Hay Dat: New stage
By Karine Mangassarian

Yerkir/arm
3 June 05

Armenian Revolutionary Federation’s (ARF) Hay Dat Council is scheduled
to hold its meeting in Yerevan on June 3 and 4. The Council comprises
members of the ARF Bureau in charge of Hay Dat activities, heads of
the Hay Dat committees of U.S. and Europe, directors of the Hay Dat
offices in Washington, Brussels, Moscow, and Beirut as well as the
Yerevan central office, and representatives of the ARF Supreme Body of
Armenia and ARF Artsakh Central Committee.

The Council is to discuss additions to the Hay Dat strategy in the
light of the recent international and regional developments, and shape
the action plans for the Hay Dat offices worldwide.

ARF Bureau members Karo Armenian and Hakop Ter-Khachatrian shared
their views with Yerkir on the coming forum, the works of the offices
and committees, as well as the results of the Hay Dat conference held
in Yerevan in 2003.

Touching upon the 2003 conference, Karo Armenian noted that it helped
better understand the tasks to be undertaken in order to keep up with
the international processes and present our views. New directions have
been adopted in the United States, Canada, Europe, Moscow and the
Middle East, and a completelynew program has been put together.

The Hay Dat activities were carried out in two fields: the
international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, and supporting the
Armenian economy development process. When asked why the economy was
included in the Hay Datagenda, Armenian said, “It was included in our
agenda because the development of the Armenian economy greatly hinges
on foreign aid and international loans. These processes happen
everywhere.

We realized that the Hay Dat offices and committees could play a
substantial part in supporting Armenia’s diplomacy.” In his turn,
Bureau member Hakop Ter-Khachatrian noted that this issue was put on
the Hay Dat agenda since Armenia’s independence as an additional
factor to support the basis of the Armenian state. “The Hay Dat
offices and committees immediately engaged in the process, and a lot
is being done today.

Under the resolutions of the ARF General Convention, the Armenian
Genocide recognition is no more the only goal of the Hay
Dat. Supporting the development of the economy became an issue of our
agenda. We backed the Armenian foreign diplomacy, in accordance to the
ARF decisions, to aid Armenia as much as wecan and to reinforce its
international positions,” said Ter-Khachatrian, adding also that the
voice of the Armenian communities sound in all these processes, often
having a vital role in the policies of governments.

Further commenting on the economic factors involved in foreign policy,
Armenian emphasized the importance of developing bilateral economic
relations. As an example, he pointed out the creation of the
American-Armenian intergovernmental economic committee noting that Hay
Dat office has laid the foundation for the committee’s
creation. Armenian said similar activities are being carried out in
other countries that provide international assistance packages,
including Canada, European countries.

It’s not easy to counter the Turkish propaganda machine

The problem of Artsakh occupies a unique position in the activities of
Hay Dat offices and committees. `Due to some recent global processes
this problem has had very slow development. However, Armenia has
always preserved its position of being ready for open
negotiations. But Azerbaijan’s behavior as well as some regional
developments hindered this process,’ ARF Bureau member Karo Armenian
said. Armenian believes that even though there are no new developments
in Armenia’s foreign policy, this does not mean that Hay Dat offices
do not pursue this issue. Hay Dat offices and committees daily monitor
the developments related to Artsakh and keep this issue on their
agenda.

Of course, international recognition and denunciation of the Armenian
Genocide are the main objectives of Hay Dat activities. In this
respect, Armenian stressed the importance of countering the Turkish
and Azeri propaganda and neutralizing the public opinion
disinformation campaigns launched by these countries.

Bureau member Ter-Khachatrian noted that international recognition of
the Armenian Genocide has been activated on a wider scale and many
countries have recognized the Genocide. `We had never had such rapid
developments before. This means that our activities of the past years
are yielding their results. Of course, Armenia’s official position is
very important in this respect since international recognition of the
Armenian Genocide has a special position on Armenia’ s foreign policy
agenda’.

`One of the most important challenges we have to face is counteringthe
diplomatic campaign Turkey has launched around its application for
membership in the European Union.

When we speak about stopping Turkey’s policies of denial we should
keep in mind that it is not an easy task. We can succeed gradually,
step by step. We are dealing with a powerful state machine which gets
support from several powerful countries. And we have to counter this
machine,’ Armenian said. He believes Turkey’s aspirations for EU
membership were a good opportunity for Hay Dat activities. `We had to
include recognition of the Armenian Genocideinto the list of
preconditions set before Turkey.

I have to make a clarification here. When we say recognition, our
organization and our nation cannot accept so-called `passive
recognition’. We are dealing with a state that is still bearing the
guilt of committing genocide. This is not the guilt of the Ottoman
Empire. The modern Turkey has participated in the Armenian Genocide
from the very first day of its creation. This countryis founded on the
consequences of the Genocide and it owes to our nation. Thisis the
issue we are raising on the international political arena as an urgent
issue,’ Armenian stated. Ter-Khachatrian noted that Turkey is trying
to counter Hay Dat activities very skillfully. It is pursuing its
policy of denial both in politics and in economics.

`We could see this when Turkey was trying to exert pressure on Canada
saying that the Canadian companies working in Turkey could suffer
damages. The Turkish embassies in different countries have formed a
network attracting anumber of suspicious organizations that are
implementing Turkey’s policies’. Ter-Khachatrian believes this is a
very flexible policy since on the one hand it pursues absolute denial
while on the other hand proposals are made for the historians to start
a dialog. `It’s interesting that this approach has become a part of
Western policies. Let’s remember the Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation
Committee, an initiative that did not come from the states
involved. Who can be against a dialog? However, in reality, the
Committee had absolutely different objectives which derived from its
non-representative composition.

The Committee members had a certain bias that had been determined by
Turkey. The Committee’s obvious objective was to counter the
increasing international pressure on Turkey. When we were trying to
raise the question of recognition of the Genocide representatives of
various countries in Europe and North America were saying, why are you
raising this question if a reconciliation process has already started?
In this respect, the Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation Committee
significantly hindered international recognition of the Genocide,’
Ter-Khachatrian said. Karo Armenian pointed out that TARC was unmasked
by the Hay Dat Committee. Hay Dat activists revealed the fact that
TARC was financed by the US State Department, a fact that previously
had been kept secret. Finally, the State Department had to accept this
fact and the Committee was discredited.

The issue of Genocide does not have religious grounds Karo Armenian
commented on the peculiarities of the activities of Hay Dat Middle
East office in Beirut noting that Armenia is a Christian country
surrounded by Muslim countries. Thus, as a Christian country, Armenia
has to understand the peculiarities of the Islamic world and establish
proper relations with it. `Armenia is facing a serious challenge. In
this respect, it is very important that Armenia preserve its values
that are largely in line with European values on the one hand, and be
able to develop its relations with the Islamic world on the
other. This is very difficult but at the same time very important from
the point of view of diplomacy.

We have a lot to do in this respect. We have to explain to the
countries in the region that our problem with Turkey does not have any
religious groundsbut is a result of nationalism and genocide. We have
to show to the Islamic world that the problem we have with our
neighbors, Turkey and Azerbaijan, does not derive from religious
differences (by the way, there are differences within Islam as well)
but from the fact that Turkey is grounded on a value system that has
no right to persist in the modern world,’ Armenian said.

The scope of Hay Dat supporters and activists is very wide ARF has
adopted a new approach of attracting new friends and supporters. One
of the results of this approach was the Pro-Armenia Conference held in
Paris. More than 150 friends of Armenia from different countries
participated in the conference.

`This is a symbol of our strength since the Conference attracted
different influential people, political leaders from different
countries,’ Ter-Khachatrian said. He pointed out that though Hay Day
offices and committees are political branches of ARF, they include a
large number of supporters, inducing many young people. And these
young people are the guarantors of accomplishment of Hay Dat goals,
Ter-Khachatrian concluded.