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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Lebanon
Index
Armenian Parties
In general, Armenian groups have supported whatever government
was in power. They have tended to focus on issues of interest to
the larger Armenian world community and not strictly domestic
politics. The three most important Armenian parties have been the
Tashnak Party, the Hunchak Party, and the Ramgavar Party. Of these
the Tashnak Party has had the greatest political impact.
Founded in 1890 in Russian Armenia, the Tashnak Party sought to
coordinate all Armenian revolutionary groups seeking to improve
their conditions under Ottoman rule. Although the international
Tashnak Party movement advocates socialism, the Lebanese branch of
the party prefers capitalism. Since 1943 most of the Armenian
deputies in the Chamber of Deputies (four in the election of 1972)
have been members or supporters of the Tashnak Party. Prior to the
1975 Civil War, the mostly Christian Tashnak Party was an ally of
the Phalange Party.
On the international level, the party has tended to be proWestern , and during the 1950s and 1960s it took an anti-Nasser
stance. As has been typical of Lebanon's Armenian community, the
Tashnak Party has avoided sensitive and controversial domestic
issues and has attempted to play a moderating role in politics.
Like other Armenian groups, the Tashnak Party refrained from
military activity during the 1975 Civil War. Because the party
refused to come to the Christians' side, many Armenian quarters in
Lebanese towns were subsequently attacked by Bashir Jumayyil's LF.
The Hunchak Party was organized in Geneva, Switzerland, in
1887. The Hunchak Party has promoted the dual objective of
liberating Turkish Armenia and establishing a socialist regime in
a unified Armenian homeland. The Hunchak Party in Lebanon has
advocated a planned economy and a just distribution of national
income. In 1972, for the first time in its history, the Hunchak
Party ran jointly for election to the Chamber of Deputies with the
Tashnak Party.
Founded in 1921, the Ramgavar Party's ultimate goal was the
liberation of Armenia. It has oriented its activities toward
preserving Armenian culture among Armenian communities throughout
the world. After a period of dormancy, the party was revived in the
1950s in the wake of increasing conflicts between the Tashnak Party
and Hunchak Party. The Ramgavar Party presented itself as an
alternative that avoided issues divisive to the Armenian community.
The Ramgavar Party, sometimes considered the party of Armenian
intellectuals, also opposed what it considered the right-wing
policies of The Tashnak Party.
The Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA)
was not a political party but rather a highly secret organization
that used violence to harm its political enemies, principally the
government of Turkey. Established in 1975, ASALA used the Lebanese
Civil War as an opportunity to put into practice without government
interference its belief in armed struggle. Adhering to MarxismLeninism , ASALA aligned with radical Lebanese and Palestinian
groups against rightist forces during the fighting in the late
1970s.
Data as of December 1987
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