The Homeland Party ( hy, Հայրենիք կուսակցություն, translit=Hayrenik’ kusakts’ut’yun) is a

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the Right-wing politics, right of the Left–right politics, political spectrum, but are closer to the Centrism, centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure a ...

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 political ideology ...

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

. It was founded on 30 May 2020 by Artur Vanetsyan.

History

The party had been registered in Armenia since 1991, and was previously led by Jasmen Asryan. However, the party went into a long period of inactivity. The founding congress of the newly relaunched Homeland Party was held on 20 May 2020, in Yerevan. Artur Vanetsyan was elected unanimously by party members as chairman and the party subsequently completed its registration with the

Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Just ...

. Party leader Artur Vanetsyan, was the former Director of the National Security Services of Armenia. Vanetsyan was dismissed from his position by Prime Minister of Armenia,

Nikol Pashinyan Nikol Vovayi Pashinyan ( hy, Նիկոլ Վովայի Փաշինյան, ; born 1 June 1975) is an Armenian politician serving as the prime minister of Armenia since 8 May 2018. A journalist by profession, Pashinyan founded his own newspaper in 1 ...

. Since then, Vanetsyan has been a vocal critic of Pashinyan's government and has called on the Prime Minister to step down from power. Vanetsyan stated that the current government has exhausted the confidence of the overwhelming majority of people. Vanetsyan has also declared support to the

Prosperous Armenia Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP; hy, Բարգավաճ Հայաստան կուսակցություն, Bargavatch Hayastan kusaktsut’yun, abbreviated as ԲՀԿ BHK), is a conservative political party in Armenia. It was founded by businessman Gagik ...

party, stating that they are the only true opposition force of the current government. On 15 November 2020, Vanetsyan was arrested by Yerevan police due to a planned assault on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. In May 2021, the

Republican Party of Armenia The Republican Party of Armenia (RPA, hy, Հայաստանի Հանրապետական Կուսակցություն, ՀՀԿ; ''Hayastani Hanrapetakan Kusaktsutyun'', ''HHK'') is a national-conservative political party in Armenia led by the thir ...

and the Homeland Party announced that they would form their own political alliance, known as the

I Have Honor Alliance I Have Honor ( hy, Պատիվ ունեմ դաշինք, Pativ unem dashink’) is a political alliance in Armenia. It was founded on 15 May 2021 and consists of the Republican Party of Armenia and the Homeland Party. History The alliance was form ...

, to run in the

2021 Armenian parliamentary election Snap parliamentary elections were held in Armenia on 20 June 2021. The elections had initially been scheduled for 9 December 2023, but were called earlier due to a political crisis following the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War and an alleged attempted ...

s. Following the election, the alliance received 5.22% of the popular vote, gaining 6 seats in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

. The Homeland Party was represented in parliament with one of those seats, held by Vanetsyan. On 21 June 2022, Vanetsyan announced that he was giving up his seat in parliament and withdrawing the Homeland Party from the I Have Honor Alliance. The Homeland Party currently acts as an

extra-parliamentary An extra-parliamentary opposition is a political movement opposed to a ruling government or political party that chooses not to engage in elections. Many social movements could be categorized as an extra-parliamentary opposition. Europe The German ...

force.

Ideology

The party has declared itself an alternative force and believes in developing and improving the security, stability and progress of Armenia; with rule of law and

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...

as the benchmarks, while also fighting against

xenophobia Xenophobia () is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression of perceived conflict between an in-group and out-group and may manifest in suspicion by the one of the other's activities, a ...

. The party has also supported the idea of collaborating with other political parties in Armenia with similar views and ideologies.

Armed wing

During the

2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict in 2020 that took place in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenian-occupied territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, the surrounding territories. It was a major escalation of ...

, the armed wing of the party, the "Homeland" detachment, led by Vanetsyan, and consisting of about 80 men, took part in the Battle of Shusha. In January 2021, former director of the Armenian NSS,

Argishti Kyaramyan Argishti Elbek Kyaramyan (Armenian: born on May 22, 1991) who had previously served as the deputy head of the RA State Control Service (2019-2020), the director of the RA National Security Service (NSS) (between June 8 and October 8, 2020). He is ...

, claimed that the members of the detachment, had left their positions during the battle, though Vanetsyan, and other members of the detachment later denied this claim.

Electoral record

Parliamentary elections

References