In general, as a state, Armenia has always dealt with the issues related to the Constitution with precaution, starting from the stage of formation of the state and leading up to our days. This is what leader of the Union for National Self-Determination Paruyr Hayrikyan told reporters today.

“Even the regimes that the Union for National Self-Determination had initially viewed as undemocratic took extreme actions. For instance, it took four years to adopt a Constitution, which the Union had been raising as a major issue since the adoption of the Declaration of Independence of Armenia. Although we undertook the next constitutional reforms in 1998, the referendum was held in two stages, and of course, it was not held the way I would have liked for it to be held,” he said.

According to Hayrikyan, at the time, the Union had envisaged that certain constitutional provisions could be amended through the parliament, that is, there wouldn’t be a need to hold a referendum.

“For instance, during the years of administration of the Republicans, the bill to be put to a referendum had already been adopted and included a statement on the acquisition of citizenship of people of Armenian descent. I had a talk with the parliamentary speaker of the time and said there can’t be ‘people of Armenian descent’ in the Constitution. Discussions on this issue lasted for months, and in the end, the issue remained unsolved. Even the parliament didn’t consider discussion on the issue appropriate since it concerned the Constitution. Basically, the Constitution is the foundation of all other laws, and a careless attitude towards the Constitution is not only incomprehensible, but also even dangerous,” he said.