NO ALTERNATIVE TO THE PRESENT NATIONAL ANTHEM
By Karine Mangassarian

Yerkir.am
September 01, 2006

"A necessity to change the national anthem can occur only when a new
situation emerges in a given country, when the country enters a new
period in its history. Today’s hurry around the national anthem is
artificial and offensive," Vazgen Manukian states.

The constitutional amendments stated the necessity to have a law on the
national anthem. However, this constitutional provision is interpreted
by some people as a constitutional requirement to change the national
anthem. Manukian believes the reason for such a hurry is among other
things the wording of the respective constitutional provision. "I
think that if they want to change the anthem they should first of all
think – is there a better alternative? You need time for this. Today
is definitely not the right time for this," Manukian stated.

Chairman of National Revival Party, National Assembly Deputy Albert
Bazeyan shares the opinion that the hurry of the inter-agency committee
is not justified since there is no public demand for changing the
anthem today.

National Assembly Deputy Shavarsh Kocharian believes the anthem
could be changed only if a better alternative is found. Chairman of
the Christian Democratic Party of Armenia Khosrov Harutyunian notes
changing the national anthem was included into his party’s platform
during the elections in 2003.

"The issue of changing the anthem should not be turned into a source
of political hassle. It should not be turned into an initiative of
individual poets or composers. They are trying to change the anthem
in an arbitrary manner.

This is not acceptable and we should do our best to stop this
initiative," Harutyunian stated adding that more attention should
be paid to public opinion and people’s mood. Meanwhile, since in the
present pre-election period political disturbances are occurring the
issue can be easily manipulated for political purposes.

Chairman of the National Determination Party Paruyr Hayrikian believes
the intention to change the present anthem is not serious. "The
constitution stipulates the necessity for adopting a law on the anthem
and not the necessity to change the anthem. I have participated in the
process of constitutional amendments and I can assure that there is
no public demand for changing the anthem today. Several people want to
use this opportunity to please the Russians once again. Since Russian
President Vladimir Putin restored the anthem of the Soviet Union,
there people also want to do the same," Hayrikian stated.

There might come the right time for changing the present anthem,
but today is not the right time for this. Our national anthem has
passed a long way; we have had our victories with this anthem; we
formed our First Republic with this anthem. Answering the question how
this initiative can be countered Hayrikian noted that serious public
discussions should be launched and further consistency should be
exerted during the hearings of the draft law in the National Assembly.

Today we can already see which political forces support the present
anthem and which forces want to change it. We do not know how this
issue will be settled. We will see this once the draft law on the
anthem enters the National Assembly’s agenda. No matter how this issue
will be settled, one thing is important – when we hear the national
anthem we should not only be impressed by its beautiful lyrics but we
should feel like looking back at our history and our victories. The
anthem should inspire us to live and work in our Homeland.