DASHNAKS DEFEATED IN MARSEILLES COUNCIL, ARMENIANS WARNED OF DASHNAK INTRIGUE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000600400302-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 25, 2011
• Sequence Number: 302
• Publication Date: July 14, 1951
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/25: CIA-RDP80-00809A000600400302-1
LANGUAGE Armenian
DATE
PUBLISHED 11 May ? 3 Jun `1951
WHERE
SUBJECT Political. Sociological .- Religious
HOW
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CD NO.
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT
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DATE OF
INFORMATION 1951
DATE DIST. /~Ju1 1951
NO. OF PAGES 3
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
PASffvA.KS DEFEATED IN MARSEILLES COUNCIL.
ARMENIANS WARNdD OF DASHNAKTNTRIGUE
SAYS DASHNAKS MISUSED POWER . Paris, Azad Khosk, 11 May 51
We are informed that last Sunday's convention of the Armenian Religious
Council in Marseilles elected seven new members To replace an equal number
whose terms have expired. Although we do not yet have the details of the
elections, judging from the results, we can say the Armenian Church Community
in Marseilles rallied to protect the unity of the Armenian Church and the
supreme authority of the ecclesiastical seat at Ec_hmiadzin in Soviet Armenia.
Whereas five of the former members are Dashnake, nuue of the newly elected
members belong to that group. To ascertain the causes of the Dashnak defeat,
it is necessary to go back 3 years. At that time the Dashnaks had a majority
in the council. Their leaders trampled over the .regulations of the Armenian
Church Constitution, showed contempt for the will of the majority, clung tena-
ciously to their posts of power, and made no attempt to respect the rights of
newly elected members,
And when we consider that the executive council "- composed chiefly of
Dashnaks .-? openly and illegally used the organi?ation to further its polit-
ical ambitions, we can easily understand why the Armenian people of. Marseilles
turned against the Dashnaks with indignation, It is but natural that a body
elected by the people, which violates the constitution and shows contempt for
the will of the people, sooner or later must answer for it. The Dashnaks dared
to go even further by refusing to recognize the supremacy of the Catholicos at
Echmiadzin and openly. urging the Armenian people to break all. ties with the
Soviet Armenian Church.
This is why the elections in Marseilles represent an indictment and a de-
feat for the Dashnaks? The reactionary, anti.Echmiadzin policies of the Dash-
naks are no longer a secret to anyone.
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The convention, by gluing -its votes to impartial men devoted to the in-
t.er sts of the church, has served notice that those who forsake the people
wit1 not remain unpunished. It has also exhib_ted a fervor and faith in the
unity of the Armenian Church and in the supreme leadership of our Catholicos.
DASHNAKS BLdSTFD IN CHTJRCH DISPUTE -- Beirut, Zartonk, 12 May 51
The Dashnak organ Hair nnik has resorted to calumny and impiety to achieve
its sordid aims. The branding of Diran Mesrobian, Archbishop of North America,
as the "hooded spokesman of the Communists" is not directed merely against his
person. Archbishop Diran a* his office are the scapegoats for Dashnak attacks
to discredit and blacken the reputation of the Armenian Church and the entire
Armenian community. They direct their poisonous slander indiscriminately at
every individual clergyman and. every religions body Their sole guiding prin-
ciple is that of satisfying their political greed
"Our titular church leaders have only one thought in mind how best to
serve their own interests," reports ttie Fresno, California, newspaper Asbarez
in its 19 January 1951 edition. It continues, in it4 usual malevolent spirit,
with the assertion that our high clergymen do absolutely nothing to deserve
their titles and posts.. They show only "disunity and a crawling adoration for
the world's greatest evil W. Communism
Thus, the individual clergyman is not the sole target of the Dashnaks.
The Dashnaks direct their hateful wealion of fraud against the entire Armenian
Church.
In its 16 February 1951 issue, Asbarez placed the responsibility for a
disunited Armenian nation on the "stupid,,iinsane clergy, the 'lovers of Soviet
Armenia' - from the Catholicos down to the last priest."
Nor is this slanderous persecution limited to the Armenian Church. It ex-
tends to the ranks of those who "sing praises to Stalin." Asbarez defines this
category as including all the priests "from Etem's KalfaianWto Boston's Toumaian,"
all those who refuse to renounce Armenia, who refuse to join the Dashnak traitors.
One aspect of-this entire question is that the Armenian Revolutionary Federation
has violently opposed Bishop Nersoyan of New York, employing lies, distortion
and threats.
It is the duty of the Armenian people to protect their church. They must
organize their strength against the Dashnak attacks, The Armenian Church does
not proclaim the "infallibility" of its prelates. Certainly, Bishop Nersoyan
has made mistakes, as do all public servants, But it will be a far greater mis-
take if we do not perceive the significance of and counteract the new tactics
adopted by the Dashnaks,
An organization representing the Armenian Apostolic Church can, with the
cooperation of US friends and in the name of the Armenian community of the US,
take adequate steps to render these Dashnak attacks harmless, Once the Dashnaks
have been unmasked, the glory of the Armenian Church will reassert itself and
our great religious leaders will be vindicated in the eyes of the world? We
must come to the aid of our clergymen who have suffered persecution, both spirit-
ually.arld physically, at the hands of the Dashnaks.
Our readers are doubtless aware of the militant slogan which recently ap-
peared in Aztarar, the Dashnak paper published in Beirut, The slogan took the
following form. "Ten thousand well-organized. Armenian youths are awaiting the
proper moment to liberate their country from Turkish and Bolshevik domination."
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Numerous protests have forced the Dashnak paper to drop this violent
slogan and to assume a more "diplomatic" position in its publications.
Today, an even more authoritative Dashnak paper, Hairenik published in
Boston, has undertaken efforts to revive this idea. Encouraged by the war
neurosis existing throughout high government circles in the US, Hairenik
believes that the time has come to prepare a list of its followers for the
coming struggle.
The recently created organization called "Friends of the Fighters for
Russian Liberation" - a group sponsored by the US State Department has
been known to us for many months through the Armenian press in the US.
Hairenik advised Washington to include in this organization representatives
of those peoples who comprised part of the former Tsarist. FJnpire.
That paper based its proposal on the contention that ':hose leaders who
were forced by the Bolsheviks to flee into exile constitute a more efficient
group for the formulation of anti-Soviet policies, by virtue of their first-
,,knowledge of Bolshevik techniques.
The Dashnaks are attempting to convince Washington: that they represent
an "august force" among the Armenians in dispersion, They are also endeavor-
ing to show that all the peoples of the USSR Russian and non-,Russian alike
resent the existing regime and are waiting for the opportunity to revolt and to
hurl down the Bolshevik government.
It was with this thought in mind that the Dashnaks allied themselves with
Hitler. Consequently, we find it necessary to warn our compatriots of this new
Dashnak intrigue.
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