a mundane political party. It hurts when we take timid steps instead of the bold, imaginative, and persistent action required to address the vital issues that affect our brothers and sisters not only in Armenia, but in Artsakh and Javakhk, as well. Sometimes it seems that we are obsessed with recognizing the dead at the cost of sacrificing the living.
The situation in Armenia cannot be allowed to deteriorate further. Each year, contrary to the favorable but meaningless statistic trotted out by the administration, the economy contracts, unemployment rises, population decreases, emigration increases, and justice is blinded by power and wealth. At what point in time will the ARF realize that voter apathy and indifference cannot be overcome by election platforms or anointing a candidate to run in presidential elections.
Let’s give some thought to who we are and how that determines what it is that we must do. Hai Tahd is strictly a Dashnaktsutiun Manifesto. It was enunciated by the ARF, nurtured by the ARF, and has been a compelling objective of its political agenda since the takeover of the first free and independent Republic of Armenia by the Russian Bolsheviks. Hai Tahd and the Dashnaktsutiun have become inseparable in the minds of most if not all Armenians. However, changes have occurred that have significantly affected the scope and the priorities of Hai Tahd and the ARF.
One such change is Artsakh’s de facto independence, which should have automatically preempted Hai Tahd‘s historic agenda. The importance of Artsakh cannot be overestimated. It is the first time in modern Armenian history (1900 to the present) that our people have liberated themselves and historic Armenian lands from their Turkic adversaries. If the ARF fails to be perceived as a vital force in Artsakh’s development and its ultimate independence (either de jure recognition or independence by default) then it is fair for Armenians to question the ability of the Dashnaktsutiun to be the stewards of Hai Tahd. Artsakh has become the building block upon which Hai Tahd now rests. Our long-time emotional involvement with recognition, or Wilsonian Armenia or Kars-Ardahan should not cloud our judgment concerning priorities.
The second significant change that has affected the scope and priorities of the Dashnaktsutiun agenda has been the founding of the second free and independent Republic of Armenia. Consider that one of the reasons for the founding of the ARF in 1890 was the determination to alleviate the oppressive political and economic conditions under which Armenians lived in the towns and villages of Anatolia. Today, well over 100 years later, that compelling objective still exists. Why? Simply because the debilitating conditions that are slowly destroying our people and our country have been spawned by the ineffectiveness of all three administrations that have governed Armenia since its founding. They have allowed an oligarchic system that places personal power and wealth before the legitimate needs of their compatriots to become entrenched. If the nation’s vitality and future potential are to be realized, if the worker is to benefit properly from his labor, then the ARF must strive to institute a system of government based on the social democratic principles of freedom, equality, opportunity, and justice.
Our course was set some 120 years ago. The future of Armenia and Hai Tahd depends on the Dashnaktsutiun. That is a simple unembellished statement of fact. If not us, who? Everything that has gone on before has prepared the party for what must be accomplished today. Let us not look back a decade or two from now and lament the fact that we failed because we lacked the passion, or the dedication, or the selflessness that was the hallmark of our predecessors.
Michael Mensoian
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To win the hearts and minds of the Armenian voter will require more than putting out politial phamplets and speeches. As we see in other jurisdictions, they have to win the hearts and mind of the population. To do this, there must be a social agenda, a social engagement with the population.
The ARF has resources outside of Armenia to put such social programs to work in Armenia. Examples of such programs maybe free vacination clinics, organizing co-ops i.e.fish farming in the Sevan, a recycling co-op in Yerevan, summer computer camp, food banks etc.
Did you really use the Obama mantra of ‘hope and change’ for the ARF? If that is what the ARF has to offer, like the current president of the US, then no wonder Armenian voters didn’t pick ARF.
As for the ARF initiating Hye Tad, think again. The Armenian Cause has been nurtured since the fall of our last independent Kingdom, Kilikia. And it was the Church which carried that torch. ARF added 19th century ideologies to the mix, but to claim that the Armenian Cause began with the ARF is wishful thinking at best, and an outright lie at worst.
Moreover, is this the same ARF that trusted the young turk regime, and worked with them? Also, is this the same ARF that Njdeh gave up on? Is this the same ARF that was in a coalition government with President Kocharyan, and for a year with Sargsyan?
What Armenia needs is not the socialist ideology of the ARF, it needs the Tsekhakron ideology of Njdeh, which is what the Republican Party is supposedly founded upon, though they haven’t done a good job at all of actually implementing Njdeh’s principles.
{“The future of Armenia and Hai Tahd depends on the Dashnaktsutiun”}
That statement clearly shows that ARF leaders and thinkers have not extracted the correct lessons from their poor showing in several RoA Presidential and Parliamentary elections.
Sorry Sir: the future of Armenia does not depend on ARF, or any other political party, for that matter.
And in fact Armenian people must continue building the bureaucratic and civil institutions that will at some point make RoA immune from serious damage that any one elected individual or party might inadvertently inflict (due to inexperience and/or incompetence).
Armenia’s future must not depend on any political Party or individual.
The ideal must be something akin to Western “democracies”: no matter who gets elected President or PM, or which political party is currently in charge, the given country’s security and basic functioning are not affected in the least.
This article, written by an intelligent, honorable man, who being educated to the highest degree possible and as a retired US Army Major certainly knows how the real world works, is a good example why RoA citizens do not give more than single-digit percentages to ARF candidates: ARF leadership and thinkers in the West simply do not understand the people of RoA.
The entire article blames pretty much everybody and everything for the failure of ARF to get more than about 5% in RoA, instead of the ARF itself.
And assigns undue credit to ARF for much.
Sorry to have to say this, but it was not ARF that liberated Artsakh. ARF volunteers fought like lions, and the Dashnak battalion famously defeated Shamil Basayev’s battle hardened Chechen volunteer battalion during the liberation of Shushi. Throughout the war, ARF fighters inflicted casualties on the enemy at a rate wildly out of proportion to their numbers. But numbers are numbers. Everybody in Artsakh fought, and everybody fought in Artsakh, with or without any political party affiliation. No matter how bravely they fought, ARF numbers would not be remotely sufficient to defeat the vast numerical superiority of Azeri Tatar Turks and their allies.
(I know how many overall Armenian KIA we had and also know how many ARF KIA we had).
ARF has definitely earned the right to crow about a lot of things. But it also needs to honestly reflect on its mistakes, admit those mistakes, and try to excise the elements and thinking that are the root cause of those mistakes.
ARF has served the Armenian Nation with honor and distinction: it deserves to politically participate in the building of a stronger Armenia and Artsakh.
But only participate, and not try to dominate. No party should dominate: it leads to expectations of entitlement, then complacency, then rot.
One final thought:
The 1st Armenian Republic established largely by the heroic efforts of ARF, and a shining example of Democracy and egalitarianism, lasted only 2 years.
The geopolitical situation was far more difficult at the time, and Republic’s leaders were facing overwhelming, maybe even insurmountable odds.
But the leadership also made many unforced mistakes. Hindsight is always 20/20. But it is easy to make correct decisions in easy situations.
Far harder when you don’t have a good hand.
The 3rd Republic has lasted 20 years already. Despite all the problems, it is getting stronger year in, year out.
Despite whatever negative personal feelings one might have towards the individuals and their political parties, it is an undeniable fact that they and their parties were responsible for creating an Independent Armenia and keeping NKR free and Independent. (yes, with crucial Armenian Diaspora support in more ways than one: our duty ).
Before the Independence and after, the leadership of Armenia and NKR also made crucial decisions in very difficult circumstances.
They were dealt a very poor hand also, but played it with great skill.
Clearly their strategic and tactical decisions turned out to be the right ones. They read the geopolitical landscape at the time correctly, allied with the correct actors, and managed to nurture Armenia from its difficult birth to a functioning State.
And yes, Armenian Diaspora played a vital role too. (in ways not always obvious or publicized).
And yes, many of those truly deserving accolades are no longer with us, or did not get their due for this or that political shenanigans: but that is unfortunately the case in all revolutions and struggles for independence.
Presidents Ter-Petrossian, Kocharian, Sargsian and their parties deserve recognition for the unprecedented accomplishment of Independent RoA and Independent NKR.
And you have the right to blame them for all the problems of corruption, oligarchs, poverty, economy, environment, etc, etc: they were and are in charge; comes with the territory.
But if they get the blame for those, they also should get the accolades for the accomplishments: they were and are in charge.
When you are in charge, you are in charge.
RoA has the most combat ready Army in the region. It has access to excellent military technology.
NKR has the most combat experienced Army in the region. It also has a huge inventory of modern military hardware.
Artsakh’s Armenians are safer and more secure from ethnic cleansing and extermination than in centuries.
Armenian nation has more strategic depth now than in centuries.
Despite its overwhelming numerical and quantitative superiority, Azerbaijan has not dared do anything other than pinprick provocations.
Can ARF put their dislike of other parties aside for a short while at least, rise above petty politics, and give the well deserved due to those other parties for their accomplishments on behalf of the Armenian nation ?
Maybe then ARF in RoA can earn enough trust from the citizenry to get double-digit percentages, and become a significant and hopefully positive agent of change for the betterment of Armenia.
Interestting and thought provoking article.
It is painfully obvious that the ARF in Armenia does not accept or recognize the fact that something is seriously amiss in their activities, message, communications and appeal to the populace in Armenia. Garnering only 5% of the vote, with only 6 elected parliamentary members, clearly is an indication that the ARF in Armenia is a total failure in all social and political aspects. Finding excuses for this poor showing (corruption, electoral fraud, oligarchs) is futile. We have become marginal and unimportant.
We have to accept that something is fundamentally wrong.
The ARF in Armenia cannot live and survive by the glorious past history of the ARF.
It has to accept the present realities in Armenia and start doing something tangible that affects and improves the lives of our brothers and sisters in the homeland. They must become more engaged with the population, more involved in social activities, more visible in their contributions, if any. There is a lot of work to be done in Armenia. The ARF can pick any area and actively dedicate its efforts to improve
that area. The ARF should show that it can walk the talk ; speeches and rhetoric are
not enough. There must be tangible results that can be seen and felt by the Armenians.
We need change the vision and strategic implementation. To achieve that we need change in the leadership.
Vart Adjemian
AR makes some valid points, but please do not make me laugh: the WOIRST collaborators during the Genocide elongated to the church, including hundreds of priests who saved their own hides by denouncing their own people. The patriarchate seems to have been the oct guilty, as many of the village priests died with their flocks.
Komitas Vardabed of course stands apart.
Those collaborators you speak of were not under the jurisdiction of the Holy See, as you mentioned yourself, the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople was where they were serving.
It is a shame that the Armenian Revolutionary Federation on the elections in Armenia only acquired 6% of the votes. Don’t the Armenian Population in Armenia relize that if it weren’t for the A.R.F. that today they may not have been an Armenian Nation. Armenian’s in Armenia must be educated on what the Party did for their country. Lastly, it is a shame that over one million Armenians have left the country for lack of employment. Corruption has prevented hundreds of businessmen for opening the closed factories that were operating under the Soviet Regime. Unless this Mafia is removed by the Government, things will get worse.