Stepan Zorian in the context of Simon Zavarian

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Armenian: Հայ Յեղափոխական Դաշնակցութիւն, romanized: Hay Heghapokhakan Dashnaktsutyun, abbr. ARF (ՀՅԴ) or ARF-D), also known as Dashnaktsutyun (Armenian: Դաշնակցություն, lit. "Federation"), is an Armenian nationalist and socialist political party founded in 1890 in Tiflis, Russian Empire by Christapor Mikaelian, Stepan Zorian, and Simon Zavarian. As of 2023, the party operates in Armenia, Lebanon, Iran and in countries where the Armenian diaspora is present. The party was also active in Artsakh until the Azerbaijani offensive in September 2023. Although it has long been the most influential political party in the Armenian diaspora, it has a comparatively smaller proportional presence in the Republic of Armenia. As of October 2023, the party was represented in two national parliaments, with ten seats in the National Assembly of Armenia and three seats in the Parliament of Lebanon as part of the March 8 Alliance.

The ARF has traditionally advocated socialist democracy and has been a full member of the Socialist International since 2003; it joined the Second International in 1907. It has the largest membership of the political parties present in the Armenian diaspora, having established affiliates in more than 20 countries. Compared to other diasporan Armenian parties which tend to primarily focus on educational or humanitarian projects, the ARF is the most politically oriented of the organizations and traditionally has been one of the staunchest supporters of Armenian nationalism. The party campaigns for the recognition of the Armenian genocide and the right to reparations. It also advocates the establishment of United Armenia, partially based on the Treaty of Sèvres of 1920.

Christapor Mikaelian (Armenian: Քրիստափոր Միքայէլեան, romanized: Kristapor Mikayelian; 18 October 1859 – 17 March 1905) was an Armenian revolutionary who played a leading role in the Armenian national liberation movement.

Born in Nakhichevan, he became a teacher and worked to educate migrant workers from Western Armenia. During the mid-1880s, after the Russian Empire decreed the closure of parochial schools in Armenia, he became involved in revolutionary activism. He moved to Moscow and joined Narodnaya Volya, through which he met Stepan Zorian and Simon Zavarian, and which informed his conversion to revolutionary socialism and Bakuninism. Upon returning to the Caucasus, he established the revolutionary organization Young Armenia and began organizing violent actions against the Ottoman Empire. Together with Zorian and Zavarian, Mikaelian established the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), in which he became a leading figure.