Hayazn

Hayazn
Founder	Sergey Dalakyan, Sargis Chilincaryan, Hamlet Khamoyan, Heghine Sargsyan, Ani Sargsyan
Founded	2009 (as an NGO) 2013/2014 (as a political party)
Headquarters	Yerevan, Armenia
Ideology	Armenian nationalism[1][2] National Revolutionary (self-described)[3]
Website
www.hayazn.am

Hayazn (Armenian: Հայազն) is an Armenian nationalist political party, that was founded as a civil organization in 2009.^[4] It declared itself a political party in 2013 and was registered as such in 2014.^[5]

Ideology

Hayazn had stated its opposition to Armenia's possible integration into the European Union or to the Eurasian Customs Union that included at the time a customs union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia]].^[6] Hayazn had also called on the Armenian government to opt out of the European Neighbourhood Policy in the past.^[7]

Hayazn also opposes any official recognition by Armenia of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Instead Hayazn supports the actual unification of the Nagorno-Karabakh areas as an integral part of the Republic of Armenia, turning Karabakh into an additional Armenian province within the borders of an expanded Armenian Republic.^[8][9]

Hayazn also advocates in case of a war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, to "liberate" historical Armenian provinces of Gandzak and Nakhitchevan, presently within the territorial areas of Azerbaijan.^[9]

In internal affairs, Hayazn is opposed to Serzh Sargsyan's government and has condemned its internal and foreign policies, in particular the way it handles the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within the OSCE Minsk Group.^[10] The party called for a "no" vote in the 2015 constitutional referendum^[11]

Activities

Although Hayazn was not registered as a political party, and couldn't legally participate in the 2012 parliamentary election, but nonetheless it refused to participate.^[12] It blamed mainstream opposition parties (Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Armenian National Congress, Heritage) for not being "pro-people", and the government for electoral fraud which resulted in the formation of, what they call, an illegitimate government.^[13]

In June 2011, the union started to collect signatures for the citizenship of Jirair Sefilian, a Lebanese-born Armenian military commander of the Nagorno-Karabakh War. More than 4,000 signatures were gathered.^[14] However, the relationship with Sefilian deteriorated, when on September 2, 2013 Hayazn members reportedly attacked and beat-up Varuszhan Avetisyan, the press secretary and member of the Pre-Parliament.^[15]

On September 1, 2012, Hayazn organized a protest during which several of its members burnt the Hungarian flag as an act of protest against Ramil Safarov's release to Azerbaijan.^[16] They also demanded the resignation of the Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandyan.^[17][18]

On May 21, 2012 Hayazn organized a parallel march in opposition to the first of its kind "Diversity march" organized by the LGBT community of Armenia. The march was stopped prematurely, because LGBT activists were afraid of their safety.^[19] On October 10, 2012, Hayazn organized a protest in front of Germany's embassy in Yerevan by the union against the presentation of the film The Parade about gay activism in Serbia. The union stated that they would not tolerate "propaganda of immorality".^[20] During anti-Putin protests on December 2, 2013, several members of Hayazn attacked LGBT rights activist and demanded that they do not fly the Rainbow flag during the protests.^[21]

Throughout spring 2013, Hayazn was a vocal opponent of leasing land in Syunik Province for Iranian pastures.^[22]

Hayazn took an active role in the anti-government protests throughout 2013. On December 2, 2013 along with several political parties, they took to the streets to protest Russia's president Vladimir Putin's visit to Armenia and Serzh Sargsyan's decision to join the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia.^[6]

References