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THE TASHNAK
TERRORIST ORGANIZATION
The “Armenian Revolutionary
Federation” or "Tashnak Organization" is also known
as the "TashnakParty." In fact, after the communist
took over of the Armenian Republic, the Tashnak organization
continued its existence as a party in exile, mainly in Lebanon,
Iran, France, Greece and the United States. This organization
has remained active up to the present day and has performed
a significant role in planning and promoting the new era of
Armenian terrorism, as well as forming teams and groups for
carrying out terrorist operations. A move was made, later
in its career, to have its name changed from the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation to the Armenian National Committee.
The intention behind this was to achieve greater effectiveness
in its propagandist activities by the removal of a name that
could offend Western sensibility.
1. The
Structure of the Organization
a. “Bureau”:
This is the most important organ of the organization and takes
the decisions that determine its administrative policies.
In appearance the bureau represents collective leadership.
It consists of eight members, one each from California, France
and Iran and five from Lebanon. The members elect a chairman.
The bureau, which was based in Lebanon until the outbreak
of the Civil War, was moved from there to the United States
and then to Greece and France. The regulations of the bureau
and its decisions are kept secret .It is known that a person
named Hrair Marukian, Persian by birth and domiciled in France,
was its chairman until 1985.
b. "The
Central Committee": It is the highest-level executive
organ. It establishes the link between the bureau and the
local groups and organizations. It is instituted in places
where there is a sizeable Armenian population. Lebanon and
France have one central committee each, whilst the United
States has two, one on the eastern and' the other one on western
coasts. Under the pyramid shaped structure the local organizations
and their organs take place. These are known by the names
of a variety of Armenian associations and clubs, such as the
Federation of Armenian Youth, the Youth Organization, the
Armenian Boy and Girl Scouts Club, organizations for sport
and cultural activities.
c. There
are also various offices operating under the central committees,
such as those in charge of propagandist activities and publicity,
as well as legal, financial, military and educational matters.
These offices offer purely technical service or advice. As
an example of an office rendering a specific service, we can
mention the Committee for Supervising Armenian Immigration.
2. Aims
The Tashnak terrorist organization
defines the meaning of the Armenian cause or “the Hay Taht”
as the establishment of an independent and non-communist Armenia
within the boundaries designated by the abrogated Sévres Treaty
and the enforcement of the payment of compensation by Turkey
in return for the crimes said to have been committed against
the Armenians. Tashnak publications give expression to this
objective in the words, "We will continue to insist
on the implementation of the Sévres Treaty, as being one of
the milestones in the pursuit of our cause."
In another publication, the
aims of the Tashnaks are summarised as the recognition of
the right of the Armenians to live in their own lands and
to govern themselves. More commonly, the aims of the Tashnaks
are presented as centring around three specific demands: a)
the recognition of the Armenian claim that genocide was committed,
b) the payment of a compensation by Turkey, c) resettlement
in the Armenian homelands.
3. Strategies
and Policies
Although the Tashnaks have
publicly declared that their strategies are directed towards
the realization of their aims through “peaceful means”, neither
the events of the past nor their activities in the new era
of Armenian terrorism have proved this to be true. This ‘party’
which has all the characteristics of a terrorist organization,
can assume, when needed, a peaceful guise and mislead the
public by using propagandist tactics perfected through long
years of experience. In fact, as has been said above, it was
the Tashnaks who were responsible for the establishment of
the Justice Commandos for Armenian Genocide whose name was
later changed to the Armenian Revolutionary Army. It is, indeed,
the Tashnaks who decided upon and planned the assassinations
and bomb assaults carried out by this group. These activities
suffice to show that the Tashnak organization never abandoned
the terroristic tendencies it possessed at its inception.
Nonetheless, there is a significant difference between the
strategies employed by the Tashnaks and those by ASALA. ASALA
makes no distinction between the Turks and other nationalities,
all of who can figure indiscriminately as their targets, whereas
the Tashnak organization and its affiliates take Turkish citizens
or official representatives of Turkey as the sole targets
of their deadly operations.
After the killing of the Turkish
Consul General in Los Angeles in 1972, the Justice Commandos
announced that their targets were “only Turkish diplomats
and Turkish institutions.” The same declaration of intention
was made in connection with the assault carried out by the
Armenian Revolutionary Army against the Turkish Embassy in
Lisbon in 1983.
The difference that exists
between the strategies of the Tashnaks and ASALA may be explained
by observing the historical development of the two organizations.
As we have seen, the Tashnaks took a pro-Western stance in
the nineteenth and the first two decades of the twentieth
century and aimed at influencing public opinion in the West,
whereas the Hunchaks turned towards Russia for protection
and support. It is significant that, during the years 1973-1985,
terrorism made use of both camps.
The strategy adopted by the
Tashnaks finds its clearest expression in the announcement
made in the wake of the Lisbon attack. According to this,
“a national liberation movement has to go through two phases
in order to attain its end: firstly, the phase of internal
propaganda, when bases of support are secured; secondly, the
phase of external publicity directed towards gaining the sympathy
of the world and attracting attention for the cause: hence
the necessity for organizing activities that serve as demonstrations...”
For the Tashnaks, Armenian
terrorism was but a form of demonstration conducted as part
of their strategy. In other words, the assaults, bombings
and raids that were carried out and the people who were injured,
killed or trampled to death in the course of these incidents,
were all considered to be the necessary elements of a scenario
that made up the 'demonstration'.
The Tashnak historian Varandjian
described the characteristics of the Tashnak terrorist organization
in the words: “Perhaps no other revolutionary party, not
even the Russian Narodovoletz (Narodnaya Volya) or the Charbonari
of the Italians, adepts though they were at terrorism and
undaunted by anything that came in their way, could breed
terrorists as reckless and impassioned as the Tashnaks. Hundreds
of men carrying guns, daggers and bombs are up in arms.”
It is sobering to reflect that during the period we have studied
the mission of these "reckless and impassioned"
terrorists was to attack Turkish institutions and the Turks.
4. The
Congresses of Vienna and Munich
On December 27, 1981 the following
resolutions were taken in the twenty-second Tashnak Congress
held in Vienna:
a) The
Party's goal is to secure the establishment of a united and
independent Armenia.
b) Pressure should be exerted
on other Armenian organizations by the political committees
to induce them to join the ranks of the Tashnaks.
c) Complete
agreement with the West must be secured.
d) Close
relations have to be established with the Soviet Union, and
Armenian immigration must be stopped.
In the Munich Congress held
at the end of 1984 with the participation of representatives
for fifteen countries, the following resolutions were passed:
a) New campaigns must be
launched to publicise the Armenian cause.
b) An attempt
must be made to resolve the 'Armenian question' through legal
and other peaceful measures, for example, a campaign must
be conducted to bring the issue of genocide before the United
States Congress and the United Nations Committee for Human
Rights so as to secure its recognition.
In the declaration made at
the end of the Congress, the delegates made the following
announcement: “We are to continue our struggle for the
recognition of the legal rights of the Armenian people and
of the genocide committed by the Turks; as well as the payment
of a compensation for the human, cultural and economic losses
endured by our nation and the restitution of the Armenian
national home which has belonged to us for thousands of years.”
The resolutions taken at both
the Congresses are of interest in facilitating the identification
of the themes that were to be used as means of, propaganda
by the Tashnak terrorist organization.
5. Support
and Connections
The Tashnak terrorist organization
derived its support largely from the United States and Europe.
It operated on the basic principle of avoiding, as far as
possible, contact with the other terrorist organizations.
Instead it had links with various organizations in the states
mentioned, its primary source of support being the Church
and the Union of Churches, as well as the Armenian lobbies
and research centres.
6. Political
Developments
Up to the 1970's the "liberation
and independence of Soviet Armenia" formed the basis
of the policies determined and implemented by the Tashnak
terrorist organization. For this reason, the Tashnaks gave
priority to hostilities against the U.S.S.R. and engaged in
a merciless struggle against those who supported and controlled
Soviet Armenia. During Christmas worship, the Archbishop of
the Holy Cross Armenian Church in New York was assassinated
by a Tashnak suicide-killer. The reason given was the Archbishop's
approval of the situation in Soviet Armenia.
After the 1970's, the break-up,
due to death and other factors, of the ruling party in the
Armenian Republic and the comparisons being drawn between
the Third World liberation movements and the Tashnak terrorist
movements led to significant changes in the Tashnak policies.
Their hostility was now directed against Turkey and the Turks.
"Fascist Turkey" had become the real enemy; Turkey's
ally, the United States, was also counted among their enemies.
The "Justice Commandos for Armenian Genocide" (JCAG),
a terrorist group established in 1972 and organized by the
Tashnaks, were put into action as a result of the policy changes
mentioned above. The Aztag Shapatoriag, the propaganda organ
of the Tashnaks and especially of the JCAG, issued a warning
of 'terror' when they announced that "terrorism is
the last hope and the only path to follow in the liberation
struggles of today."
Despite all the propaganda
efforts by the Tashnak terrorist organization, the Lisbon
operation was seen as a complete failure. The attempts to
represent the attack on the Turkish Embassy in Lisbon, as
a turning point in terror did not win general acceptance.
Following this, they were obliged to change the name of the
JCAG to "Armenian Revolutionary Army"; even so,
this did not produce the desired results. In particular, the
arrest and conviction in 1984 of Sasunian, one of the Tashnak
murderers, proved a great setback to Tashnak policies. The
Tashnaks lost the support of American-born Armenians. According
to the Armenian Reporter, the Tashnak Party had been taken
over by Lebanese Armenians from abroad, and was powerless
in the face of a large majority who did not support terrorism.
The weakening of the- terrorist wing of the party led to increasing
clashes of opinion at the highest level of the Executive Council
and Central Committees. The highest officials in the party
were split into two groups. Powerful members of the Executive
Council, representatives of the Lebanese Central Committee
and leading members of the party administration, were murdered
in Beirut or disappeared without trace. By the end of 1985,
it was impossible to speak of a united Tashnak Party. Two
important external factors helped to create this situation
within the Tashnak terrorist organization. The first was the
revelation that the Tashnak leaders had had connections with
secret service organizations in certain countries and that
these were trying to establish control over the Armenian churches.
The second was the struggle between ASALA and the Tashnaks.
ASALA described the Tashnak leaders ad "parasites who
were sucking the blood of Armenians dry." As a matter
of fact, these developments within the Tashnak terrorist organization
were not new. Whenever such conflicts and divisions arose
in the past, the Tashnaka always re-emerged sometime later.
In the World Armenian Congresses, the Tashnaks have always
been, and will continue to be, a force to reckon with. As
for the policy cahnges, they may be construed as being to
temporary conflicts in leaderships.
7. The
Media
Within the Armenian terrorist
organizations, the Tashnak terrorist organization was experimenting
in the field of propaganda and was giving support to that
extent. They had acquired the means of constantly informing
world opinion of their goals, their activities and their policy
through the press and broadcasting media; for example, through
various serials and feature films, through radio programmes,
which they had purchased, thorough private radios, television
and video films. Quite a few countries showed interest and
provided the Tashnaks with special support in this area. Among
the most important Tashnak publications were Hairenik and
Asbarez, both published in Armenian in the United States,
together with the Armenian Weekly, which was published in
English.
The Tashnaks also organized
twenty-two world conferences in places such as Paris, Bucharest,
Erevan and Munich, although the number of participants was
limited. This was a tremendous propaganda and publicity effort
on their part.
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