Dashnaktsutyun (“federation” in Armenian) is an Armenian political party that emerged in the summer of 1890 in Tiflis as a result of the unification of several Armenian revolutionary groups. Its original name was the Federation of Armenian Revolutionaries. At the First Congress in 1892, it was renamed the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaktsutyun. Most of the party organizations operated on the territory of the Russian Empire (Transcaucasia), while others were located in Turkey, Persia, the United States, and a number of European countries. The main goal of the party was declared to be “the creation of an autonomous and ideally an independent Armenian state on the territory of Western (Turkish) Armenia with the help of armed force” (the eastern part of Turkey was mainly inhabited by the Armenian population until the mid-1910s – early 1920s).

In 1903, the authorities of the Russian Empire issued a decree on the seizure of property from the Armenian church. After that, the Third Congress of Dashnaktsutyun (1904) decided to launch active actions in Eastern Armenia as well. During the First Russian Revolution of 1905–1907, the party adopted the “Caucasian Project” program (or the “Project of Caucasian Activity”), which provided for an armed struggle against autocracy to create a Transcaucasian democratic republic as part of the future Russian Federation. In 1907, a new program was adopted, according to which Dashnaktsutyun was proclaimed “the party of the Armenian working class”. In the Russian Empire, the Dashnaks were constantly subjected to repression by the authorities. In 1911, about 160 people were accused of belonging to the party and of committing terrorist acts. One of the defenders at the trial was Aleksander Kerensky.