YEREVAN. – No other political power fights for protecting national interests the way the ARF Dashnaktsutyun does, ARFD member Armen Rustamyan said during the Wednesday summing up rally in the Liberty Square.

“ARFD claims no need to yield be it Turkey or Azerbaijan. We say Karabakh is a state and not an autonomous region. We claim we will not return the liberated lands unless we are returned our legal lands. Do not forget that Nakhijevan is a historical part of Armenia, while we are obliged to struggle for the rights of the Javakhk Armenians [in Georgia] and the realization of the national language and culture there,” Armenian News-NEWS.am quotes Rustamyan.

ARFD believes that the state should be parliamentary, while the opposition granted effective mechanisms to control over the authorities.

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Dashnaktsutyun is one of the oldest Armenian political parties. It was founded in the end of 19th century.

Following the Sovietization of Armenia in 1920, the ARF-Dashnaktsutyun was banned by the Communists and its leadership exiled. The ARF-Dashnaktsutyun officially re-emerged in Armenia after the collapse of the USSR, in 1990.

In June 2003, the party signed a coalition memorandum with the Republican Party of Armenia and Orinats Yerkir (Rule of Law). However, in 2009 ARFD left the coalition in protest against signing the protocols with Turkey.

Party’s proportional list includes 85 candidates. Eight candidates will run for an MP seat with majority system. The party’s motto is ‘Freedom, Justice, Dashnaktsutyun.’