Gaidz Minassian
Unger Hrayr Maroukhian is no more. He died after a long coma on December 21, 1998.
The ARF was dissolved in Armenia and gradually regained its roots as a merger between Levon Der Bedrossian’s Armenian National Congress (ANC) and the new World Bureau.
In February 1998, Levon Der Bedrossian was forced to step down as a result of advocating a compromise for the conflict of Karabagh. Robert Kotcharian (the prime minister under Bedrossian) succeeded him and freed Hrant Markarian and Vahan Hovannessian to rehabilitate the ARF. The organization adjusts from a Der Bedrossian domination to a Kotcharian-compatible leadership.
This is the time of rupture: Some like Viken Hovsepian, Apo Bighigian, Kevork Kepenekian and Nazareth Berberian are faithful to the flexibility, pragmatism and independence of their departed leader. They advocate:
· State Building.
· Respect for the principle of sovereignty.
· Social progress.
· Fight against Corruption.
Others, such as Hrant and Vahan see the alliance with Robert Kotcharian and later with Serge Sarkissian as an opportunity to gain power and participate in the government decision making process. They are also for the militarization of ‘Hai Tad’ and veering towards a ‘party of Karabagh’ (since both presidents were from that region). They advocate territoriality vs. sovereignty, and for territoriality they advocate an alignment with Russia.
Thus, we have two principles that oppose each other: The principle of national sovereignty against the principle of territorial liberation.
It is the state vs. HaiTadism that divides the legacy of Hrayr Maroukhian.
· The “soverignists” watch the coalition of Robert-Hrant axis that later transformed to a Serge-Hrant one, as the visual illusion (trompe l’oeil) of membership in executive power to defend particular interests. To build a regime and not a state, and to maintain practices neo-patrimonialism or kleptocracy.
· The “territorialists” aim at participating in government affairs and integrate themselves into a post-Soviet Armenian society through the exercise of power. Their goal is to “Dashnakize” the state apparatus by imposing a political culture that maintains the credo of territorial defense.
Over the World Congresses of 2000, 2004, 2008, 2011, 2015 and 2018 the “territorialists” led by Hrant and Vahan gradually lock the whole partisan check board in Armenia and the Diaspora by their ideas and messages.
Pasdaran Hrant and Silovik Vahan with their close guard (Armen Roustamian, David Lokian, Levon Mkertchian and now Bagrad Yessayan, Kegham Manoukian, Ishkhan Saghatelian and co.) offer a biased reading of the principles of Dashnaktsoutiun.
The statutes and customs of the party are trampled. The desire to establish absolute paramilitary order prompts the prohibition of any expressions of discontent by imposing harsh measures like expulsion and ex-communication. All these measures are taken while the ARF experiences successive routes in election ballots. It is a downward spiral: electoral defeats spur complaints which are not addressed by resolving underlying issues, but induce further harsh measures.
Vicken Hovsepian and Apo Boghigian are isolated from the rest of the party while the membership is silenced. A Stalin style reasoning is expounded: These minority voices are pro Levon Der Bedrossian and therefore against Unger Hrayr Maroukhian. They need to be expunged.
Meanwhile, the “Sovereignists” (who no longer dared to express their disappointment) perceive the alliance of the Armenian Republican Party with the ARF as an extension of the post-Soviet model of thought with arbitrary power practice. Moreover, “Sovereignists” reject the logic of their opponents as guardians of Maroukhianism: How could “Sovereignists” be pro Levon Der Bedrossian when “Territorialists” cooperate with Robert and Serge who fought against the ARF of Hrayr Maroukhian?
After 18 years of party lockdown by Hrant Markarian the pasdaran, his first circle of followers are promoted to the World Bureau. However, with the Velvet Revolution and the rise of Nikol Pashinyan to power, the ARF is again in turmoil. This time it is the results of the legislative elections of December 9, 2018 and the dismal showing at the elections. The ARF is deprived of any parliamentary representation in Armenia. In 2019 the party holds its World Congress in the Republic of Artsakh and there is a rising tide against the leadership. Hrant Markarian who is forced to give up his sixth term, claims to be a victim of the Velvet Revolution. He declares that the ARF will send home these insolent young people of the Velvet Revolution, and promotes the establishment of a new ‘office’ composed of his most faithful lieutenants.
He installs an apparatchik Hagop Der Khatchadourian in Canada to reverse the tide. But the discontent with party practices continues, especially after the general elections in April 2020 in Artsakh. The ARF is routed completely and the Diasporan youth are outraged. How come the ‘party of Karabagh’ be rejected by the people of Karabagh?
The reaction is swift and instinctive. How dare these young members question the policies of the leadership? Apo Boghigian, Antranik Boghossian, Nazareth Berberian and Harout Kalaydjian are excluded from the party. Their ‘offense’ is having the courage to challenge the policies of the ARF leadership. Hrant Markarian is not at the helm of the Bureau, but his underlings still control the party apparatus. It is now very clear:
· If he does not control the process, he destroys it.
· If he falls, the whole ARF must fall with him.
The outgoing leadership wants to retain power at all costs. The Supreme Organ led by Ishkhan Saghatelian excels in learning the methods of Hrant Markarian. A genuine caporal-ism that could be the envy of Nikolay Yezhov (Peoples Commissar of Internal Affairs – NKVD) in its sinister behavior.
The military defeat of the Armenians in the Karabakh war (2020) precipitated the fall of the ARF in Armenia, Artsakh and the Diaspora. Its policies have discredited the party that has moved away from its founders and Unger Hrayr Maroukhian. It is a little more than 22 years since his passing away and the party has lost its compass in the midst of globalization and a destabilized Caucasus. It is hard to imagine how he would have reacted to the current challenges:
· Would he have accepted the brutal methods of the pasdaran Hrant and the coup d’état of silovik Vahan in 1995? (IT’S IMPORTANT TO TRANSLATE THE EXTRAIT ABOUT THE DECISION OF UNGUER HRAIR TO NOT GO IN ARTSAKH AFTER THE LEVON TER PETROSSIAN DECRET TO EXPULSE HIM FROM ARMENIA. BECAUSE UNGUER HRAIR WAS AGAINST ANY KIND OF SCENARIO OF CIVIL WAR DANGER)
· Would he have agreed to participate in the government coalition of 1998-1999 and join Robert Kotcharian/Serge Sarkissian in their adventure, when the ARF was rehabilitated?
· Would he have participated in the government coalition with the Republicans of Serge Sarkissian after the legislative elections of 2017?
· Would he have participated in the Velvet Revolution of 2018?
Presumably yes but next to Nikol, not in his pocket. Because there was a moment of national dignity, when the commitment to the state (instead of the regime) rejected the rampant corruption. “Enough” of this misconduct and “Stop” the fatalism implicit in post-Soviet practices.
· Would he have seized the opportunity of the “Nikolmania” to empower the ARF from any tutelage, and bring the experience of the ARF to the young prime minister?
It is preferable to remain cautious and give up any post-mortem scenarios. Unger Hrayr would have averted the gravediggers and liquidators, to embark on a magnificent Kantian project. This noble, humanistic and universal federalism called Dashnaktsoutiun.
Notes:
· ‘trompe l’oeil’: visual illusion used to trick the eye into perceiving a painted detail as a three-dimensional object.
· Kleptocracy: a government whose corrupt leaders use political power to appropriate the wealth of their nation
· IRGC: Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (Iran).
· Pasdaran: The Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution (Sepah-e Pasdaran-e Enqelab-e Eslami).
· Silovik: a politician who came into politics from the security, military, or similar services, often the officers of the former KGB