SIRANUYSH PAPYAN, Interviewer
Mr. Minasyan, how do you assess the deportation of 4 members of the ARF West America organizational circle these days? It is stated that in reality they are 12. Yes, the ARF Bureau coldly beheaded the California district, “these 11 people, like the former Bureau member Vigen Hovsepyan, who was considered the organizer of the resistance.” As I predicted more than a year ago, the ARF crisis is really global, global, և the facts, unfortunately, confirm my words. The current crisis has several causes. First, a general crisis. The tools of the party are not only empty, they do not exist. Not seeing the obvious urgent need for change, all that remains of the ARF is a rusty device skeleton that operates through stereotyped behavior for memory քի a time-frozen mind. It’s sad: Second, the systemic crisis of the “State” of Dashnakism.
Is Dashnakism solvable in the state? If so, how to define Dashnaktsutyun? Is it a party or a federal organization? “Hrant Margaryan”, which is in the hands of the ARF Supreme Body of Armenia, the ARF Bureau, considers the Punishment a centralized, authoritarian party. In the United States, the ARF considers the resistance to be a decentralized, democratic organization. In my opinion, in 1991 The revival of Armenia’s sovereignty confirms that the ARF Dashnaktsutyun must act as an international organization, where each region (Armenia, Iran, Lebanon, France, the United States, etc.) must be autonomous and decentralized. If the ARF had accepted its international status, this crisis would not have happened. But Hrant Margaryan and his “clones” (Hagop Der Khachadourian, Giro Manoyan, Armen Rustamian, Ichkhan Saghatelian, Bagrat Esayan, Vache Prudian, Seto Boyajian, Mkrtich Mkrtichian, etc.) want to change the party from the ARF Dashnaktsutyun. They act as an anti-alliance current within the ARF itself. Anyone who disagrees with them is against them or anyone who is not Hrantian, not ARF Dashnaktsutyun…
This is evidence of the failed ARF resettlement crisis in Armenia. The return of the ARF is a political, moral, electoral, organizational failure of the Republic of Armenia. Those who joined the ARF in the late 1980s had no ARF experience, reference, conviction, values. Unfortunately, the ARF opened its hands to them, accompanying general meetings (1992), and at the level of the Bureau members, when they had the life of the ARF, only two years. The citizens of Armenia had only one model of the party in mind – the Communist Party, one ideology – communism – one practice – Sovietism – they were filled with all that. After all, it was a monster that was formed in Armenia on the ship “Dashnaktsutyun”, as in the movie “Alien”. And this Alien is biting the whole ARF body from the inside. As a result, activists from the United States with 40-50 years of ARF experience, deprived of any Soviet influence, are viewed as dissidents; Ruben Hovsepyan, Vahan Hovhannisyan, Ichkhan Saghatelyan և etc. է It is a shame և it must be stopped. In addition, there is a crisis of practice. Can you imagine that the current activities of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun date back to 1898, the end of the 19th century, when the ARF was constantly persecuted by the Ottoman-Russian police? The party has not changed much since the beginning of the 20th century. Last year there was supposed to be an extraordinary General Assembly dedicated to organizational reform, but it did not take place due to the Covid-19 epidemic.
On the other hand, the democratic centralization of the ARF faces the virtual world of the Internet, which breaks down hierarchies, “overthrows the activities of organizations from the top down.” Now, through social networks, democratic centralization is obsolete. The transparency and directness of the information gives the ranks knowledge about the situation of the party, which the world leadership can no longer hide. Hence the effect of the snowball, which threatens to increase unrest within the ARF. Then there is the crisis of activity. Due to the advancement of technology, the rebirth of sovereign Armenia, as well as the catastrophic situation of the ARF in Armenia, the simple ARF member is surprised. Its discipline is the strength and order of the ARF, but more and more activists distinguish between “discipline” and “subordination”. The ARF members of the West Coast of the United States are ready for discipline, but they have the right to interrogate themselves and to refuse the epidemic game. By the way, sometimes the silence of the ranks does not mean discipline, it can also mean the destruction or calcification of the party, as in France. Moreover, it is an unprecedented crisis in the history of the ARF. Today
His “clones” are arrogant, ignoring the crisis between the California Central Committee and the Bureau. ARF scribes see it as an avatar of the crisis that rocked the ARF in 1932, when the Central Committee of Western Europe revolted against the policies of the Bureau headed by Ruben Ter Minasyan. This crisis is known as the “Human Movement”. Today it is said that “Asbarez” dissent is the avatar of “Mardkots” newspaper. Of course, there are elements of rapprochement, but in reality the two crises have nothing to do with it. The “Human Movement” in France was a crisis surrounded only by Armenians from Turkey, while the current crisis is spreading to all branches of the ARF, including Armenia. The “People’s Movement” infiltrated the NKVD (NKVD) just before the 12th General Assembly of the ARF, while today it is the “ARF և Bureau” of Armenia that infiltrates the Russian FSB (formerly the KGB). Besides, “Asbarez” is one of the oldest ARF newspapers, while “Mardkots” has not published for more than two years. For that to be comparable, it would be necessary for “Yaraj” to fall into the ARF Central Committee’s revolt in Western Europe.
But that was not the case. Finally, Vazgen Shushanyan, who was expelled from the ARF in 1932, never returned to the ARF, contrary to Vache Brudyan’s demagogic writing. The only one who wrote about Vazgen Shushanyan at the time of his death was Simon Vratsyan, claiming that this intellectual remained an ARF member until his last days. This does not mean that Ruben Ter Minasyan, the clones of his time, have restored him to the party. Lying must be stopped. The current crisis is unprecedented in the history of the ARF. And it will deepen. Because it is also a political crisis. It halts Hrant և and his clones in favor of an alliance with Robert, Serzh, or Vazgen against the US Central Coast Central Committee, which calls for an autonomous party strategy in Armenia committed to the 1992 Marukhyan line. Hrant sees his existence only under the rule of the former president of Armenia, while the ARF in California wants to get rid of it, given that the current line leads the party to its downfall.
By the way, Hrant’s ARF turns into a party supporting the regime, while California-ARF supports the state. And the snap elections will again turn into a “state-to-state” fight between that regime. Because it is also a financial crisis. The ARF Dashnaktsutyun in Armenia has no money, as the party was an opposition without resources, and the only ones who can finance the campaign are the ARF members in California. Hrant and his clones want to take over Dashnaktsutyun Bank to finance their vassalization. And the ARF in California says, “That’s enough.” Not to mention that it is also a crisis of generations. The “Hrant-Vahan” couple always wanted to destroy the “Apo Poghikyan-Viken Hovsepyan” couple. It has been done, the last two have been expelled from the ARF. This explains the first years of the ARF’s return to Armenia, when the former ARF Secretary General or the duty officer was fighting between the moderates (Apo են Viken) and the “radicals (Hrant ահան Vahan)”. The radicals did everything to isolate Hrayr Marukhyan from the moderates. They did so before the on-duty deportation in June 1992. But from this turning point, Hrayr Marukhyan realized that the ARF was on the wrong track, maintaining the unnecessary course. He changed his mind, got rid of the radicals in Armenia, in France and elsewhere. But his disappearance in 1994 prevented him from continuing in this moderation. But it is certain that during its lifetime the ARF was not a vassal of any force.
His rapprochement with former First Secretary of the USSR Communist Party Suren Harutyunyan was only tactical, moreover, not because the ARF had to return to the homeland during the USSR geopolitical upheavals. Indeed, thirty years after the collapse of the USSR, the crisis within the ARF is also a geopolitical crisis. Dashnaktsutyun, led by Hrant Vahan, preferred the Russia-Iran axis. Vahan’s death, the Velvet Revolution, Hrant’s fake departure from the bureau, the Karabakh war weakened this Russia-Iran axis. And we must fight against everything that can aggravate this loss of influence within the ARF.
Hrant and his clones are doing everything to destroy any drive to Americanize the ARF. Ask yourself why Hrant Margaryan is banned from extraditing to the United States… Finally, the current crisis of the ARF is a crisis of the ARF Military Council և, perhaps, the most worrying, as the Military Council is the guarantor of the unity of the ARF. This battle council is broken there, but I prefer not to say more. Recently, it was announced that the ARF bureau intends to suppress the free will of the ARF members in West America. The authors of the statement accuse the ARF bureau of acting against democracy. What can this situation lead to, possibly?
the party will split. There is a danger of split, but it is inevitable if the ARF finds its way to common sense. That’s why we need more Simon Vratsyans in the ARF, not the little Ruben Der Minasyan. However, at the moment the ARF is led by the choir leader Hakob Der Khachaturyan, the secretary general, who embodies the most catastrophic page in the history of the ARF.
Source: https://www.lragir.am/2021/03/13/627089/?fbclid=IwAR2QF2evLLO4Qn3tPqW8OlEcTDay7WxZNf8CQ-_4otN49LDKn25lCAJXkCk