Huntschak Social Democratic Party

Huntschak Social Democratic Party Սոցեալ Դեմոկրատ Հնչակեան Կուսակցութիւն Sozjal Democrat Hentschakjan Kusakzutjun
Party leader	Arsen Kupeljan
founding	1887
Headquarters	Yerevan , Armenia
Alignment	Democratic socialism
Parliament seats	2 of 128 in the Lebanese National Assembly
Number of members	4300 (in Armenia, as of 2012)
International connections	Second international
Website	հնչակ.հայ ( hentschak.hay ) (Armenian) Jugendorg. Gaidz (Eng.)

The Social Democratic Huntschak Party ( Armenian Սոցեալ Դեմոկրատ Հնչակեան Կուսակցութիւն Sozjal Demokrat Hentschakjan Kusakzutjun , abbreviated ՍԴՀԿ or SDHK, Arabic حزب الهنشاق الديمقراطي الاجتماعي Hizb al-Hanschaq ad-dimuqrati al-idschtima'i , French Parti social-démocrate Hentchak ) is the oldest Armenian political party and was the first socialist party in the Ottoman Empire and Persia . Alongside the Democratic-Liberal Party and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, it is one of the three major western Armenian parties.

history

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries

It was founded in 1887 by a group of students from the University of Geneva in Switzerland . At first it had the character of a secret society . Their leader was Avetis Nazarbekian . The aim of the group was to separate the Armenian provinces from the Ottoman Empire and to create an independent Armenian state that would belong to a future socialist world. Although Marxist- oriented, the use of terrorist means was also advocated to achieve its goal. The group chose "propaganda, agitation, terror, organization and peasant and worker actions" as viable methods. She planned not only assassinations on Ottoman dignitaries, but also on Armenians who cooperated with the Ottoman government and were therefore seen as "spies and traitors". The party initially had no official name. It was named after the name of its newspaper, which was called Huntschak (or Hntschak , Armenian for "bell" or "fanfare") and appeared in Geneva from November 1887 . It was not until 1890 that it appeared as the "Huntschak Revolutionary Party".

On July 27, 1890, members Harutiun Jangülian , Mihran Damadian and Hampartsum Boyadjian organized the Kumkapı protests in Istanbul. The Zeytun resistance in 1896 and 1915 , like the Şebinkarahisar resistance, was organized by the Huntschak party.

Many members of the party were killed during the Armenian genocide . Among other things, the execution of 20 activists on June 15, 1915 became known.

Prominent members included Levon Larents , Smbat Biurat , Murat von Sivas and Antranik Pascha .

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries

After Armenia gained independence from the Soviet Union, the party was able to officially register in Armenia again, which it did in 1991. In the 1990s the publication of the party-affiliated newspaper "Huntschak Hajastani" had to be stopped again due to financial problems. In the mid-1990s, the party sought cooperation with the then dominant Armenian All-National Movement and advocated government leadership by Levon Ter-Petrosyan . She later supported Robert Kocharyan until the party joined an alliance of 16 parties to support Kocharyan's main rival Stepan Demirtschyan in the 2003 presidential election, which was controversial within the party. That year, the party chairman George Hakobian resigned.

In addition to Armenia, the party is also active in Lebanon, where many Armenians live. There it is represented with 2 seats in parliament.

Member of the Armenian National Assembly (since 1990)

Norair Ishanian (1990-1995) Mechak Mchitarjan (1990–1995) Rafael Melkonjan (1990-1995)

Jeghia Nacharyan (1995–1999) Lyudmila Sargsyan (2012-2017) Ernest Soghomonjan (1995–1999, 2007–2012)

Source: National Assembly website

literature

• Andreas Oberender: Eastern Europe . Explosive mélange - terrorism and imperial violence in Eastern Europe. Ed .: Eastern Europe (magazine) . Eastern Europe 4/2016. Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag , Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-8305-3515-7 , Against Tsar and Sultan - Armenian terrorism before the First World War, p. 49–62 (128 p., Zeitschrift-osteuropa.de [TEXT /; 60 kB ; accessed on October 19, 2017]).
• Haluk Selvi: Mihran Damadyan - The Confessions of an Armenian Underground Fighter . Manzara Verlag, Offenbach am Main 2015, ISBN 978-3-939795-61-2 , The foundation of the Hinçak community, its program and Mihran, p. 13–78 (184 p., Excerpt , p. 7, 49–54 [PDF; 822 kB ; accessed on June 23, 2020]).

See also

• List of political parties in Armenia
• List of political parties in Lebanon

Web links

Commons : Social Democrat Hunchakian Party  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Australian branch website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ https://www.spyur.am/en/companies/social-democrat-hunchakian-party/88736 (accessed September 11, 2019)
2. ↑ Յուրաքանչյուր երկրորդ չափահաս հայաստանցին կուսակցակա՞ն
3. ↑ Social Democrat Party Hunchakian
4. ↑ Lebanon a Country Study, By Federal Research Division - p. 185
5. ↑ Wolfdieter Bihl: The Caucasus Policy of the Central Powers. Böhlau, Vienna 1975, p. 166.
6. ↑ Norman M. Naimark: Flaming Hatred. Ethnic cleansing in the 20th century. Beck, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-406-51757-9 , p. 34.
7. ^ ^{A b} Edward J. Erickson: Ottomans and Armenians. A Study in Counterinsurgency. Palgrave Macmillan, New York / Basingstoke (Hampshire) 2013, p. 11.
8. ^ Louise Nalbandian: The Armenian Revolutionary Movement. The Development of Armenian Political Parties through the Nineteenth Century. University of California Press, Berkeley / Los Angeles / London 1963, p. 115.
9. ↑ The Twenty Hunchakian Gallows
10. ↑ ^{a b} https://web.archive.org/web/20151222133232/https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/04YEREVAN1678_a.html
11. ↑ parliament.am (accessed December 12, 2019)