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Some Armenians Voting For Hezbollah In Lebanon

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  • Some Armenians Voting For Hezbollah In Lebanon

    SOME CHRISTIANS VOTING FOR HEZBOLLAH IN LEBANON
    by Adrine Akopyan

    AllGov
    http://www.allgov.com/ViewNews/Some_Christians_Vo ting_for_Hezbollah_in_Lebanon_90601
    June 1 2009

    Last month's announcement by the Armenian Tashnaq party in Lebanon
    of its intention to support Hezbollah in the upcoming parliamentary
    elections could provide the crucial votes needed for Hezbollah's
    coalition to inch ahead of the current pro-Western majority. Nearly
    160,000-strong, the Armenian voting bloc is the largest and best
    organized of the Lebanese Christian communities.

    Accused by their opponents of siding with the opposition in order
    to protect large Armenian communities in both Iran and Syria, the
    chairman of the Lebanese branch of Tashnaq, Hovig Mekhitarian, disputed
    all such claims. "We want candidates who represent our community,"
    Mekhitarian said. "We are not with the opposition, and not with the
    majority." He further emphasized that their decision was not based
    on ideology, but rather served a purely local purpose.

    With a deep history of political neutrality, the Armenians, much
    like other minority ethnic groups, have put their own communitiy's
    interests above those of the Lebanese state's as a whole. The Hezbollah
    coalition offered them complete control over all Armenian-dominated
    districts. The pro-Western majority leader, Saad Hariri, attempted
    to court Tashnaq leaders, but ultimately proved unsuccessful because
    he did not offer enough. "He was really only offering one seat, and
    he wanted our support in 15 other seats," Mekhitarian said. Those
    who negotiated on behalf of Hariri painted a slightly different
    picture. They held that the majority leadership had given into all of
    the Tashnaq's demands for parliamentary seats, but in return wanted
    Armenian support before and after the elections. Conscious of their
    neutrality and unwilling to appear too close to any single political
    group, the Armenians refused the offer.
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