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COMMON FEATURES
OF ARMENIAN TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS
The survey of the aims and
strategies of the Armenian minority organizations from a historical
perspective during the phase of New Armenian Terrorism (1973-85)
shows that they had all assumed the character, aims and functions
of terrorist organization. Their activities were directed
towards the objectives of inciting and perpetrating revolts,
revolutions and acts of terrorism.
It has already been noted
above that the Dashnaks who had become organized in the 1890's,
had adopted a program based on terrorist strategies, such
as forming gangs, demoralizing the target Ottoman population,
killing the Turks and undermining their sovereignty, arming
the Armenian minority groups in preparation for uprisings,
revolts and terrorism, forming revolutionary committees and
murder squads, and destroying governmental institutions. After
seizing power and establishing an Armenian Republic (1918
- 1920) within a year of the Russian Revolution, in the region
where Soviet Armenia is situated today, the Dashnaks engaged
in diplomatic activities and tried to assert themselves as
a legitimate power; nevertheless, the fundamental terroristic
philosophy never disappeared and resurfaced years later in
1972 with the formation of an subsidiary group named the Justice
Commandos for Armenian Genocide. The operations of this group
are well-known to everyone, not least to the non-involved
Armenians on whom they exert constant pressure.
Similarly, the Marxist Hunchak
organization has shown that it too endorses terrorism by the
protection and support it gives to ASALA, the principal terrorist
organization of the period 1973 1985. It is noteworthy that
the Hunchaks provided the inspiration and intellectual impetus
for the creation of this group.
For terrorist organizations,
the Armenian cause, or the Armenian issue no matter what interpretations
may be placed upon it has been identified with terrorism whilst
the ideals or aspirations of the Armenian people have been
reduced to hostility against the Turks and Turkey, to be pursued
through vindictive acts and bloodshed.
The Armenian terrorist organizations
are, as a rule, formed by a small number of activists, who
control the central administration. The operations agreed
upon by the central administration are carried out by a number
of teams; each entrusted with specific duties. When required
for propagandist purposes, these teams are made public under
a variety of names, which serves the purpose of creating an
impression of large numbers and widespread activity.
Terrorist organizations need
not be situated in one specific physical or geographical location.
They could be dispersed in several countries, or scattered
over the same country. Although this situation on the surface
gives an impression of amore democratic and open structure,
yet, in reality, such organizations observe a strict discipline
imposed by a central organization.
Another characteristic of
the terrorist organization is their tendency to split into
a number of smaller groups both because of their differing
functions and also as a result of rivalries between their
members and their leaders. One outcome of this phenomenon
is that each group that breaks away forms its own affiliate
organization. Hence, there is an apparent mushrooming which
once again produces the impression of proliferation.
Secrecy forms one of the basic
tenets of these organizations. However, at times, particularly
through the instrumentality of the subsidiary team, disclosures
are made in order to publicize the activities performed as
an occasion for propaganda. This policy also serves the aim
of concealing the main centre from detection, which can thus
continue its activities in security. For the same reasons,
the teams make announcements both before and after committing
crimes and take responsibility for them.
In all Armenian terrorist
activities, terrorism goes hand in hand with psychological
coercion. In fact, the former is a phase in the process of
applying the latter. Terrorism can be used as a means of propaganda,
as well as an instrument of oppression, intimidation and retribution.
The second use of terrorism is reserved for those who oppose
the activist organizations or disobey its commands. The majority
of non-involved Armenians are subjected to such pressures.
These organizations possess
an immense store of expertise and experience in the fields
of public relations, communications and the media. Moreover,
they have close contacts with the institutions and the people
who disseminate information and influence public opinion.
Such expertise and contacts provide the organizations with
opportunities for survival and gradual expansion.
The terrorist organizations
enjoy the open or secret support of one or more states. These
may use them either as an instrument to further their own
interests, or as a means of covering up their secret organizations
or propaganda units.
Hostility against Turkey and
the Turks provides the terrorist organizations with a motive
for their existence and survival, as well as serving to rationalize
their claims and demands. However, in countries, which have
close relations with Turkey, the hostile reactions apparently
provoked by these organizations tend to be short-lived. Indeed,
in such cases, particularly when terrorism takes as its target
not only Turkey but also the country where it operates and
its citizens, it has to be assumed that the activists are
aiming at intimidating their opponents, rather than carrying
out hostile operations against the host country.
In retrospect, Armenian terrorism
appears to have three main objectives: 1) to compel the Armenians
to join the ranks of the activists by exerting pressure on
them, thus securing their support, 2) to influence world public
opinion by convincing it of the might and scope of Armenian
terrorism, and 3) to prepare the ground for hostility against
Turkey in case of future conflicts of interests and political
confrontations on the international scene. The nineteenth
century myth of an enslaved and impoverished minority deprived
of its rights, and the twentieth century theme of a nation
subjected to massacres and genocide have both been used in
order to have access to sources of power in international
relations. These sources will probably be enlisted in the
service of nations who are Turkey's rivals or even by international
institutions for specific ends. What, in fact, is not known
among the aims of the terrorist organizations is the to which
the opportunities, that arise by instigating international
conflicts, will ultimately be put. This is no other than the
attainment of the goal or ideal, which they expect to be realized
through its own momentum in the course of a historical process
outside their immediate sphere of influence.
NEW ERA OF TERRORISM (1973
- 1985)
In the era of New Armenian
Terrorism, Dashnak and Hunchak organizations function as the
main centres which encourage, promote and train terrorist
groups so that they can develop and expand over new areas
and increase the scope of their targets. Their leadership
extends to the formation of new terrorist groups and teams,
providing man-power, intellectual and moral support for the
newly founded organizations, and the preparation of the ground
for their activities through the establishment of contacts
and relations. Apart from these, ASALA, short for the Armenian
Secret Army for the Liberation of Armen ia constitutes another
major terrorist organization. It has succeeded in having its
name mentioned more than that of any other group, and as such
has become almost synonymous with Armenian terrorism. Together
with the traditional organization and their offshoots, ASALA,
too, is the initiator of the new era of terrorism. As has
been noted above, despite its seemingly independet status,
ASALA is affiliated to the Hunchaks, deriving its moral and
intellectual strength from them, as well as making use of
their established contacts and relations.
Seen from this angle, it may
indeed be claimed that terrorism as we see it in our day is
a continuation of the earlier tradition of terroristic activities,
which was revived under the favourable circumstances of the
sixties, and, making use of the opportunities that were created
anew, once again embarked upon its mission of hostility against
the Turks, engaging in criminal acts of the greatest inhumanity
and cruelty.
One of the attempts at rationalizing
terrorism is provided by Michael M. Gunter in his study on
"Armenian National Liberation", where he claims
that the peoples of many different countries in our day
support the struggles of the terrorists and believe in the
validity of the reasons for which they take action. Similarly,
Gerard J. Libaridjian, the editor of the Armenian Review and
director of the Zorian Institute for Contemporary Armenian
Studies situated in Cambridge, Massachusetts, explains the
reasons that lie behind Armenian terrorism as follows: "The
reluctance of Turkey and the major world powers to recognize
the exasperation of the Armenians, even after sixty years
spent in attempts at establishing peace, has resulted in bringing
about a new era of terrorism." Agop Agopian, the
ASALA leader, on the other hand, argues that Armenian terrorist
activities emerged "after it became evident that the
policies pursued by the traditional parties had failed:"
In the light of these statements
it becomes clear that those who share such views, present
the situation as if it were one that entails a choice between
peaceful or violent methods of pursuing the Armenian cause;
they ignore the phenomenon of Armenian terrorism as a continuing
historical process. Moreover, they fail to explain from what
source they derive the right to launch such violent attacks
against Turkey and to instigate revolutions, revolts and warfare
with the aim of destroying its unity, nor do they tell us
who invests them with this right or authorizes the exercise
of such acts. The terrorists claim a right to perform acts
of violence - the right to cherish animosity, seek revenge
and commit assassinations - and to exercise this right freely.
They pretend not to be aware of the fact that the Armenian
activist organizations were engaged in terroristic operations
right from the start. For the new era of terrorism is clearly
a revival of the older and traditional phase of terrorism,
reactivated as a result of preparations made in the sixties
through propaganda campaigns and demonstrations, as a means
of manipulating the aspirations of certain countries and peoples
over Turkey and taking advantage of the attitudes of rivals
exploiting her political and economic difficulties. One need
not doubt, however, that the era of New Armenian Terrorism
will come to the same end as the former. Yet, in the meantime,
the Armenian people themselves are undergoing the humiliation
and anguish of being branded as terrorists in the eyes of
the world and observe with anxiety the course taken by the
events. This is an aspect of the situation which the terrorist
organizations do not wish to see, or perhaps, one which their
mentors refuse to see. In this way, regardless of the harm
caused, propaganda and psychological coercion campaigns continue
to be waged on a large scale.
HINCHAK
The Hinchak (Sound of the
Bell) Committee was established in Switzerland in 1886 by
Avedis Nazarbelg and his wife Maro, Caucasian Armenians of
Russian citizenship, and a group of Caucasian students. They
also started the publication of a newspaper titled Hinchak
to propagate the ideas of the Committee, of which the leaders
and members were Armenians from Russia. It selected the Eastern
Anatolia as its field of operation and, after a while, its
headquarters was moved from Switzerland to London.
The Hinchak Commitee’s programme
was socialist, Marxist and Centralist It adopted the principles
of Karl Marx. Though it qualified itself as social democrat,
its political programme is reminiscent of the communist manifesto.
The Committee opened in 1890 a branch office in Istanbul with
subdivisions at various provinces of the Ottoman Empire. The
main political goal of the Committee was to save the Armenians
in Turkey from the Turks, those in Iran from the Iranians,
the Russian Armenians from Russia and to do away with all
the capitalists in these countries.
Its PROGRAMME:
The working and producing
classes constitute the great majority of the humanity. The
emancipation of these classes from the exploitation of a rich
and sovereign minority will be achieved through the seizure
of all production factors, soil, factories, mines and transports.
The independence of the producing classes means the salvation
of the entire humanity and a general and economic welfare.
The achievement of this
goal and its physical implementation require the organisation
as dictated by its own desiderata of working classes in all
civilised countries and the accomplishment of the communist
revolution everywhere using the general political capabilities
at their disposal. Thus will be eliminated all other social
classes and the producer classes will create a socialist order.
In this new structuring, the people will make their own laws
and display its might.
(…)
The Armenians today are
under the subjugation of the classes run by monarchic rulers.
Their administrative, fiscal and tax systems are self-destructing
for themselves. Around these monarchies, all ancient economic
and administrative structures wither away while the capitalist
management systems are used in the production.
The introduction of a socialist
order embracing the Armenian social democrats and all Armenians
at large is admitted to be a distant goal under the prevailing
conditions and, therefore, all tendencies and toils require
a nearer target. It is this nearer target that created the
Armenian Revolutionary Hinchak Party, which aims at the following:
a) To foment
the revolution.
b) To annihilate
the sovereign classes of the absolutist administrations.
c) To save
the Armenians from slavery.
d) To strengthen
the Armenians for entering into the political realm.
e) To eliminate
the hurdles preventing the economic and cultural advancement
of the Armenians.
f) To prepare
an environment where the working classes will be able to freely
express their opinions.
g) To improve
the unbearable working conditions.
h) To provide
the workers with knowledge on their own class for enabling
them to organise into a special political entity of their
own.
i) To
facilitate the work by the people to attain the distant goals.
In line with these goals,
the nearer targets of the Hinchak Committee are to destroy
the monarchic administrations and to replace them by democratic
and oligarchic regimes, for which the following conditions
were set:
a) A constituent
assembly should be elected, for a true popular representation,
by direct votes of all citizens. This assembly should have
the power of examining all political, economic and other issues
and legislation of the country in question and resolving on
them.
b) Provinces
should be given a large autonomy.
c) Full
independence should be provided for the people.
d) The
people should be able to elect the government, security, justice
and education officials in public service.
e) Every
citizen, irrespective of nationality, should have the right
to be elected to provincial and autonomous administration
positions.
f) All
citizens irrespective of nationality and religion differences
should be equal before the law.
g) Full
freedom of press, expression, assembly and election should
be recognised to all citizens.
h) Homes
of all citizens and citizens themselves should enjoy freedom
from molestation.
i) The
churches should be dissociated from the State and maintain
their existence solely through the help of persons of their
own congregation.
j) Military
service should be performed by all citizens as militia members
during the peace time.
k) A secular
and compulsory education system should be implemented and
the State should assist the poor in this field.
Since the improvement of the
people’s economic lot is involved, the following conditions
must be fulfilled by securing the political rights listed
above and based on them:
a) The
existing taxation system should be replaced by one based on
the payment power.
b) The
indirect taxes should be abandoned altogether.
c) Peasants
should be absolved of all of their debts.
d) Farm
machinery should be provided with the help of Government and
of the people, their proper use should be taught and they
should be given to the people themselves.
e) Agrarian
partnerships should be established among the people for the
purpose of ensuring the sale of farm products and purchase
of such amenities as seeds, fertilisers and the like.
f) Vehicles
should be provided for all kinds of transportation and contacts.
g) The
Government should prevent the exploitation of working classes
and adopt laws for this purpose.
Regions where the Armenians
hold the majority are also the largest areas of our country.
The Armenian cause acquired the status of a right by the 61st
article of the Berlin Treaty and under the pressure of other
international conditions and was recognised by the European
Powers.
The political, economic and
financial débâcle of the Ottoman Empire together with the
internal uprisings appear to have been contributing factors
that prepared its doom with also the assistance of the European
Powers. It is therefore necessary that the following should
be achieved tp comply with the requirement of a historical
necessity as the Ottoman territories in European continent
were seized by other States:
a) The
Armenian rebels will concentrate their efforts for defending
the Armenian cause and achieving the short-term goals.
b)
The area where the revolution will be launched will therefore
be that in which the Armenians live.
c) Since
the future of Armenians need to be separated from the Ottoman
Empire’s destiny, the first condition of the short-term goal
will be the Armenian independence.
For attaining the short-term
goal, the Armenians decided that the peace and order should
be interrupted and altered by a revolution and a war should
be started against the Turkish Government and the revolution’s
tools were indicated as follows by the Armenians:
a) A propaganda campaign
will be initiated among the people and particularly
the workers through the press, books and speeches, to broadcast
the revolutionary ideas of the Hinchak party, to create
revolutionary organisations and to foment mutinies.
b) The
terror will be used as a weapon to punish the Turkish secret
police members, informers and traitors and the terror will
be used as a shield for the defence of revolutionary organisations
and a guard against the rascals that persecute the people.
d)
An armed force will be kept in readiness and spearheading
legions will be formed to defend the Government and the people
against the soldiers and tribal groups and the legions will
be used as the advance units in an uprising.
e)
Suitable occasions will be created for instigating an uprising.
f)
A general revolution organisation, consisting of several regular
units commanded by a single central headquarter and marching
in unison toward the common goal, within the context of which
has been prepared a regulation for defining the responsibilities
and powers of these units and the organisation and activities
of the Hinchak Committee.
g)
Efforts will be made to secure the alliance of other minorities
having the same destiny as the Armenians and to have them
to join the Armenians our common enemy the Turkish Government.
The greatest objective of the Hinchak Committee will be to
establish a federation similar to the Swiss one after throwing
off the Ottoman yoke.
The Hinchak Committee operating
under this political programme carried out an intense Marxist
propaganda especially among the working classes. Both the
youth and religious leaders, adventurers and unemployed went
out of their way to foment unease and to foment a revolution
while the Committee’s leaders concentrated their efforts on
creating an Armenian proletariat. These efforts, however,
did not go beyond a socialist propaganda under the then prevailing
conditions in Turkey. Persons coming from Russia and other
countries with a flair for such work often took part in these
activities.
The Armenian actions led in
this country to many bloody incidents of which the relics
will not easily be forgotten. Renowned militants like Shimavon
of Tbilisi came from Geneva, S. Danielian arrived from Iran,
Rupen Hanazat of Russia showed up from Trabzon and H. Megavorian
appeared from Batoum to organise the subdivisions of the Hinchak
Committee. Other revolutionary organisations formed in Istanbul
prior to 1980 eventually joined this new setup.
It therefore becomes evident
that the fate of Armenians in Turkey was left to the discretion
of Russian Armenians. Pressure was being exerted on those
refusing to join the Committee and to grant monetary aid and
many of them were being murdered. Thus, the organisation rapidly
started to spread to the other Anatolian provinces.
ACTIVITIES
The charter and programme
of the Hinchak Society was printed in Istanbul in 1909, submitted
to the Ministry of Interior pursuant to the Law on Associations
and received the approval letter no 90 of 8 February
1909. The charter consists of five parts.
The ledger of resolutions
seized by the security forces show that the following resolutions
were adopted in q910, 1911, 1912 and 1913:during operations:
a) Efforts
will be spent to secure weapons, ammunition and explosives.
b) Weapons training will
be given by Marufian, Yavruian and Candan.
c) Propaganda
work will be accelerated.
d) Relations
will be established with the Tashnak Connittee.
e) Similar
relations will be maintained with the Union and Progress Party.
f) Support
will be given to the Orsfan, Cang, Gochnak, Jurachak, Penchak,
Badami, Tejoheng, Maro and Paros bands in Van.
The Hinchak
Committee held its third congress in Turkey on 24 July 1914.
The congress, held with 28 delegates from 51 branch offices,
was chaired by Cangulian with Tancutian as the secretary and
the following decision was adopted:
"Taking
into account the great responsibility necessitated by our
goals and the dangers involved, and in an attempt to prove
that we are a civilised people, care will be exercised for
always avoiding adventures and actions not thoroughly planned
in advance, and we will bear in mind the fact that a balanced
attitude and proper means are the most suitable tools for
reaching our final objectives. "
On the basis
of this decision, the Hinchak leaders started to leave Turkey
after 1896 and disagreements soon arose among them, with the
result that the party broke into two factions. One faction
was called the true Hinchaks (Nazarbeg’s followers) and the
other came to be known as the reformed (Veragasmial) one.
The latter group was led by an Armenian named Arpiar Arpiarian.
It seems that
both factions acted in obedience to the beliefs and opinions
of their leaders rather than under valid principles and programmes.
The disagreement among them often led to street fights, some
of them were beaten and many were killed.
The Armenian
people, realising that the Hinchaks were Marxists, gradually
withdrew themselves from it. The divergence came to a head
in 1902 when militants from both sides began murdering each
other on streets in England, Russia, Egypt, Bulgaria, Caucasus
and Iran. Though some small bands continued bearing the name
of Hinchak, they lost their previous strength after the Van
resurrection. Another factor contributing to the disappearance
of the Hinchak Committee was the fact that several Hinchak
leaders had seen the true intentions of the Russians and left
the organisation.
Reference: SAKARYA,
Ret. Maj. Gen. Ýhsan, Armenian Issue with Decuments,Military
History Publications of the Department of Military History
and Strategic Studies, Turkish General Staff Printing Plant,
Ankara 1984, 2nd ed., pp. 76-87.
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