Pashinyan, Dashnaks struggle to capture the minds of Armenians New round of standoff

It seems that Armenia has finally closed the way to the Dashnaks living abroad. In any case, Gegham Manukyan, a deputy of the National Assembly from Kocharyan's faction, a member of the ARF (Armenian Revolutionary Federation) "Dashnaktsutyun", reported via social networks that the government of the country has refused entry to Aslan Aslanyan, a member of the "Dashnaktsutyun" from the Netherlands.

"Border guards banned Aslanyan from entering the country, explaining that he is on the Armenian government's blacklist. The border guards asked Aslanyan about his participation in anti-Pashinyan actions, and the Dutch Dashnak said he did," Manukyan wrote.

This is actually not the first time that the Armenian Foreign Ministry prohibits European representatives of Dashnaktsutyun from entering the country. In July 2022, the co-chairman of the Coordinating Council of Armenian organizations of France, Murad Papazyan, was banned from visiting Armenia. At that time, the media reported that Papazyan was not allowed to enter, because, in the summer of 2021, he organized an attack on the motorcade of a government delegation led by Prime Minister Pashinyan in Paris.

In August of the same year, the chairman of the "Ai Dat" committee in the Netherlands Masis Abrahamyan, and his daughter could not enter Armenia for the same reason. Judging again by a note in the media, the ban had a political motive and was carried out on the direct instructions of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Later, Armenian journalists reported on the intentions of the ARFD to file a lawsuit against the country’s government in the case of Murad Papazyan, as well as the Abrahamyans, father, and daughter. As you know, in May 2022, during Pashinyan's official visit to the Netherlands, representatives of Dashnaktsutyun organized a protest rally, during which its participants shouted insults at the Armenian prime minister. And it would be naive to believe that this fact will be ignored in Yerevan.

It is worth noting, however, that Pashinyan's undeclared war with the Dashnaks has grounds. The Dashnaks' key argument in this conflict is Armenia's defeat in the Second Karabakh War, and they consider Pashinyan to be the main culprit. Using all its resources, the ARFD launched a massive propaganda campaign against the head of the Armenian government, declaring him a traitor, and even a spy – either Russian or Turkish.

The Dashnaks are not satisfied with the policy of the Armenian leadership in the post-conflict period, which, albeit formally, still expresses support for the normalization of relations with Azerbaijan and Türkiye, while the terrorist Dashnaktsutyun inherently harbors exclusively revanchist goals. For example, in November 2020, after an agreement was reached on the cessation of hostilities, Dashnak detachments remained in Karabakh in protest, and members of this terrorist organization organized protests abroad against the signing of any documents on Karabakh.

By the way, Dashnaktsutyun has been advocating for Armenia to recognize the "independence of Nagorno-Karabakh" since the first days of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. For example, in 2010, in an interview with the Armenian service of Radio Liberty (Radio Azatutyun), the representative of the Supreme Body of the party Armen Rustamyan stated that the ARF "stands for international recognition of the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh."

It is clear that Pashinyan does not like the Dashnaks' opposition to his policy at all, to say the least. He would like to neutralize this rather influential part of the Armenians somehow. So he doesn't need any foreign dashnaks arriving in the country to muddy the waters - he would like to get rid of his own. So, naturally, with his knowledge, they began to pass through a sieve of all Armenians entering the country and weed out those who have at least some relation to the top of Dashnaktsutyun.

So, it is not difficult to imagine the scale of the Dashnaks' hatred towards Pashinyan, especially after he actually recognized Karabakh as the territory of Azerbaijan. It is also significant that, unlike Pashinyan, the previous leaders of Armenia, Kocharyan, and Sargsyan, contacted and continue to be friends with the Dashnaks, the leadership of this party.

For example, Robert Kocharyan, after the country's defeat in the Second Karabakh War, headed the opposition political bloc in May 2021, which included Dashnaktsutyun. Kocharyan explained his decision by saying that, they say, "the ARFD is an organization that invariably fights for the preservation of the identity of Armenians."

"This is a party with which I have a lot of experience of cooperation. The ARFD was part of the government during my tenure - even when the coalition was not yet formed. The experience is effective, there are results, and you have all witnessed these results," Kocharyan stressed.

Dashnaktsutyun was banned in Armenia in 1992 by President Levon Ter-Petrosyan, but in February 1998, a month before Robert Kocharian took the presidency, it was legalized again. The third President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, also contributed to the close interaction of the country's political elite with the ARF, promoting representatives of this party in state governing bodies. For example, in February 2016, in accordance with his order, an agreement was signed on the creation of a new political coalition, which included the representative of the supreme body "Dashnaktsutyun" Aghvan Vardanyan, and the post of Minister of Education and Science was transferred from the representative of the RPA Armen Ashotyan to Dashnak Levon Mkrtchyan. Another representative of the ARFD, David Lokyan, was appointed Minister of Territorial Administration. And this is just one of many facts confirming the close coordination of the Armenian authorities of that period with the Dashnaks.

It is clear that Pashinyan is not satisfied with Dashnaks. But the prime minister is not happy about the attitude towards him from the top of the ARFD, which stands in a position close to the "former". That's why Yerevan remembered the law "On Foreigners", which states that entry into Armenia is not allowed if a foreigner is a member of an organization whose purpose is to harm the state security of Armenia, overthrow the constitutional order or carry out a terrorist act. And if we take into account that all these three conditions, in fact, form the basis of the ARFD's activities, it turns out that the measures taken by the Armenian leadership against the Dashnaks are very prudent and are aimed not only at the personal peace of the Armenian prime minister.

Pashinyan will continue to do everything to rid Armenia of the influence of the Dashnaks, who pose a serious threat to the statehood of the "land of stones". After all, the goals of the Dashnaks do not change: territorial claims to neighbors, war and terrorist attacks, Turkophobia, and ethnic cleansing. And Armenia will have to pay for it. Which, we are sure, Pashinyan himself understands.