Merenics Éva / Éva Merenics Individuality, Collectivity, Locality
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Merenics Éva / Éva Merenics Individuality, Collectivity, Locality and Transnationality in Armenian Genocide Processing Institute of International Relations /Nemzetközi Kapcsolatok Intézet Témavezet ő / Supervisor: Dr. Habil. Kardosné Kaponyi Erzsébet, egyetemi tanár / Dr. Habil. Elisabeth Kardos Kaponyi, university professor © Merenics Éva / Éva Merenics 2 Budapesti Corvinus Egyetem /Corvinus University of Budapest Nemzetközi Kapcsolatok Multidiszciplináris Doktori Iskola / International Relations Multidisciplinary Doctoral School INDIVIDUALITY, COLLECTIVITY, LOCALITY AND TRANSNATIONALITY IN ARMENIAN GENOCIDE PROCESSING Doktori értekezés / Doctoral dissertation Szerz ő / Author: Merenics Éva / Éva Merenics Anyanyelvi lektor/Proofreader: Frank Thomas Zsigo Ph.D. Budapest, 2015. 3 The research for the present dissertation between 2009 and 2011 was conducted within the frameworks of the Visegrad Scholarship Program in two institutes of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia: In the Museum-Institute of the Armenian Genocide in the academic year of 2009-2010 under the supervision of Hayk Demoyan D. Sc. (director) In the Institute of History in the academic year of 2010-2011 under the supervision of Armen Maruqyan C. Sc. (senior researcher, present head of the Department of Armenian Cause and Armenian Genocide) 4 Table of Contents List of Charts.....................................................................................................................6 1. Introduction...............................................................................................................7 1.1. Approaches, Scientific Background................................................................10 1.2. Defining the Terms Genocide and Armenian Genocide.................................17 1.2.1. Genocide .....................................................................................................17 1.2.2. The Armenian Genocide ..............................................................................19 1.3. New Aspects of the Study...............................................................................24 1.3.1. Setting up and Testing Hypotheses .............................................................26 1.3.2. The Methodological Framework .................................................................29 1.4. Geographic and Temporal Scope of Examination..........................................34 1.5. Sources............................................................................................................37 1.6. Expected Results and Applicability of the Study............................................39 1.7. Structure..........................................................................................................40 2. Antecedents and Initial Circumstances...................................................................41 2.1. Armenians in Ottoman Territories between the Mudros Armistice and the Treaty of Lausanne......................................................................................................41 2.2. Changes in the Regional Power Structure: Russia(s), the Ottoman Empire and Turkey 47 2.3. Constant Crisis in the Republic of Armenia ...................................................48 2.4. Initial Migration Waves of Armenians to the United States of America........51 2.5. Armenians in the Kingdom of Hungary..........................................................54 2.6. Common features of Armenian Refugee Communities’ Identity ...................57 3. First-Generation Revenge: Operation Nemesis ......................................................59 3.1. Origins and Working Methods........................................................................59 3.2. Conclusions.....................................................................................................70 Chart 1. Assassinations Committed by Operation Nemesis ........................................73 4. The Sounds of Silence.............................................................................................74 4.1. Armenian Refugees in the United States. Almost Complete Silence. ............74 4.2. Pragmatism and Force in the Armenian SSR..................................................78 4.3. Armenians as a State-Constituting Minority in Lebanon................................84 4.3.1 Initial Establishment ...................................................................................84 4.3.2. Independent Lebanon and the First Civil War ............................................87 4.4. Hungary, a Station on the Way to the West....................................................88 4.5. Conclusions.....................................................................................................94 5. Outburst of Memories .............................................................................................98 5.1. Changes in the International Political Environment .......................................98 5.2. The Thaw in the Armenian SSR .....................................................................99 5.3. Armenians as an Organised Community in the United States ......................108 5.4. Armenians in Recovering Lebanon...............................................................112 5.5. A Quinquennial and a Decennial Commemoration in Hungary...................115 5.6. Conclusions...................................................................................................118 6. The Phase of Third-Generation Revenge..............................................................122 5 6.1. The Evolution and Operations of Armenian Third-Generation Revenge Groups 123 6.2. Ties between Armenians in the United States and Third-Generation Armenian Revenge Organisations .............................................................................................127 6.3. Literary and Scientific Responses to the Genocide in the American and Lebanese Armenian Communities............................................................................128 6.4. The Position of the Armenian SSR...............................................................131 6.5. Armenians Reactivised in Hungary ..............................................................133 6.6. Conclusions...................................................................................................137 7. On the Way to an Independent Homeland............................................................139 7.1. Democratic and Ethnic Revival in the Armenian SSR .................................141 7.1.1. The Karabakh Conflict ..............................................................................142 7.1.1.1. Political Antecedents.........................................................................142 7.1.1.2. Discrimination against Armenians in Mountainous Karabakh.........144 7.1.1.3. The Response of Azerbaijanis and the Azerbaijani SSR..................145 7.1.1.4. The Response of Moscow.................................................................146 7.1.2. Democratic Demands and the Memory of the Genocide in Yerevan ........147 7.2. Beyond Human Destruction..........................................................................151 7.3. The Main Direction of Processing in the Soviet Union................................155 7.4. Responses to the Armenian Genocide in the Observed Diaspora Communities 156 7.4.1. Keeping an Eye on the Soviet Homeland ..................................................156 7.4.2. An Armenian Community Struck by Civil War .........................................160 7.4.3. Armenian Solidarity and new perspectives for ethnic minorities in Hungary 161 7.5. Conclusions...................................................................................................162 8. Conclusions...........................................................................................................165 8.1. Results of the Analysis, Verification of the Hypotheses ..............................165 8.1.1. Hypothesis 1 ..............................................................................................165 8.1.2. Hypothesis 2 ..............................................................................................167 8.1.3. Hypothesis 3 ..............................................................................................170 8.2. New Questions and Methodological Suggestions.........................................171 8.3. Practical Aspects and Recent Progresses Related to the Study ....................174 Appendix.......................................................................................................................177 Bibliography..................................................................................................................178 Publikációs lista / List of Publications..........................................................................204 List of Charts Chart 1. Assassinations committed by Operation Nemesis p. 73 6 1. Introduction The Armenian genocide is one of the well known large-scale collective traumas of the 20 th century, one that still has an active impact today. Due to repeated and in many cases similarly structured genocides, the problem has remained pertinent for almost a century. The often forbidden or restricted processing of the trauma is still a serious source of conflicts. The phenomenon has therefore been present in scientific and political discourse in various countries for the past