Armenian NA holding hearing on opposition-submitted draft statement

ArmInfo.The Armenian Parliament is holding hearings on the draft statement of the National Assembly "On the relevance of the indefinite nature of the Declaration of Independence of Armenia" convened by the opposition  parliamentary faction "Hayastan".

Opening the hearings, Secretary of the opposition faction Seyran  Ohanyan noted that the topic of today's discussions is especially  relevant in the context of geopolitical processes, the development of  the situation in the region and the current security atmosphere  around Armenia. "The security atmosphere around Armenia is very  fragile, external and internal threats are constantly increasing. And  most importantly, internal and external threats often act in harmony.  That is, I mean that under external pressure, decisions are made  within the country that infringe on and push national values into the  background," Ohanyan noted.

At the same time, he pointed out the exceptional role of the  Declaration of Independence of Armenia in the formation of Armenian  statehood, the recording of the goals of the Armenian people and the  establishment of power. In this vein, he drew attention to the fact  that in recent times, certain circles have been attempting to find  contradictions between the Declaration of Independence and the  Constitution of Armenia. "That is why we have convened these hearings  today," Ohanyan explained.

The main speaker was the deputy of the Hayastan faction,  Dashnaktsakan Gegham Manukyan, who at the beginning of his speech  drew attention to the fact that the Declaration of Independence of  Armenia was in itself a historical, unprecedented phenomenon in the  Soviet reality, since the Republic of Armenia from the first minute  of its independence recorded it in documents.

"The Declaration of Independence is not only a decision of the  Supreme Council. The Declaration was adopted following nationwide  discussions and reflected all the hopes and dreams of our people and  the new realities from Artsakh to the Diaspora and the international  recognition of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire and  democratic values," the Dashnaktsakan recalled.

At the same time, he emphasized that the Declaration of Independence  of Armenia has never been a subject of doubt and often played the  role of a shield for the protection of Armenian statehood.  As  evidence of his words, he cited the Zurich Protocols of 2010 on the  normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations. According to him, it was  thanks to the provisions of the Declaration of Independence that the  protection of the statehood of Armenia was ensured by the  Constitutional Court.

In this vein, Manukyan drew attention to the fact that the  Declaration of Independence is inviolable and cannot be changed,  unlike the Constitution, the provisions of which can be edited and  changed. The Dashnaktsakan also drew attention to the fact that the  attacks on the Declaration of Independence of Armenia began during  the Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiation process. 

According to him, as soon as they became familiar with the text of  the so-called peace process, they began to sound the alarm that  Azerbaijan had claims on the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia  and its preamble - the Declaration of Independence. "Later,  Azerbaijan began to speak openly about this, and the Armenian  authorities tried to evade this issue, stating that the Republic of  Armenia needs a new Constitution. 

But, from the very first minutes, the domestic political agenda was  dominated by theses that, under the pretext of changing the country's  Constitution, the Armenian authorities would try to remove references  to the Declaration of Independence from the preamble of the main law  of the country," he noted, adding that the Armenian authorities  presented various excuses, but in the end, this issue reached the  Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia through the  regulation on the delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

Manukyan drew attention to the fact that the Constitutional Court  went beyond its powers by attempting to assess some points of the  country's Declaration of Independence, although it simply does not  have such powers.

"Neither the Constitutional Court nor even a national referendum can  cancel, edit, consign to oblivion or change even one letter of the  Declaration of Independence of Armenia adopted in August 1990. But,  in fairness, it must be acknowledged that the Constitutional Court,  without such powers, nevertheless had the courage to attack the  Declaration of Independence," the MP noted.

Manukyan also drew attention to the fact that the Constitutional  Court's decision of September 26 contains almost the same wording  that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan used during his speech  in parliament on August 23, 2024 regarding the Declaration of  Independence. "This proves that the Constitutional Court was carrying  out a political order, and did not make a decision based on the  country's Constitution," he noted, adding that this was obvious back  in 2018, the year Pashinyan attacked the Constitutional Court. 

In conclusion, he noted that the Armenian authorities are fulfilling  all of Azerbaijan's demands and that the Armenian authorities needed  this decision of the Constitutional Court to present to Baku as  evidence of the fulfillment of the requirement to change the content  of the country's Constitution.