The Constitution of the Republic of Armenia separated the Republic of Armenia from other countries with three value elements. Lawyer Aram Orbelyan said this during the panel discussion on “Unconstitutional reality on the eve of the Constitution Day.”
He mentioned that the Constitution directly provided for the reunification of Armenia and Artsakh as a goal, the other one referred to the consistency of the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, the third thing that distinguishes Armenia from many different countries is the unique role of the Armenian Apostolic Church. According to him, when we talk about changing the territories of Armenia, this question is clearly and directly given to the people as the primary bearer of power by the Constitution.
“But we see a situation where there are many questions. Where the state bodies have authority, they do not exercise it, throw the responsibility from themselves, and decide on that fundamental issue, where they do not have the authority. In other words, the person holding the position of Prime Minister does not have the authority to decide the issue of the territories of Armenia independently, but he says, “Well, I don’t want to put the political responsibility on others; I will decide on my own.”
If we protect our Constitution as we should, i.e., protect the values, do not allow its violations, react to them, and do not tolerate the processes formed due to them. In other words, we must understand that any violation of the Constitution removes another stone from the wall of Armenian statehood.
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We should better understand what the Constitution regulates and stop exclusively criticizing that this Constitution is not for Armenia,” said Orbelyan.
According to the lawyer, the “Hayakve” initiative provides an opportunity to pursue the tools provided by the Constitution. “To protect the two values of the Constitution, we must send a clear message that the recognition of the Armenian Genocide cannot be refused; the people are against this. Secondly, a clear message should be sent in the matter of giving up Artsakh, that the people did not give such a mandate,” he added.
According to him, the Constitution says that 50,000 citizens can submit a draft law through a particular process, which the National Assembly must discuss. If the National Assembly does not vote, there is a chance to collect another 300,000 signatures; after that, the issue is put to a referendum. After confirming the issue through a referendum, that law can be changed exclusively through a referendum. He reminded us that the project of adding two articles to the Criminal Code had become a subject of discussion. Accordingly, recognizing Artsakh as part of any other state on behalf of Armenia will be considered a crime. And the second article refers to criminalizing denial of the Armenian Genocide.
Roza HOVHANNISYAN
