New Armenian Constitution Will Not Refer to Declaration of Independence, Julhakyan Says

YEREVAN — Armenia’s new Constitution will not contain a reference to the Declaration of Independence, Civil Contract MP Arusyak Julhakyan said on August 11 during a session of the National Assembly.

Julhakyan, who has been nominated to chair the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs, made the remarks in response to a question from opposition MP Anna Grigoryan.

“Has the reference to the Declaration of Independence been removed from the text of the Constitution? No. Nothing has been removed from the text of the Constitution because we have written a new Constitution,” Julhakyan said.

“We did not take the existing Constitution and delete or add certain provisions. We started with a blank sheet of paper and began drafting the text of a new Constitution,” she continued.

Asked whether the preamble expected to be included in the draft would contain a reference to the Declaration of Independence, Julhakyan replied that it would not.

“No, and it should not contain such a reference. Aliyev has nothing to do with this, regardless of how much you talk about it or try to exploit the issue,” she said.

Grigoryan said the opposition does not intend to vote in favor of the new Constitution and asked whether the ruling Civil Contract party could nevertheless put the document to a referendum.

Julhakyan responded: “That is something we would have to discuss. If the people want to have a new Constitution, can members of parliament oppose that? However, this is a theoretical question, not something we are pursuing as an objective.”