Armenia: Dashnaks Celebrate Karabakh Anniversary, Promise Street Protests
Yesterday marked the 17th Anniversary of the declaration of independence for the self-declared Republic of Nagorno Karabakh. Situated within Azerbaijan, but inhabited mainly by ethnic Armenians, Nagorno Karabakh is just one of three frozen conflicts in the South Caucasus. Repeated efforts to find a solution to the conflict, which ended with a ceasefire agreement signed in May 1994 have failed. Although there didn’t appear to be any official celebrations to mark the anniversary, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation — Dashnaktsutyun (ARF-D) held an event at the Matenadaran. Despite the importance of Nagorno Karabakh for many Armenians, the number of people attending was quite small at not more than 5,000.
Despite being represented in the coalition government, speakers used the occasion to declare that the nationalist party would stage street protests if the Turkish president, Abdullah Gul, attends this weekend’s football match between Armenia and Turkey in Yerevan. As RFE/RL explains, the statement comes in stark contrast to the message of reconciliation that the president, Serge Sargsyan, has offered to his counterpart in Ankara. Vahan Hovannisian, a key figure in the party, also took the time to comment on the recent war between Armenia and Georgia.
The party line is that ethnic Armenians living in Georgia’s Samtskhe-Javakheti region should be granted autonomy.
The rally held outside Yerevan’s Matenadaran museum of ancient Armenian manuscripts was officially dedicated to the 17th anniversary of Nagorno-Karabakh’s declaration of independence from Azerbaijan. But speakers addressing the crowd in scorching weather mostly touched upon other issues, notably Turkish-Armenian relations and the situation in neighboring Georgia.
Vahan Hovannisian, one of the leaders of the nationalist party represented in Armenia’s government, spent much of his speech making a case for Georgia’s transformation into a “confederation” where the Armenian-populated Javakheti region would have a high degree of autonomy. “In this case, the rights of Javakheti [Armenians] would be protected,” he said.
Hovannisian claimed that giving Javakheti the status of an autonomous region would discourage other ethnic minorities from seeking to secede from Georgia. It was an apparent reference to the populations of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Dashnaktsutyun has voiced similar calls in the past. Official Yerevan has always disavowed them, placing the emphasis on the need to address grave socioeconomic problems facing Javakheti.
Dashnaktsutyun leaders further exposed their foreign policy differences with President Serzh Sarkisian when they reaffirmed plans to organize street protests against Gul’s likely arrival in Yerevan. One of them, deputy parliament speaker Hrayr Karapetian, said the protests will start at Zvartnots international airport where the Turkish president is expected to arrive on Saturday morning.
“We will properly meet Abdullah Gul,” Karapetian told the demonstrators, many of them school students and other young people bused from outside Yerevan.
“We are preparing to hold a serious, solid and disciplined demonstration in order to show the mood of our people,” another Dashnaktsutyun leader, Hrant Markarian, told RFE/RL. “After all, a counter-propaganda is underway and we must react to it correctly.”
“When the Turkish president visits France, French Armenians demonstrate. When he visits Greece, Greek Armenians demonstrate. So if it would be shameful if we did not make our voice heard in our own country,” he said.
Markarian was careful not to openly criticize Sarkisian for the invitation extended to Gul, citing the need for Armenia to maintain inter-state relations with Turkey. “But the existence of those relations can not cause us to abandon our causes,” he added.
Photo: ARF-D Karabakh Indepence Anniversary, Matenadaran, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008
If the numbers attending yesterday’s rally were anything to go by, however, it’s unlikely that such street protests would threaten to spoil Gul’s planned visit. Even 5,000 people — mainly bussed in from the regions — protesting in a city of over a million people won’t portray an image of a country united in its opposition to the Turkish president’s visit. Indeed, the main governmental and opposition parties seem to be for once united in their support for such an unprecedented and historical visit. The point was not lost on one local newspaper.
“168 Zham” considers unprecedented the fact that President Serzh Sarkisian’s decision to invite Turkey’s Abdullah Gul is praised by the opposition but criticized by the pro-government Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun). “There have been few such cases in history,” says the paper.
Calls for autonomy in Samtskhe-Javakheti are also not likely to present the right image to the international community either. To be fair to Dashnaktsutyun, the idea of a introducing a federal model in Georgia is not a bad one given the country’s history of ethnic unrest and internal conflict. However, such statements are likely to also be seen as first step to demanding independence. It is not uncommon to hear Dashnaks refer to the Georgian region as historical Armenian territory and to say that “after Karabakh, Javakhk is next.”
Delivering the statement on the occasion of the anniversary of Karabakh’s independence makes such concerns all the more valid. Indeed, many would argue that such a situation is also the same for those Armenians living in Georgia although the timing of the ARF-D’s statement on Samtskhe-Javakheti is hardly useful given Armenia’s dependency on Georgia as its main trade route.
Still, RFE/RL’s Press Review reports that one local newspaper noted that at least the ARF-D are resolute and committed to their policies even if their disagreement with official policy raises questions about their continued involvement in government.
“Aravot” says that of all major Armenian parties only the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) has an “understandable” position on Turkish-Armenian relations. Its says the parties other than Dashnaktsutyun have no clear strategy of how to deal with Turkey. The paper at the same time “can not understand” how Dashnaktsutyun can be part of a government whose position on the issue is quite different.
However, other newspapers were more concerned by the presence of the ARF-D’s Education Minister. Spartak Seyranian — and hundreds of school children brought in by bus to attend the event.
“Hayk” reports on Tuesday’s rally held by Dashnaktsutyun in Yerevan. “Apart from several dozen diehard Dashnaks, those who gathered outside the Matenadaran were mainly high school students and their teachers,” says the paper. It says many of them were bused from towns and villages across Armenia. “We believe that after yesterday’s disgrace Serzh Sarkisian and Tigran Sarkisian must think about finding a new minister of science and education because Spartak Seyranian proved yesterday that he is subordinated not to the government but a party opposed to it,” the paper adds, referring to the current education minister affiliated with Dashnaktsutyun.
Meanwhile, Talk Turkey welcomes the planned visit by the Turkish president to Armenia and says that following the Russia-Georgia war over South Ossetia, the move is very timely indeed.
[…] Although there have been opposition in Turkey about this historic visit, and no doubt the same on the Armenian side, this visit couldn’t have come at a better time.
With the ongoing Russian restructuring and its hopes of revitalizing the Soviet empire, closer relations between affected neighboring countries are very critical in any normal setting. Then there’s the issue of reconciling differences regarding the ‘Genocide’ matter. And the hope for a closer dialogue without the presence of any third parties whose justification for their own existence is the continuation of the very same discord they supposedly are for ending.
A good start . . .
A Fistful of Euros also comments on the match and the role the Armenian Revolutionary Federation — Dashnaktsutyun have played in local politics. The blog argues that while Sargsyan’s predecessor relied on them as his main support base and therefore pandered to their nationalist interests, the new president has no need to. Although the invitation was extended to Gul before the recent conflict in Georgia, the blog also notes the importance of normalizing relations in its aftermath.
Kocharian left office in April (after some unpleasantness, some of which was discussed on this blog) and was replaced by his Defense Minister, Serge Sarksyan. And President Sarksyan has taken a different position. He has made it clear that his administration would be delighted to host the Turkish team and any other prominent Turk who cared to come along. He’s made that statement concrete in several ways, including waiving visas for Turkish visitors. Not that Armenia has ever had a lot of Turkish visitors, what with not having diplomatic relations and the border being closed and all, but they did require visas for any there might have been. Now they won’t.
Why? We-ell, I didn’t understand Armenian politics when I lived there — these people ltaught Byzantine politics to the Byzantines — but to simplify a hideously complex story, Kocharian was pandering to the nationalist party while Sarksyan thinks he can throw it overboard. […]
[…]
And then of course the war in Georgia. Both Turkey and Armenia have been seriously inconvenienced by this, albeit in different ways. Turkey is worried about its oil pipeline through Georgia, and also about Russia’s heavy-handed reminders about the 1936 Black Sea Convention. (Long story.) Armenia is worried because, with the Turkish and Azeri borders closed, almost all their imports and exports go through Georgia. Armenians are very pro-Russian (while Turks tip a bit towards Georgia), but the war has dramatically reminded Armenia just how vulnerable they are as long as those borders are closed.
Photo: ARF-D Karabakh Indepence Anniversary, Matenadaran, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008
Photo: Spartak Seyranian, ARF-D Karabakh Indepence Anniversary, Matenadaran, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008
Photo: Aramayis Grigoryan, ARF-D Karabakh Indepence Anniversary, Matenadaran, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008
Photo: Aghvan Vartanian, ARF-D Karabakh Indepence Anniversary, Matenadaran, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008
Photo: Levon Mkrtchian, ARF-D Karabakh Indepence Anniversary, Matenadaran, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008
Photo: Vahan Hovannisian, ARF-D Karabakh Indepence Anniversary, Matenadaran, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008
Photo: Armen Rustamian, ARF-D Karabakh Indepence Anniversary, Matenadaran, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2008
- Published:
- 09.03.08 / 2pm by Onnik
- Category:
- Armenia, Azerbaijan, Genocide, Georgia, Nagorno Karabakh, Parties, Photojournalism, Turkey
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