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THE LAUSANNE
CONGRESS OF 1983
The Lausanne Congress had
been preceded by a number of very important developments.
Terrorist activities had attained very serious dimensions,
and world public opinion was becoming aroused in condemnation
of Armenian terrorism. Some of these terrorist activities,
which were now taking the form of massacres, were beginning
to constitute a matter of deep concern and anxiety, not only
for impartial observers but even for friends and allies of
the Armenians and, above all, for the Armenians themselves.
The Lausanne Congress met against this background with the
aim of uniting Armenian political views and of directing all
action towards a common goal. ASALA did not participate in
this congress and those in favour of violence found themselves
in a minority. The Congress ended with splits and factions
appearing in both ASALA and the Dashnak groups and with vain
attempts by the terrorist teams and groups to form new organizations.
Most of them were expelled from the organization, arrested
and condemned.
The following were the most
important of the proposals put forward and the topics discussed:
a. A constitutional council
should be established to decide upon basic politics, to determine
and formulate views with regard to territorial claims, and
to establish such claims on a sound basis.
b. A national liberation
movement should be established on the basis of nationalism
and democracy.
c. These congresses should
be similar to the International Jewish Congresses and display
a strongly democratic, parliamentarian character.
The following decisions were
taken:
a. Measures should be taken
to ensure that the congresses should possess a democratic,
parliamentarian character, and that a "Constitution"
should be drawn up.
b. The Constitution should
be drawn up by a constitutional council, which should also
be responsible for the preparation of a text presenting a
synthesis of the various political views held.
c. The work of the council
should be published and distributed to the international public.
This congress ended in disagreement
and great confusion. The moderates proved dominant but were
unable to achieve any notable proved dominant but were unable
to achieve any notable results. The conflict continued after
the close of the congress, and the factions and splits referred
to above began to make their appearance.
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