Asala--irrational Terror Or Political Tool.

[DominO123]

I just finished to read: Asala--Irrational Terror or Political Tool by Ariel Merari, Jerusalem Post, Jerusalem, 1985. A little work of over a hundred page, ignored by the mass of other works of its kind. It tries to put things in context and demystify the ASALA.

 

 

Here the introduction.

 

 

pp. 3-6

 

Introduction

 

In 1973 two Turkish diplomats were shot in Los Angeles by an 80-year old Armenian named Kirkan Yanikian. Behind this act of revenge by a lone individual lay a national reawakening among the dispersed Armenians in the world, which had begun in the early 1970s. This incident might gradually have been forgotten, had it not in fact catalyzed a chain of events which turned it, and its perpetrator, into a symbol signifying the end of the conspiracy of silence which since 1915 had surrounded the holocaust of the Armenian people. Since 1975 some 30 Turkish diplomats or members of their families have been attacked in dozens of terrorist actions, with the result that Armenian revenge, as well as the background to the Armenian struggle, have become a near permanent feature in the world press. These terrorist acts were actually carried out by a small group of people, but due to their spectacular nature they were successful in bringing the Armenian tragedy to the forefront of international awareness.

 

The resort to terrorism emerged among the international Armenian community 50 years after the Armenians had become a nation of refugees. The events in eastern Anatolia during World War I, and the large-scale expulsion of the Armenians from their soil, in the course of which over half the Armenian population of Turkey was massacred, became the bedrock of the collective memory of this nation. As time passed, a feeling of deep frustration developed over the lack of public interest in what eventually would be recognized as the first genocide in the 20th century. During previous decades Armenian political bodies kept up a steady stream of restrained and generally unproductive activity, aimed at focusing attention on the subject and achieving official recognition of the historical suffering caused to the Armenians. But during the past fifteen years a change in climate has occurred. In the early 1970s a national reawakening became noticeable among the dispersed Armenians in the world, which must in part be ascribed to the realization that the political road had been a failure. The extreme expression of this tendency was the recourse of young Armenians to violent struggle.

 

Armenian terror has two central objectives: the first -- as expressed in the activities of the JCAG (Justice Commando for the Armenian Genocide) is informed mainly by a desire for revenge against Turkey and its legations worldwide. The larger, and more intimidating Armenian organization is ASALA (Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia), which forms the subject of this study.

 

Beyond a desire for revenge, ASALA is fighting for national liberation, and its ultimate aim is the restoration of historical Armenia to the Armenian nation. ASALA is distinguished from other organizations with a separatist signature, in that it does not fight an alien regime inside its homeland, but from outside its borders. There are today some five million Armenians in the world, approximately four million of whom reside in the Soviet Union, but in Turkish Armenia hardly any Armenians are left. The Soviet Union, which controls the largest part of Armenia, does not form a target for Armenian terror: according to ASALA'S conception Soviet Armenia is liberated, and one of the organization's aims is to turn it into a territory from which the national Armenian struggle can be conducted.

 

The absence of a popular support base within its homeland constitutes a critical limitation for any organization with nationalist aspirations. In the present case this has dictated the central characteristics of ASALA, and in effect has determined the nature of the international framework within which the organization operates. Its activists hail from Armenian population concentrations in the Middle East, Europe and the North American continent. These parts of the world, particularly Europe, are also the locales where terrorist attacks are carried out. Thus, even though Turkey forms the main objective of the attacks, ASALA activity, a priori, always indirectly involves at least one other state. An operational scope of this nature is virtually unparalleled: the arena of the struggle in fact encompasses any location where there are either Turkish legations, or legations of western nations that have provoked ASALA's enmity by fighting the Armenian terror conducted on their territory.

 

Apart from this, ASALA considers its struggle an inseparable part of the national liberation struggles of oppressed peoples. This ideological identification would not satisfy the need ASALA has felt from the day of its foundation for the backing of stronger and more established bodies than itself, were not this support also expressed in a more tangible form. ASALA was in fact established under the protection of the PLO in Lebanon; it was from the Palestinian nationalist movement that it drew its inspiration, and Palestinian terror served as a model for the type of struggle it chose to conduct. This support base was seriously impaired in the course of the Lebanon War during the summer of 1982, forcing ASALA to search for a new framework. In this particular case it did not have to look far: today the organization's principal bases remain in Lebanon, but in the areas under Syrian control. Thus, while the struggle was fundamentally born out of a sense of distress, as well as nationalist motives, internationalist motivations also play a role in ASALA's activity, and it has formed, from the moment of its inception, a part of a wider terrorist system.

 

The constraints affecting ASALA's activity raise serious; questions as to the fundamental rationality of its struggle: can its activities in the international sphere, as they are conducted today, form a step on the way to real political achievements? What are the prospects for bridging ideological gaps and geographical dispersion within the internal Armenian context? What are the possibilities for influencing global political frameworks indirectly related to the Armenian case, in such a way as to bring ASALA closer to the realization of the national aspirations it represents?

 

ASALA's activities have found a response among the Armenian communities in the world. The organization's appearance has led to a polarization of attitudes at both sides of the spectrum, as well as the creation of new currents, both political and terrorist (e.g., JCAG), among the exiles. Despite unequivocal denunciations of violent struggle, ASALA's acts of violence have undeniably revived the Armenian problem in the eyes of the world. This development would not have taken place had ASALA not taken the terrorist direction -- however limited in scope -- and herein lies its main, and most striking achievement.

 

* * *

 

The ASALA phenomenon is of special interest to the Jewish people and to Israel for several reasons. Both Jews and Armenians have been the victims of genocide in the 20th century. The establishment of ASALA was a belated reaction to the holocaust which struck the Armenian people, and an indirect result of the conversion of Beirut into the terrorist capital of the world during the 1970s.

 

ASALA's incorporation into the Middle Eastern terrorist complex, the fact that it was assisted from the outset by the Palestinian terror organizations, as well as its present connections with Syria, combine to make Israel a potential target for the organization's terrorist activity. Even so, to date ASALA has carried out no direct operations against Israeli targets. A possible explanation involves two principal considerations. The first concerns the limited scope of the Armenian-Israeli context, and the parallels between Armenian history and that of the Jews, which far outweigh differences in the political sphere. Secondly, present-day Israel provides an example of national rehabilitation (even though the conditions under which this was brought about cannot be separated from their specific time-frame), and thus has earned for Israel and the Zionist movement the sympathy of the Armenian people. In the wider context, our efforts to understand why ASALA has not acted against Israel cannot be divorced from the fact that, notwithstanding the intensive terrorist activity conducted by the organization against western nations, it has not digressed from activities that are related to the Armenian cause. It therefore appears that ASALA will not attack Israeli targets as long as Israel, for its part, refrains from moving directly against it, thereby ranging itself on the side of the enemies of the Armenian nationalist movement.

Edited July 27, 2003 by Fadix

[vava]

Thanks Domino - Asala has always been a bit nof a mystery for me - I'll add this paper to my List (now very long, thanks to you) of things to read...

[angel4hope]

wow-THANK YOU THS WAS VERY INFORMATIVE AND ITS RELIEVING TO KNOW THAT SOME PEOPLE ACTUALLY KNOW WHAT WENT ON AND REALIZE THAT THE GENOCIDE WAS IN FACT THE FIRST "HOLOCAUST" OF THE 20TH CENTURY- I STILL HAVE TO FINISH ERADING THE REST- BUT I WOULD LIKE TO PRAISE YOU ON YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN FINDING SUCH USEFUL INFO. MUCH THANX

[Stormig]

I'd like to remind of the Hereros who were the first victims of genocide in the 20th century. Or is "holocaust" supposed to imply completion of some sort?

[DominO123]

I'd like to remind of the Hereros who were the first victims of genocide in the 20th century. Or is "holocaust" supposed to imply completion of some sort?

Yes ! You are right, the Herreros in the hand of the Germans, sent to starve in mass and poisoned, there is evidences that the Germans proposed the idea to the Ottoman, inspired by their own success on the Herreros.

 

As for Holocaust, Holocaust means burning in fire of a mass, a Holocaust is not necessarly a genocide. The first Holocaust of the last century was in 1909, and it was the Adana Holocaust, where thousands were loaded in churchs, locked, and burned in mass, while the allied ships were near to it and withnesses, and they did nothing to stop it, making them accomplice of that Holocaust.

[Stormig]

In the word holocaust, I am more interested in the "holo-" which implies the entirety or wholeness. Genocide, regardless of scale or proportion, is genocide - and holocaust just wouldn't be holocaust if it weren't pretty successful, IMO. Just some thoughts. Edited July 30, 2003 by Stormy

[DominO123]

In the word holocaust, I am more interested in the "holo-" which implies the entirety or wholeness. Genocide, regardless of scale or proportion, is genocide - and holocaust just wouldn't be holocaust if it weren't pretty successful, IMO. Just some thoughts.

Holocaust comes from the greek word "holokauston" which means totally burned by fire, it was first used to discribe sacrifices by fire to the gods... It was later used as a word the define people burned in mass, the word was as well used to discribe what happened in Adana in 1909(that was what it was called at that time), while what happened in Adana was still not a genocide, it was later, where the word as been used to call the "Soah" but it has still been used as well to discribe the destruction of the Armenian population in World-war I.

 

I better like to call the Holocaust, "Soah," because the word Holocaust has no legal aspect like the word genocide, anyone can call burning or destruction of people a "holocaust" there is no legal principle or conditions to be met to call an event a "holocaust," while it is not the same for Genocide, there may have been many Armenian Holocaust, but one genocide, this is as well the reason why the word holocaust is written in capital "H" when talking about what happened to the European Jews.