The National United Party ( hy, Ազգային Միացյալ Կուսակցություն; russian: Национальная объединённая партия) was an

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

underground

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. It operated from 1966 until 1987, when it was renamed

Union for National Self-Determination Union for National Self-Determination ( hy, Ազգային ինքնորոշում միավորում; ''Azgayin ink’noroshum miavorum'') is an Armenian political party. It was founded in 1987 by Paruyr Hayrikyan, a Soviet dissident seeking indep ...

(UNSD), which became the first democratic party in the USSR.History of the Republican Party of Armenia
/ref>

History

Since the early 1960s, the Soviet regime had to confront pockets of dissident thinking. The monopoly of the

Communist party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

was questioned by people who thought in terms of freedom of thought and speech. Painter Haykaz Khachatryan (1920-1989) and a group of Armenians held a demonstration on 24 April 1965 near the tomb of Komitas in Yerevan. They were arrested, but released a few days later due to lack of evidence. The National United Party (NUP) was founded on 24 April 1966, by painter Haykaz Khachatryan, Stepan Zatikyan and Shahen Harutyunyan. The party issued and distributed the first issue of its clandestine periodical ''Paros'' (Phare) in October 1967. When the founders were imprisoned in 1968, Paruyr Hayrikyan became head of the party. The main goals of the NUP were the independence of

Soviet Armenia The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic,; russian: Армянская Советская Социалистическая Республика, translit=Armyanskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika) also commonly referred to as Soviet A ...

, the establishment of democracy, and the elimination of the consequences of the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily through t ...

. Party members were to follow the program of the party, entitled "For the Nation and the Homeland." Any person aged sixteen and above, who accepted the program, could become a party member. In 1973, the National United Party re-elected Hayrikyan as its president. Hayrikyan wrote his political program, "The Road to Independence through Referendum Strategy," in the same year. After he was arrested in 1974, he continued clandestinely to lead the organization. On his return to Armenia in August 1987, Hayrikyan founded a successor party to the NUP, the

. Many prominent figures of independent Armenia, including Ashot Navasardyan,

Movses Gorgisyan Movses Gevorgi Gorgisyan ( hy, Մովսես Գևորգի Գորգիսյան; 3 December 1961 – 19 January 1990) was an Armenian politician and national hero, one of the leaders of the Nagorno-Karabakh movement. He was one of the founders of th ...

and Andranik Margaryan, were former members of the National United Party.

References

Links

Foundation of the National United Party (April 24, 1966)
{{Armenian political parties 1966 establishments in the Soviet Union 1987 disestablishments in the Soviet Union Armenian nationalism Defunct political parties in Armenia Nationalist parties in Armenia Political parties disestablished in 1987 Political parties established in 1966 Pro-independence parties in the Soviet Union

History

See also

References

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