Armenian Revolutionary Federation in Iran

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) (Armenian: Հայ Յեղափոխական Դաշնակցութիւն Hay Heghapokhagan Tashnagtsutiun; Persian: فدراسیون انقلابی ارمنی‎‎, in short form "Dashnak"), has a long history in Iran, dating back to the earliest days of the party, in the 1890s. The ARF played a significant role as one of the pioneers in the development of early modern Iranian politics, and had a great contribution to the Iranian Constitutional Revolution. Though the principal objectives of the ARF were to create an independent Armenian state comprising territory of the former Soviet Union and the Turkey, it has never asserted claims to the portion of historical Armenian land that remain under Iranian rule. It is the only Armenian party to (semiofficially) exist in Iran.

The activities of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation in Iran has its roots in the vibrant Armenian political life in northwestern Iran (Iranian Azerbaijan). This area of native Armenian settlement, housed prior to the Armenian Genocide as well as other events of the 20th century (e.g. Iran crisis of 1946, Iranian Revolution), a significant native Armenian population. Apart from the ARF, the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party was active there as well, and was often at odds with the (much larger) ARF.

Shortly after the foundation of the ARF in 1890, it already began to send representatives to recruit Armenian members living in Qajar Iran. As the Encyclopaedia Iranica states, among the earliest ARF leaders in Persia were; Yonan Dawtʿean, Ishkhan Yovsēpʿ Arłutʿean, Nikol Duman (Nikołayos Tēr Yovhannisean), Ṙostom (Stepan Zorian), Vardan (Sargis Mehrabean), Farhat (Sargis Ōhan-ǰanean), Karō (Aristakēs Zōrean), Stepʿan Stepʿanean (Balajan), Zakʿkʿi (Bagrat Vardapet Tʿawakʿalean), Tsaghik (Satʿenik Matinean), Yovsēpʿ Mirzayean, Vrtʿanēs Pʿapʿazean, Yarutʿiwn Martirosean, Arsēn Mikʿayēlean, and Yovhannēs Khan Masehean.

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