ACCORDING TO PARUYR HAYRIKIAN, NSU’S PROPOSAL IS THE ONLY PRACTICAL
ONE WITH RESPECT TO CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS
YEREVAN, December 3 (Noyan Tapan). One of the serious political steps
taken recently by the “National Self-Determination” Union (NSU) is the
initiative to establish cooperation with other parties with respect to
the constitutional reforms. The NSU chairman Paruyr Hayrikian stated
this at the December 4 session of the party board. He believes that
the only practical proposal is the one put forward by the NSU: to
reject the constitutional reforms package and suggest putting into
circulation only an abridged version of its last article.
Hayrikian proposes to hold a referendum on this issue so that the
constitutional amendments will be made through the parliament with the
previous consent of the RA President and the Constitutional
Court. According to the NSU chairman, instead of cooperating on this
issue some parties linger considering this to be “a game by Robert
Kocharian.” However, he stated that this is “the NSU’s game” and
announced that discussion on this issue with other parties will be
held on December 10. According to Paruyr Hayrikian, a movement, which
was established on the initiative of the National Press Club and
called “the Democratic Armenia” movement in the document at the
suggestion of the NSU, will get their support. Yet there is no
signature of the NSU among signatures of those who signed the
document, which, in the opinion of Hayeikian, is the reason why “they
are not progressing.” The NSU leader considered as long-term the
agreement on setting up a social consultative system for Armenia’s
foreign policy, which was signed by the National Democratic Union’s
chairman Vazgen Manukian, the Armenian Socialist Forces and
Intellectuals Union’s political secretary Ashot Manucharian and
himself. The agreement envisages setting up two councils in the
future: the foreign policy experts council and the political leaders
council.
Analyzing the political situation in Ukraine and stating that “the
Russian imperialism” relies on criminal elements of various countries,
Hayrikian congratulated everybody on the victory of democracy in
Ukraine. During the session the issue of the NSU’s central office was
also discussed. Only 120 thousand dollars out of the needed amount of
500 thousand dollars has been raised so far.