(End)Certainly, all the newly established Armenian terrorist organizations inherited the features that had characterized the Armenian terrorism in the XIX-XX centuries. At the same time, the Armenian terrorism in the second half of XX and beginning of XXI century, was based on the “rich” experience of its predecessors, thanks to some of the important circumstances below proved to be more extensive and steadily developing, having covered all regions of the world.
As international terrorism, the Armenian terrorism has always received and continues to receive full support from the church. It plays a central role in forming hatred and intolerance towards other peoples.
As noted above, the church played an important role in the history of the origin and formation of the Armenian terrorist organizations. This, in particular, was motivated by the geostrategic plans of Tsarist Russia, France and England regarding the future of the region. On the other hand, the Armenians were a Christian minority within the Ottoman Empire. The Christian Armenians differed from other Christian groups as the Armenian Church did not recognize the supremacy of the Roman church, showed no interest in the papal authority, preferring their Gregorian faith. Naturally, from the point of view of the Roman Church, the existence of a Christian group with its own ideas and faith threatened the entire Christian world. Therefore, one of the main objectives of the Roman church was to plant discord among the Armenians and to form different religious groups that accepted the papal supremacy. These aspirations corresponded the plans of France, Britain and Russia on establishing various groups within the Armenian community of the Ottoman state. Enacting the religious factor in the realization of their geostrategic plans held a prominent place in the policy of the interested states. Therefore, the very first terrorist acts were planned and implemented by Armenian churches to return renegades. At the same time, France, Britain and Russia, seeking to undermine the foundation of the Ottoman state, provided moral and financial support to various Armenian groups. In this historical setting, Armenian terrorism emerged and further developed with the direct participation of the church.
The Armenian Gregorian church considered heretical by the Orthodox and Catholics, broke away from the Roman and Byzantine churches in the V century, also because of fear of being absorbed by the Roman church. In 1441, the sear of Catholicos of the Armenian Gregorian Church was transferred from Cilicia to Echmiadzin. Therefore, instead of becoming a factor of uniting Armenians with other Christians, the Armenian Church was, in fact, divisive. Being purely Armenian, the church became a factor of isolation, insularity, paving the way for future ethnic and religious intolerance, as well as extremism and separatism.
The Armenian Church has always been actively involved in politics and has a special role in fomenting hatred of Armenians to their neighbors. S. Wims writes on this occasion that the hatred between Christian Armenians and Muslim Ottomans was rooted in the work and efforts of the Armenian Church. The church’s role in the formation of the Armenian terrorist organizations was revealed in Bishop Ghevond Tourian`s book published in 1917 in Istanbul. A kind of acknowledgement of the Armenian church, the book sheds light on the “invaluable” activity of the church and discloses the true essence of the Armenian Patriarchate in the formation of the Armenian public consciousness and creation of the Armenian terrorist organizations. In particular, Tourian writes that “for a long time, the religious communities were the centers of the Armenian revolutionary parties and developed the most diabolical programs… The religious centers called upon the people to revolt orally and in a written form. Lofty words and doctrines of the gospel were not mentioned in their calls. One could hear calls for insurrection instead of fidelity and truth, hatred and revenge instead of humanity, baseness and shame instead of morality.” Further, he wrote that all meetings and other events organized by the committees were led by religious leader. Neither the most supreme religious leader of Armenians – Catholicos of Echmiadzin, nor the heads of other Armenian churches, nor the leaders of the revolutionary parties nor other Armenians realized that “the Armenians have lived side by side with the Turks more than 600 years, using equal social and religious freedom, in the lands of Turkey”, and the committees, denying this truth, sowed the seeds of hatred and intolerance. As expected, the Armenian Church and Armenian terrorist organizations did not forgive Bishop Ghevond Tourian for his “daring” revelation, and he was eventually murdered by the terrorists of Dashnaktsutyun on December 24, 1933, in the Armenian Church of New York. The assassination happened in front of hundreds of parishioners. When he walked down the aisle, a group of men blocked his path, knives flashed, and he fell dead. All parishioners, who were the witnesses of the claimed during the investigation that they did not see the assailants and refused to testify. The New York District Attorney, who led the murder investigation of the bishop, said that “the detectives faced a wall of silence, which is not a good prognosis for the disclosure of the mysterious murder. Either these Armenians would like to settle the strife their own way, which is a bloody act, or they are in a strong fear for their own safety.” According to some reports, Ghevond Tourian was assassinated by Garegin Nzhdeh, who denied his involvement. According to Nzhdeh, the murder was organized by Ruben Ter-Minasian together with other leaders of Dashnaktsutyun.
Supporting terrorist groups, inciting ordinary Armenians to revenge for the “genocide”, making plans of crimes committed by Armenian terrorist groups, collecting donations in the name of “high goal” and for revenge of “the innocent Armenians”, falsifying historical events, creating new myths on “antiquity” and “suffers” of the Armenian people have a special place in the activities of the Armenian churches.
The Armenian church has always provided both material and moral support to the Armenian terrorist organizations. On November 21, 1983, the Armenian church in California led by Catholicos E. Tabakian held the Evening for Hampig. The evening was dedicated to the terrorist Hampig Sassounian, the Lebanese Armenian, who assassinated the Turkish Consul in Los Angeles K. Arikan on January 28, 1982, and was sentenced for his crime. After the assassination, Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide stated that “our sole target is Turkish diplomats and Turkish institutions.”
It was not the only case when the Armenian church honored known terrorists. On July 27, 1983, the Armenian terrorists Eganyan, Daghlian, Kuhrjulian, Ajamian and Abrahamian seized the building of the Turkish Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal. This terrorist group also known as the Lisbon Five was part of Armenian Revolutionary Army, a terrorist organization close to Dashnaktsutyun. In 1984, with the assistance of Dashnaktsutyun, the Armenian churches held memorial days of Lisbon Five in several U.S. states. In particular, memorial days were held at the Armenian Church near Washington on January 12, at the Armenian Church of the holy prophets in Glenview, Illinois on January 21, in St. Vartanantz Armenian churches in Rhode Island on January 22, in New Jersey on January 29.In 1987, the Catholicos of the Armenian Church in Echmiadzin Vazgen I visited the United States and Canada. The keynote of his speeches during the meetings with ethnic Armenians in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, as well as in Canada, was a call to unite all Armenians in the name of “Great Armenia”. He also urged the Armenians of the world to achieve recognition of the so-called “Armenian genocide” by all means and methods by the United Nations following the European Parliament; in his opinion, it would be the “foundation of the Christian movement and celebration of Christian justice”. A year later, with the active support of the church, the Armenian authorities deported more than 250,000 Azerbaijanis from the territory of present-day Armenia, and the unfounded Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan entered a new phase.
Besides, the mass memorial ceremony conducted by Armenian Church of St. Gregory in California on December 26, 1994, was dedicated to the first anniversary of the death of the notorious international terrorist, one of the ASALA leaders Monte Melkonian, who led a terrorist group in Nagorno Karabakh, but got liquidated by Azerbaijani armed forces. The ceremony was attended by the leaders of Armenian political parties, representatives of Armenian churches, Armenian scholars and public figures.
The Armenian Church has been providing the terrorist organizations not only moral support. It took an active part in planning and implementing the sinister plan on deportation of Azerbaijanis from their historic homeland – the present territory of Armenia. Before and during the war in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, the Armenian priests acted as direct perpetrators of terrorist acts. As an example, the Abbot of the Makaravan monastery father Stepan Davtyan was detained in Baku in June 1988; he had three bottles of incendiary mixture and homemade Finnish knife. In addition, the facilities of the Armenian churches in many Azerbaijani settlements populated by ethnic Armenians, were converted into armories. For example, 6 mortars, 16 mines, 130 homemade hand grenades, 7 grenades of serial production, 2 power supplies were discovered in the Armenian church of the Kilichbak village, Askeran rayon of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast.
Armenian churches operating in the territory of other states repeatedly urged the Armenian youth to join the ranks of fighters, who fought “for the triumph of historical justice” in Nagorno-Karabakh. For example, a meeting with 150 young Armenians, held from 6 to 9 September 1993, in two Armenian churches of Lebanon, was attended by Archbishop of Armenian Orthodox Church of Lebanon, leaders of the Armenian parties, as well as terrorist organizations PKK and ASALA. During the meeting, it was stressed that the “Armenian genocide” became better understood in the world thanks to the Armenian propaganda, the Armenian society was booming, the Armenian state was created, its territory was extending as a result of hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, and Armenia would necessarily avenge the “Armenian genocide”. Noting that Armenian was receiving moral, financial and technical support from abroad for “liberating native Armenian lands”, the participants made a decision to join the ranks of the Armenians fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh. It was also decided to continue the terrorist attacks inside Turkey, with the participation of PKK militants in order to destroy the country’s economy and dismember Turkey to create a Kurdish state and to incorporate other Turkish lands into Armenia. It was agreed that the Armenian and Kurdish terrorist organizations will support each other and hold the same position in the war against Azerbaijan and Turkey.
In early 2002, representatives of Armenian organizations from different countries visited the Armenian religious center in Bucharest, Romania to hold a meeting, in which a plan on new terrorist acts against Azerbaijan and Turkey was adopted; in the opinion of the representatives, the plan had to be accepted by all Armenian organizations. The meeting was also attended by representatives of Dashnaktsutyun from Armenia and France. During this meeting, which made a decision to stop the negotiation process on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the representative of Dashnaktsutyun K. Arakelyan stated that “the victims of Armenian terror must be Turks and Azerbaijanis, not Arabs and other Muslims.” The participants also met with Armenian Ambassador to Romania Karen Kasian. This fact proves that the meeting was organized with approval of the Armenian authorities.
Thus, the church has been fully involved in the activities of the Armenian terrorist organizations, and the acts of “vengeance” against the civilian population not only of Azerbaijan, but also of other states were carried out with the blessing of Armenian religious leaders.
Organizations, foundations and movements created by Armenians living in many countries are the driving force and source of funds of Armenian terrorism. The overriding objective of these organizations is to expand the territory of present Armenia to the scale of the contrived “Great Armenia” and to press the international community for recognition of the so-called “Armenian genocide”.
For example, the Armenian organizations held their first congress in Paris on September 3-6, 1979; it aimed at developing a doctrine on “uniting the Armenians of the world around a single idea, under one flag, and evaluating the political situation for stating territorial claims.” The Congress was organized with the immediate support of the Armenians living in France, inspired by the growing number of violence committed by Armenian terrorist organizations. The Congress, in preparing and conducting of which the leading role was played by ASALA, adopted, in particular, the decision on establishing the international “Armenian Front” and involving the Armenian SSR and the Armenians living in other republics of the USSR in implementation of this decision.
The next Congress of Armenian organizations if the world, in which the leaders of Dashnaktsutyun were actively involved, was held in 1983 in Lausanne. In order to give the World Armenian Congress a democratic image, it was decided to prepare “the Armenian constitution”. At the same time, the Lausanne Congress led to a split in the ranks of ASALA and Dashnaktsutyun, which resulted in the creation of numerous Armenians terrorist groups.
The Third International Congress of Armenian organizations held on July 7-13, 1985 in Sèvres, adopted “the Armenian constitution.” It was organized by Dashnaktsutyun, while ASALA was not involved. With a special resolution, the Congress thanked the Soviet Union “for the effort in preserving the Armenian culture in Soviet Armenia” and “for publishing an article condemning the “1915 genocide”, in Pravda in April 1985”. This event showed that the official version on hostile relations between Dashnaktsutyun and Soviet Union on ideological platforms was untrue, and they had been cooperating quite successfully for a long time.
As seen, the leading role in preparing and conducting of all congresses was played by Armenian terrorist organizations. Despite the efforts of the participants to give the congresses some democratic image, sinister plans of actions were discussed and adopted by the Armenian terrorist organizations.
As noted by T. Poloskova, “world experience shows that the most of diasporas in the world actively implement their corporate interest in the countries of their residence, without relying on the state unselfishness – mainland. All the world’s diasporas that have established an effective system of lobbying, including at the level of international organizations, base their activities not only on purely material motives, but also on patriotism, sense of responsibility for the fate of their people, scattered, but with spiritual wholeness.” It seems that patriotism of Armenian diaspora, which has scattered around the world and created a really effective system of lobbying, is based on realizing the idea of creating “Greater Armenia” and recognizing the so-called “Armenian genocide”. The Armenian diaspora believes that terror still remains the best and most effective way of reaching its goals. For example, the Union of Armenians of Russia, established in 1988 in Moscow, maintains close ties with ASALA, provides its members with false papers for free movement on the territory of the former USSR, is actively involved in ensuring the supply of arms and mercenaries to Nagorno-Karabakh.
The present-day Armenia, which gained independence after the collapse of the USSR, serves as the “core”, around which aspirations of numerous Armenian diaspora movements and terrorist organizations are integrated. This is evidenced, in particular, by the statement of Charles Aznavour addressed to ethnic Armenians of the world: “if you are Armenian, then help Armenia”. At present, Armenia herself receives huge financial support directly from the Armenian foundations and associations and through the lobbying system, serves as a sponsor of the Armenian terrorist organizations, planning and coordinating their activities.
Armenian terrorist groups possess the ability to maneuver depending on the political and ideological situation and quickly adapt to it to achieve their goals, while cooperating with regimes, which may be hostile to each other. Upon their formation, the Armenian terrorist organization received support from Tsarist Russia, Britain, France, established relations with the Soviet Union, collaborated with Nazi Germany. Today they manage to cooperate with the most radical regimes in the Middle East, to have consistent support from political circles in developed countries simultaneously.
As noted above, the Armenian terrorist organizations were formed and further developed in an atmosphere of strong geopolitical competition of Tsarist Russia, the UK and France over the territory of the Ottoman Empire; those states provided material and financial support to Armenian organizations. The end of the First World War, the formation of the Soviet Union and of the Turkish Republic led to changes in international situation in general and in balance of power in the region in particular. By that time, the units of Dashnaktsutyun, which was the most powerful and influential Armenian organization, were scattered throughout the world. According to the official version, it was opposite to the Soviet ideology and considered a bastion of socialism its enemy. At the same time, as shown below, the representatives of Dashnaktsutyun actively participated in forming the Kurdish terrorist organizations and in training militants methods of subversive-terrorist warfare, regularly informed Moscow about its activities and received appropriate instructions. Besides, Moscow could not sever ties with Dashnaktsutyun as it had its own plans regarding the Middle East, and Dashnaktsutyun had already created numerous bases and extensive network there since the end of XIX century. The experience Dashnaktsutyun acquired during this period enabled Moscow to carry out successful terrorist acts of terrorism in the region within the ideological struggle. The upper echelons of the Soviet authorities included ethnic Armenians that had good relations with the leadership of Dashnaktsutyun.These circumstances, in particular, to a certain extent allowed Moscow to transfer Azerbaijani lands to the Armenian SSR under the pretext of verifying boundaries, to force indigenous Azerbaijani population to leave their homes during the establishment and liquidation of the Transcaucasian Federation, the establishment of the Azerbaijan SSR and Armenian SSR within the Soviet Union.
During the Second World War, the Armenian terrorist organization successfully collaborated with Nazi Germany, where the Armenian National Council was formed. The members of the Council Dro (Drastamat Kanayan), Garegin Nzhdeh and other leaders of Dashnaktsutyun carried out active work among the Armenians to establish the Armenian Legion; according to various estimates, more than 30,000 Armenians joined Wehrmacht to fight for “Great Armenia”. They organized Armenian-language weekly issues Hayastan (Armenia) and Hayrenik (Homeland). As part of the Armenian Legion led by commander General Dro, several Abwehrkommandos (reconnaissance and sabotage units) consisting of Armenians operated in North Caucasus. In occupied territories they formed local Armenian units for serving “The thousand-year Reich” and carried out “counter-intelligence work”.
After the Second World War, the relations of the Soviet Union with foreign Armenian organizations, including Dashnaktsutyun were restored. According to Army General and former First Deputy Chairman of the KGB F. Bobkov, “Dashnaks persistently aroused the hatred of Armenians against the Turkish people, fueled nationalist sentiments in every way”, and “in 1946 the Soviet Union was on the brink of conflict with Turkey.” “Rumors and talk of annexing Turkish lands and incorporating them to Soviet Armenia immediately emerged. By pushing the Soviet Union to such a decision, Dashnaks would definitely want to push it with its yesterday’s allies, while there was no doubt that that the U.S. and Britain would intervene in the conflict.”
As known, at the end of Second World War, the General Directorate of Counterintelligence SMERSH of the Soviet Union conducted punitive operations in the liberated territories and arrested political figures, who had collaborated with Nazi Germany; many members of Dashnaktsutyun, including Garegin Nzhdeh, were also arrested at that time. During this period, the Soviet authorities took concrete steps to establish cooperation with foreign Armenians in order to further use them in implementing the expansionist policy against Turkey. To use the potential of Nzhdeh, an ardent nationalist and influential personality of Armenian diaspora, for mobilizing the Armenians in the fight against Turkey, the Soviet authorities transferred him (although convicted) to Armenia in (1946 and 1952). In 1947, he offered the Soviet government to create a foreign Armenian military-political organization “Armenian irredent”, whose purpose was to annex part of the Turkish territory and to incorporate it to the Armenian SSR. The offer, which substantiated in detail the historical necessity of creating such an organization, its structure and methods of operation, seriously interested the Soviet leadership and was considered at various levels for a few years.
It should be noted that Garegin Nzhdeh commanded punitive operations against Azerbaijanis from late 1918 in Nakhchivan, from August 1919 to July 1921 in Zangazur. During this period the Armenian armed forces led by him devastated 200 Azerbaijani villages and killed 15,000 Azerbaijanis in Zangazur. Nzhdeh was an ideologist and direct organizer of the Tsegakron movement with branches operating in the United States (Boston, Detroit, Chicago, etc.), Bulgaria (Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, etc.), Greece, France and Romania in the 1930s. The Tsegakron movement, which became the prototype of Italian fascism and German Nazism, while being purely Armenian manifestation of extreme nationalism and “forge of avengers” for the so-called “Armenian genocide”, was based on the primordial “Armenian race as God” and preached the cult of power. Nzhdeh claimed that “the Armenian race is a witness of centuries, eternal Armenian, partner of God.” His crimes were directed not only against Turks and Azerbaijanis, but also against those Armenians who had different viewpoints. According to Armenian eyewitnesses, Nzhdeh led “massacre of more than 400 Russian Red Army soldiers, Communists and revolutionary-minded Armenians peasants and workers, who were shot or dropped off a cliff into the ravine” from December 1920 to January 1921 in Tatev gorge in Zangazur. In its foreign expansionist policy against Turkey, the Soviet Union was planning to use Armenian terrorists, while their ideological views and criminal records, which might even be directed against the Soviet Union, did not matter.
Thanks to cooperation of the Soviet Union with Dashnaktsutyun, Armenia`s policy of ethnic cleansing and deportation against Azerbaijanis continued thereafter, and it was carried out by official Moscow. Thus the Council of Ministers of the USSR under the guise of “resettlement of foreign Armenians arriving in the Armenian SSR”, adopted the decree № 4083 “On resettlement of collective farmers and other Azerbaijani population from the Armenian SSR to the Kura-Araz lowland of Azerbaijan SSR» dated December 23, 1947 and № 754 “On measures for resettlement of farmers and other Azerbaijani population from the Armenian SSR to the Kura-Araz lowland of Azerbaijan SSR” dated March 10, 1948, on the basis of which about 150,000 Azerbaijanis were deported from their historical homeland.
According to General F. Bobkov, Dashnaks, who realized that incorporating Turkish lands to the Armenian SSR would fail, “plotted the idea of “Great Armenia” by collecting lands within the Soviet Union. It coincided with a marked increase of the Armenian population in the Armenian SSR thanks to re-immigration of Armenians from Western countries.” F. Bobkov further writes that “the flow of immigrants was dominated by tradespeople with their views of morality. Their appearance in the country increased the influence of petty-bourgeois Dashnaktsutyun party, which continued subversion, relying mainly on the nationalist extremist circles, defending its ideas by all means, not stopping even to use terrorism.”
In the 1950-60s, the Soviet authorities continued to use the Armenian factor in the Middle East against Turkey. As noted by J.Hasanli, “in August 1957, the Soviet leadership allowed the leader of Ramkavar Azatakan party P. Tovmasian to secretly enter the USSR with forged documents. P. Tovmasian met with all senior officials of the republic, including the first secretary of the Communist Party Suren Tovmasian in Yerevan, with the Deputy Chief of the Middle East Department of the USSR Foreign Ministry D. Solod in Moscow. The leaders of the Armenian Communist Party strongly suggested in letters to Moscow to increase the number of employees of Armenian origin in the Soviet embassies for cooperating with foreign Armenians in favor of the Soviet Union. During the negotiations in Moscow, P. Tovmasian offered secret cooperation with the Soviet Union in return for the transfer of Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.”
The USSR had a steady relationship not only with Dashnaktsutyun, but also supported the terrorist organization ASALA, which had partnership with the PLO since its establishment. It is known that Armenian terrorist organizations, including ASALA, have strong contacts and actively cooperate with other Palestinian terrorist organizations, PFLP, PFLP-GC, Abu Nidal Organization, as well as Kurdish terrorist organizations, including PKK.
The Soviet Union provided both financial and logistical support to the PLOand other Palestinian terrorist organizations. At the same time, the Armenian terrorist organizations coordinated their activities with the Palestinian terrorists and acted as executors of many terrorist acts planned by Middle Eastern terrorist organizations. The USSR also provided direct support to the Armenian terrorist organizations, including ASALA. This support was due in particular to the fact that the Soviet Union had a common border with Turkey, and considered her, a member of NATO, as the main threat to its security; therefore, the activities of ASALA and other Armenian terrorist organizations was directed against Turkey.
It is noteworthy to remind the fact that three explosions carried out on January 8, 1977 in Moscow, were the only manifestation of Armenian terrorist organizations in Russia throughout the history of the USSR. On this day, a group of Armenian terrorists, Zatikyan, Stepanian and Bagdasarian, carried outexplosions in the subway station Pervomayskaya, in the trade hall of the state in the Bauman district and on the October 25 street; the acts killed 29 people. The same group of terrorists planned to carry out a series of bombings in Moscow on November 7, on the day of the 60th anniversary of the October Revolution. In 1979, all three terrorists were executed by the verdict of the Supreme Court.
A number of researchers believe that the terrorists were ASALA militants, while others claim that they belonged to Dashnaktsutyun. In our opinion, the terrorists could have acted on behalf of both terrorist organizations asDashnaktsutyun and ASALA had close ties, and their activities were coordinated until early 1980s.
Interestingly, the trial of the executors of the Moscow bombings was quick enough, the verdict was adopted very rapidly, and the execution was done very in a short time. In this regard, the political scientist Noorani said that “KGB officers involved in the investigation explained the reason after a long silence. The investigation of explosions in Moscow, according to them, brought to the very numerous and extensive network of ASALA penetrated even into the authorities of the Armenian SSR. The result of the investigation, thus, could have become a lawsuit, in which too many people of the same nationality would have been defendants. In order not to provoke political problems, the KGB decided to arrest immediate perpetrators of terrorist acts in Moscow, but to not touch the network.”
This is evidenced, in particular, by the fact that “the Armenian authorities did everything to hide the bloody crime from the population of the republic. As directed by the First Secretary of the Armenian Communist Party Demirchyan, no newspaper published in the Armenian language reported about the terrorist act. A documentary about the trial of Zatikian and his accomplices, shot during the proceeding of the Supreme Court was banned to show even to party activists of Armenia; it was seen only by a small circle of upper leadership.”
According to Noorani`s research, “many of Moscow KGB officers believed that an ASALA agent, in fact, was the then chairman of the Armenian SSR KGB Yuzbashyan. Under “cover” of KGB, ASALA exported gold and currency values through the border checkpoint of Yerevan international airport, passed its activists with KGB documents. ASALA militants would often introduce themselves as KGB officers.” Paying attention to the fact that the Armenian terrorist organizations always responded to arrest or murder of their fighters in various countries with new terrorist acts, Noorani asks the following question: why did they not react to arrest and death penalty of perpetrators of Moscow bombings? He assumes that “ASALA and KGB made a sort of non-aggression agreement after the arrest of Zatikian. By “ceding” the organizers, ASALA kept intact the entire network, undertook responsibility to “behave”, to perform specific assignments of KGB, not to terrorist acts against the Soviet Union.”
In our view, an extensive and large network of the Armenian terrorist organizations in the Armenian SSR, the coordinated actions of the republic authorities and terrorist organizations, as well as support of Moscow officials allowed the Armenian jointly authorities with the militants of terrorist organizations to deport ethnic Azerbaijanis and present unfounded territorial claims against Azerbaijan in 1988 from their historical homeland.
Thus, one can argue that the Armenian terrorism emerged as a means of realizing the geopolitical aspirations of many countries, first of all, Russia, France, Britain and the United States in the Middle East, and was a logical result of numerous efforts of these powers aimed at weakening and overthrowing the Ottoman state. It was formed at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries as a special kind of terrorism characterized by boundless cruelty and accompanied by ethnic cleansing, mass pogroms and a large number of human victims, the basis of which was the idea of historical injustice, long-suffering, ethnic incompatibility with other national groups, national exclusiveness and superiority. This kind of terrorism widely used in modern practice of terrorist activity, has exclusive destructive force capable to escalate social tensions, fuel ethnic hatred and lead to destruction of the state. Essentially, the Armenian terrorism has been having ethno-nationalistic character, which is the basic element of aggressive separatism since the turn of XIX-XX centuries up to now.
As international terrorism, the Armenian terrorism has always received and continues to receive full support from the church. It plays a central role in forming hatred and intolerance towards other peoples.
As noted above, the church played an important role in the history of the origin and formation of the Armenian terrorist organizations. This, in particular, was motivated by the geostrategic plans of Tsarist Russia, France and England regarding the future of the region. On the other hand, the Armenians were a Christian minority within the Ottoman Empire. The Christian Armenians differed from other Christian groups as the Armenian Church did not recognize the supremacy of the Roman church, showed no interest in the papal authority, preferring their Gregorian faith. Naturally, from the point of view of the Roman Church, the existence of a Christian group with its own ideas and faith threatened the entire Christian world. Therefore, one of the main objectives of the Roman church was to plant discord among the Armenians and to form different religious groups that accepted the papal supremacy. These aspirations corresponded the plans of France, Britain and Russia on establishing various groups within the Armenian community of the Ottoman state. Enacting the religious factor in the realization of their geostrategic plans held a prominent place in the policy of the interested states. Therefore, the very first terrorist acts were planned and implemented by Armenian churches to return renegades. At the same time, France, Britain and Russia, seeking to undermine the foundation of the Ottoman state, provided moral and financial support to various Armenian groups. In this historical setting, Armenian terrorism emerged and further developed with the direct participation of the church.
The Armenian Gregorian church considered heretical by the Orthodox and Catholics, broke away from the Roman and Byzantine churches in the V century, also because of fear of being absorbed by the Roman church. In 1441, the sear of Catholicos of the Armenian Gregorian Church was transferred from Cilicia to Echmiadzin. Therefore, instead of becoming a factor of uniting Armenians with other Christians, the Armenian Church was, in fact, divisive. Being purely Armenian, the church became a factor of isolation, insularity, paving the way for future ethnic and religious intolerance, as well as extremism and separatism.
The Armenian Church has always been actively involved in politics and has a special role in fomenting hatred of Armenians to their neighbors. S. Wims writes on this occasion that the hatred between Christian Armenians and Muslim Ottomans was rooted in the work and efforts of the Armenian Church. The church’s role in the formation of the Armenian terrorist organizations was revealed in Bishop Ghevond Tourian`s book published in 1917 in Istanbul. A kind of acknowledgement of the Armenian church, the book sheds light on the “invaluable” activity of the church and discloses the true essence of the Armenian Patriarchate in the formation of the Armenian public consciousness and creation of the Armenian terrorist organizations. In particular, Tourian writes that “for a long time, the religious communities were the centers of the Armenian revolutionary parties and developed the most diabolical programs… The religious centers called upon the people to revolt orally and in a written form. Lofty words and doctrines of the gospel were not mentioned in their calls. One could hear calls for insurrection instead of fidelity and truth, hatred and revenge instead of humanity, baseness and shame instead of morality.” Further, he wrote that all meetings and other events organized by the committees were led by religious leader. Neither the most supreme religious leader of Armenians – Catholicos of Echmiadzin, nor the heads of other Armenian churches, nor the leaders of the revolutionary parties nor other Armenians realized that “the Armenians have lived side by side with the Turks more than 600 years, using equal social and religious freedom, in the lands of Turkey”, and the committees, denying this truth, sowed the seeds of hatred and intolerance. As expected, the Armenian Church and Armenian terrorist organizations did not forgive Bishop Ghevond Tourian for his “daring” revelation, and he was eventually murdered by the terrorists of Dashnaktsutyun on December 24, 1933, in the Armenian Church of New York. The assassination happened in front of hundreds of parishioners. When he walked down the aisle, a group of men blocked his path, knives flashed, and he fell dead. All parishioners, who were the witnesses of the claimed during the investigation that they did not see the assailants and refused to testify. The New York District Attorney, who led the murder investigation of the bishop, said that “the detectives faced a wall of silence, which is not a good prognosis for the disclosure of the mysterious murder. Either these Armenians would like to settle the strife their own way, which is a bloody act, or they are in a strong fear for their own safety.” According to some reports, Ghevond Tourian was assassinated by Garegin Nzhdeh, who denied his involvement. According to Nzhdeh, the murder was organized by Ruben Ter-Minasian together with other leaders of Dashnaktsutyun.
Supporting terrorist groups, inciting ordinary Armenians to revenge for the “genocide”, making plans of crimes committed by Armenian terrorist groups, collecting donations in the name of “high goal” and for revenge of “the innocent Armenians”, falsifying historical events, creating new myths on “antiquity” and “suffers” of the Armenian people have a special place in the activities of the Armenian churches.
The Armenian church has always provided both material and moral support to the Armenian terrorist organizations. On November 21, 1983, the Armenian church in California led by Catholicos E. Tabakian held the Evening for Hampig. The evening was dedicated to the terrorist Hampig Sassounian, the Lebanese Armenian, who assassinated the Turkish Consul in Los Angeles K. Arikan on January 28, 1982, and was sentenced for his crime. After the assassination, Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide stated that “our sole target is Turkish diplomats and Turkish institutions.”
It was not the only case when the Armenian church honored known terrorists. On July 27, 1983, the Armenian terrorists Eganyan, Daghlian, Kuhrjulian, Ajamian and Abrahamian seized the building of the Turkish Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal. This terrorist group also known as the Lisbon Five was part of Armenian Revolutionary Army, a terrorist organization close to Dashnaktsutyun. In 1984, with the assistance of Dashnaktsutyun, the Armenian churches held memorial days of Lisbon Five in several U.S. states. In particular, memorial days were held at the Armenian Church near Washington on January 12, at the Armenian Church of the holy prophets in Glenview, Illinois on January 21, in St. Vartanantz Armenian churches in Rhode Island on January 22, in New Jersey on January 29.In 1987, the Catholicos of the Armenian Church in Echmiadzin Vazgen I visited the United States and Canada. The keynote of his speeches during the meetings with ethnic Armenians in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, as well as in Canada, was a call to unite all Armenians in the name of “Great Armenia”. He also urged the Armenians of the world to achieve recognition of the so-called “Armenian genocide” by all means and methods by the United Nations following the European Parliament; in his opinion, it would be the “foundation of the Christian movement and celebration of Christian justice”. A year later, with the active support of the church, the Armenian authorities deported more than 250,000 Azerbaijanis from the territory of present-day Armenia, and the unfounded Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan entered a new phase.
Besides, the mass memorial ceremony conducted by Armenian Church of St. Gregory in California on December 26, 1994, was dedicated to the first anniversary of the death of the notorious international terrorist, one of the ASALA leaders Monte Melkonian, who led a terrorist group in Nagorno Karabakh, but got liquidated by Azerbaijani armed forces. The ceremony was attended by the leaders of Armenian political parties, representatives of Armenian churches, Armenian scholars and public figures.
The Armenian Church has been providing the terrorist organizations not only moral support. It took an active part in planning and implementing the sinister plan on deportation of Azerbaijanis from their historic homeland – the present territory of Armenia. Before and during the war in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, the Armenian priests acted as direct perpetrators of terrorist acts. As an example, the Abbot of the Makaravan monastery father Stepan Davtyan was detained in Baku in June 1988; he had three bottles of incendiary mixture and homemade Finnish knife. In addition, the facilities of the Armenian churches in many Azerbaijani settlements populated by ethnic Armenians, were converted into armories. For example, 6 mortars, 16 mines, 130 homemade hand grenades, 7 grenades of serial production, 2 power supplies were discovered in the Armenian church of the Kilichbak village, Askeran rayon of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast.
Armenian churches operating in the territory of other states repeatedly urged the Armenian youth to join the ranks of fighters, who fought “for the triumph of historical justice” in Nagorno-Karabakh. For example, a meeting with 150 young Armenians, held from 6 to 9 September 1993, in two Armenian churches of Lebanon, was attended by Archbishop of Armenian Orthodox Church of Lebanon, leaders of the Armenian parties, as well as terrorist organizations PKK and ASALA. During the meeting, it was stressed that the “Armenian genocide” became better understood in the world thanks to the Armenian propaganda, the Armenian society was booming, the Armenian state was created, its territory was extending as a result of hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, and Armenia would necessarily avenge the “Armenian genocide”. Noting that Armenian was receiving moral, financial and technical support from abroad for “liberating native Armenian lands”, the participants made a decision to join the ranks of the Armenians fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh. It was also decided to continue the terrorist attacks inside Turkey, with the participation of PKK militants in order to destroy the country’s economy and dismember Turkey to create a Kurdish state and to incorporate other Turkish lands into Armenia. It was agreed that the Armenian and Kurdish terrorist organizations will support each other and hold the same position in the war against Azerbaijan and Turkey.
In early 2002, representatives of Armenian organizations from different countries visited the Armenian religious center in Bucharest, Romania to hold a meeting, in which a plan on new terrorist acts against Azerbaijan and Turkey was adopted; in the opinion of the representatives, the plan had to be accepted by all Armenian organizations. The meeting was also attended by representatives of Dashnaktsutyun from Armenia and France. During this meeting, which made a decision to stop the negotiation process on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the representative of Dashnaktsutyun K. Arakelyan stated that “the victims of Armenian terror must be Turks and Azerbaijanis, not Arabs and other Muslims.” The participants also met with Armenian Ambassador to Romania Karen Kasian. This fact proves that the meeting was organized with approval of the Armenian authorities.
Thus, the church has been fully involved in the activities of the Armenian terrorist organizations, and the acts of “vengeance” against the civilian population not only of Azerbaijan, but also of other states were carried out with the blessing of Armenian religious leaders.
Organizations, foundations and movements created by Armenians living in many countries are the driving force and source of funds of Armenian terrorism. The overriding objective of these organizations is to expand the territory of present Armenia to the scale of the contrived “Great Armenia” and to press the international community for recognition of the so-called “Armenian genocide”.
For example, the Armenian organizations held their first congress in Paris on September 3-6, 1979; it aimed at developing a doctrine on “uniting the Armenians of the world around a single idea, under one flag, and evaluating the political situation for stating territorial claims.” The Congress was organized with the immediate support of the Armenians living in France, inspired by the growing number of violence committed by Armenian terrorist organizations. The Congress, in preparing and conducting of which the leading role was played by ASALA, adopted, in particular, the decision on establishing the international “Armenian Front” and involving the Armenian SSR and the Armenians living in other republics of the USSR in implementation of this decision.
The next Congress of Armenian organizations if the world, in which the leaders of Dashnaktsutyun were actively involved, was held in 1983 in Lausanne. In order to give the World Armenian Congress a democratic image, it was decided to prepare “the Armenian constitution”. At the same time, the Lausanne Congress led to a split in the ranks of ASALA and Dashnaktsutyun, which resulted in the creation of numerous Armenians terrorist groups.
The Third International Congress of Armenian organizations held on July 7-13, 1985 in Sèvres, adopted “the Armenian constitution.” It was organized by Dashnaktsutyun, while ASALA was not involved. With a special resolution, the Congress thanked the Soviet Union “for the effort in preserving the Armenian culture in Soviet Armenia” and “for publishing an article condemning the “1915 genocide”, in Pravda in April 1985”. This event showed that the official version on hostile relations between Dashnaktsutyun and Soviet Union on ideological platforms was untrue, and they had been cooperating quite successfully for a long time.
As seen, the leading role in preparing and conducting of all congresses was played by Armenian terrorist organizations. Despite the efforts of the participants to give the congresses some democratic image, sinister plans of actions were discussed and adopted by the Armenian terrorist organizations.
As noted by T. Poloskova, “world experience shows that the most of diasporas in the world actively implement their corporate interest in the countries of their residence, without relying on the state unselfishness – mainland. All the world’s diasporas that have established an effective system of lobbying, including at the level of international organizations, base their activities not only on purely material motives, but also on patriotism, sense of responsibility for the fate of their people, scattered, but with spiritual wholeness.” It seems that patriotism of Armenian diaspora, which has scattered around the world and created a really effective system of lobbying, is based on realizing the idea of creating “Greater Armenia” and recognizing the so-called “Armenian genocide”. The Armenian diaspora believes that terror still remains the best and most effective way of reaching its goals. For example, the Union of Armenians of Russia, established in 1988 in Moscow, maintains close ties with ASALA, provides its members with false papers for free movement on the territory of the former USSR, is actively involved in ensuring the supply of arms and mercenaries to Nagorno-Karabakh.
The present-day Armenia, which gained independence after the collapse of the USSR, serves as the “core”, around which aspirations of numerous Armenian diaspora movements and terrorist organizations are integrated. This is evidenced, in particular, by the statement of Charles Aznavour addressed to ethnic Armenians of the world: “if you are Armenian, then help Armenia”. At present, Armenia herself receives huge financial support directly from the Armenian foundations and associations and through the lobbying system, serves as a sponsor of the Armenian terrorist organizations, planning and coordinating their activities.
Armenian terrorist groups possess the ability to maneuver depending on the political and ideological situation and quickly adapt to it to achieve their goals, while cooperating with regimes, which may be hostile to each other. Upon their formation, the Armenian terrorist organization received support from Tsarist Russia, Britain, France, established relations with the Soviet Union, collaborated with Nazi Germany. Today they manage to cooperate with the most radical regimes in the Middle East, to have consistent support from political circles in developed countries simultaneously.
As noted above, the Armenian terrorist organizations were formed and further developed in an atmosphere of strong geopolitical competition of Tsarist Russia, the UK and France over the territory of the Ottoman Empire; those states provided material and financial support to Armenian organizations. The end of the First World War, the formation of the Soviet Union and of the Turkish Republic led to changes in international situation in general and in balance of power in the region in particular. By that time, the units of Dashnaktsutyun, which was the most powerful and influential Armenian organization, were scattered throughout the world. According to the official version, it was opposite to the Soviet ideology and considered a bastion of socialism its enemy. At the same time, as shown below, the representatives of Dashnaktsutyun actively participated in forming the Kurdish terrorist organizations and in training militants methods of subversive-terrorist warfare, regularly informed Moscow about its activities and received appropriate instructions. Besides, Moscow could not sever ties with Dashnaktsutyun as it had its own plans regarding the Middle East, and Dashnaktsutyun had already created numerous bases and extensive network there since the end of XIX century. The experience Dashnaktsutyun acquired during this period enabled Moscow to carry out successful terrorist acts of terrorism in the region within the ideological struggle. The upper echelons of the Soviet authorities included ethnic Armenians that had good relations with the leadership of Dashnaktsutyun.These circumstances, in particular, to a certain extent allowed Moscow to transfer Azerbaijani lands to the Armenian SSR under the pretext of verifying boundaries, to force indigenous Azerbaijani population to leave their homes during the establishment and liquidation of the Transcaucasian Federation, the establishment of the Azerbaijan SSR and Armenian SSR within the Soviet Union.
During the Second World War, the Armenian terrorist organization successfully collaborated with Nazi Germany, where the Armenian National Council was formed. The members of the Council Dro (Drastamat Kanayan), Garegin Nzhdeh and other leaders of Dashnaktsutyun carried out active work among the Armenians to establish the Armenian Legion; according to various estimates, more than 30,000 Armenians joined Wehrmacht to fight for “Great Armenia”. They organized Armenian-language weekly issues Hayastan (Armenia) and Hayrenik (Homeland). As part of the Armenian Legion led by commander General Dro, several Abwehrkommandos (reconnaissance and sabotage units) consisting of Armenians operated in North Caucasus. In occupied territories they formed local Armenian units for serving “The thousand-year Reich” and carried out “counter-intelligence work”.
After the Second World War, the relations of the Soviet Union with foreign Armenian organizations, including Dashnaktsutyun were restored. According to Army General and former First Deputy Chairman of the KGB F. Bobkov, “Dashnaks persistently aroused the hatred of Armenians against the Turkish people, fueled nationalist sentiments in every way”, and “in 1946 the Soviet Union was on the brink of conflict with Turkey.” “Rumors and talk of annexing Turkish lands and incorporating them to Soviet Armenia immediately emerged. By pushing the Soviet Union to such a decision, Dashnaks would definitely want to push it with its yesterday’s allies, while there was no doubt that that the U.S. and Britain would intervene in the conflict.”
As known, at the end of Second World War, the General Directorate of Counterintelligence SMERSH of the Soviet Union conducted punitive operations in the liberated territories and arrested political figures, who had collaborated with Nazi Germany; many members of Dashnaktsutyun, including Garegin Nzhdeh, were also arrested at that time. During this period, the Soviet authorities took concrete steps to establish cooperation with foreign Armenians in order to further use them in implementing the expansionist policy against Turkey. To use the potential of Nzhdeh, an ardent nationalist and influential personality of Armenian diaspora, for mobilizing the Armenians in the fight against Turkey, the Soviet authorities transferred him (although convicted) to Armenia in (1946 and 1952). In 1947, he offered the Soviet government to create a foreign Armenian military-political organization “Armenian irredent”, whose purpose was to annex part of the Turkish territory and to incorporate it to the Armenian SSR. The offer, which substantiated in detail the historical necessity of creating such an organization, its structure and methods of operation, seriously interested the Soviet leadership and was considered at various levels for a few years.
It should be noted that Garegin Nzhdeh commanded punitive operations against Azerbaijanis from late 1918 in Nakhchivan, from August 1919 to July 1921 in Zangazur. During this period the Armenian armed forces led by him devastated 200 Azerbaijani villages and killed 15,000 Azerbaijanis in Zangazur. Nzhdeh was an ideologist and direct organizer of the Tsegakron movement with branches operating in the United States (Boston, Detroit, Chicago, etc.), Bulgaria (Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, etc.), Greece, France and Romania in the 1930s. The Tsegakron movement, which became the prototype of Italian fascism and German Nazism, while being purely Armenian manifestation of extreme nationalism and “forge of avengers” for the so-called “Armenian genocide”, was based on the primordial “Armenian race as God” and preached the cult of power. Nzhdeh claimed that “the Armenian race is a witness of centuries, eternal Armenian, partner of God.” His crimes were directed not only against Turks and Azerbaijanis, but also against those Armenians who had different viewpoints. According to Armenian eyewitnesses, Nzhdeh led “massacre of more than 400 Russian Red Army soldiers, Communists and revolutionary-minded Armenians peasants and workers, who were shot or dropped off a cliff into the ravine” from December 1920 to January 1921 in Tatev gorge in Zangazur. In its foreign expansionist policy against Turkey, the Soviet Union was planning to use Armenian terrorists, while their ideological views and criminal records, which might even be directed against the Soviet Union, did not matter.
Thanks to cooperation of the Soviet Union with Dashnaktsutyun, Armenia`s policy of ethnic cleansing and deportation against Azerbaijanis continued thereafter, and it was carried out by official Moscow. Thus the Council of Ministers of the USSR under the guise of “resettlement of foreign Armenians arriving in the Armenian SSR”, adopted the decree № 4083 “On resettlement of collective farmers and other Azerbaijani population from the Armenian SSR to the Kura-Araz lowland of Azerbaijan SSR» dated December 23, 1947 and № 754 “On measures for resettlement of farmers and other Azerbaijani population from the Armenian SSR to the Kura-Araz lowland of Azerbaijan SSR” dated March 10, 1948, on the basis of which about 150,000 Azerbaijanis were deported from their historical homeland.
According to General F. Bobkov, Dashnaks, who realized that incorporating Turkish lands to the Armenian SSR would fail, “plotted the idea of “Great Armenia” by collecting lands within the Soviet Union. It coincided with a marked increase of the Armenian population in the Armenian SSR thanks to re-immigration of Armenians from Western countries.” F. Bobkov further writes that “the flow of immigrants was dominated by tradespeople with their views of morality. Their appearance in the country increased the influence of petty-bourgeois Dashnaktsutyun party, which continued subversion, relying mainly on the nationalist extremist circles, defending its ideas by all means, not stopping even to use terrorism.”
In the 1950-60s, the Soviet authorities continued to use the Armenian factor in the Middle East against Turkey. As noted by J.Hasanli, “in August 1957, the Soviet leadership allowed the leader of Ramkavar Azatakan party P. Tovmasian to secretly enter the USSR with forged documents. P. Tovmasian met with all senior officials of the republic, including the first secretary of the Communist Party Suren Tovmasian in Yerevan, with the Deputy Chief of the Middle East Department of the USSR Foreign Ministry D. Solod in Moscow. The leaders of the Armenian Communist Party strongly suggested in letters to Moscow to increase the number of employees of Armenian origin in the Soviet embassies for cooperating with foreign Armenians in favor of the Soviet Union. During the negotiations in Moscow, P. Tovmasian offered secret cooperation with the Soviet Union in return for the transfer of Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia.”
The USSR had a steady relationship not only with Dashnaktsutyun, but also supported the terrorist organization ASALA, which had partnership with the PLO since its establishment. It is known that Armenian terrorist organizations, including ASALA, have strong contacts and actively cooperate with other Palestinian terrorist organizations, PFLP, PFLP-GC, Abu Nidal Organization, as well as Kurdish terrorist organizations, including PKK.
The Soviet Union provided both financial and logistical support to the PLOand other Palestinian terrorist organizations. At the same time, the Armenian terrorist organizations coordinated their activities with the Palestinian terrorists and acted as executors of many terrorist acts planned by Middle Eastern terrorist organizations. The USSR also provided direct support to the Armenian terrorist organizations, including ASALA. This support was due in particular to the fact that the Soviet Union had a common border with Turkey, and considered her, a member of NATO, as the main threat to its security; therefore, the activities of ASALA and other Armenian terrorist organizations was directed against Turkey.
It is noteworthy to remind the fact that three explosions carried out on January 8, 1977 in Moscow, were the only manifestation of Armenian terrorist organizations in Russia throughout the history of the USSR. On this day, a group of Armenian terrorists, Zatikyan, Stepanian and Bagdasarian, carried outexplosions in the subway station Pervomayskaya, in the trade hall of the state in the Bauman district and on the October 25 street; the acts killed 29 people. The same group of terrorists planned to carry out a series of bombings in Moscow on November 7, on the day of the 60th anniversary of the October Revolution. In 1979, all three terrorists were executed by the verdict of the Supreme Court.
A number of researchers believe that the terrorists were ASALA militants, while others claim that they belonged to Dashnaktsutyun. In our opinion, the terrorists could have acted on behalf of both terrorist organizations asDashnaktsutyun and ASALA had close ties, and their activities were coordinated until early 1980s.
Interestingly, the trial of the executors of the Moscow bombings was quick enough, the verdict was adopted very rapidly, and the execution was done very in a short time. In this regard, the political scientist Noorani said that “KGB officers involved in the investigation explained the reason after a long silence. The investigation of explosions in Moscow, according to them, brought to the very numerous and extensive network of ASALA penetrated even into the authorities of the Armenian SSR. The result of the investigation, thus, could have become a lawsuit, in which too many people of the same nationality would have been defendants. In order not to provoke political problems, the KGB decided to arrest immediate perpetrators of terrorist acts in Moscow, but to not touch the network.”
This is evidenced, in particular, by the fact that “the Armenian authorities did everything to hide the bloody crime from the population of the republic. As directed by the First Secretary of the Armenian Communist Party Demirchyan, no newspaper published in the Armenian language reported about the terrorist act. A documentary about the trial of Zatikian and his accomplices, shot during the proceeding of the Supreme Court was banned to show even to party activists of Armenia; it was seen only by a small circle of upper leadership.”
According to Noorani`s research, “many of Moscow KGB officers believed that an ASALA agent, in fact, was the then chairman of the Armenian SSR KGB Yuzbashyan. Under “cover” of KGB, ASALA exported gold and currency values through the border checkpoint of Yerevan international airport, passed its activists with KGB documents. ASALA militants would often introduce themselves as KGB officers.” Paying attention to the fact that the Armenian terrorist organizations always responded to arrest or murder of their fighters in various countries with new terrorist acts, Noorani asks the following question: why did they not react to arrest and death penalty of perpetrators of Moscow bombings? He assumes that “ASALA and KGB made a sort of non-aggression agreement after the arrest of Zatikian. By “ceding” the organizers, ASALA kept intact the entire network, undertook responsibility to “behave”, to perform specific assignments of KGB, not to terrorist acts against the Soviet Union.”
In our view, an extensive and large network of the Armenian terrorist organizations in the Armenian SSR, the coordinated actions of the republic authorities and terrorist organizations, as well as support of Moscow officials allowed the Armenian jointly authorities with the militants of terrorist organizations to deport ethnic Azerbaijanis and present unfounded territorial claims against Azerbaijan in 1988 from their historical homeland.
Thus, one can argue that the Armenian terrorism emerged as a means of realizing the geopolitical aspirations of many countries, first of all, Russia, France, Britain and the United States in the Middle East, and was a logical result of numerous efforts of these powers aimed at weakening and overthrowing the Ottoman state. It was formed at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries as a special kind of terrorism characterized by boundless cruelty and accompanied by ethnic cleansing, mass pogroms and a large number of human victims, the basis of which was the idea of historical injustice, long-suffering, ethnic incompatibility with other national groups, national exclusiveness and superiority. This kind of terrorism widely used in modern practice of terrorist activity, has exclusive destructive force capable to escalate social tensions, fuel ethnic hatred and lead to destruction of the state. Essentially, the Armenian terrorism has been having ethno-nationalistic character, which is the basic element of aggressive separatism since the turn of XIX-XX centuries up to now.
Ramiz Sevdimaliyev,
Doctor of Political Sciences
1905.az
Doctor of Political Sciences
1905.az