EXCEPTIONAL OPPORTUNITY TO RESTORE JUSTICE
By Karine Mangassarian

Yerkir.am
February 09, 2007

Some political leaders in the parliament express their opinions and
approaches based exclusively on pre-electoral considerations.

Yesterday, the draft law on amending the Law on Citizenship was
presented in the parliament and again, "pre-election" considerations
dominated the discussion of the draft.

The political forces’ opinions and approaches to any issues discussed
in the National Assembly are derived from pre-electoral moods. During
the discussion of the draft law on amending the Law on Citizenship,
some political forces that always talk about the authorities’
"intention" to rig the upcoming elections, claimed that if elections
are not free and fair this will have a negative impact on people
wanting to get Armenian citizenship. And these are political forces
that used to stress the importance of uniting Armenians and preserving
the Armenian identity at Armenia-Diaspora forums or other pan-Armenian
events.

Secretary of ARF’s parliamentary faction Gegham Manukian presented
the position of the National Assembly Standing Committee on State
and Legal Affairs on the right to vote and be elected. Manukian noted
that those opposing the draft claim that dual citizenship will create
opportunities to change the balance of forces for some political
forces, will have an impact on the electoral processes and ensure
some votes for the this or that political force.

This is completely illogical, Manukian believes. He stated that the
proposed amendments to the Electoral Code clearly stipulate that the
elections will be held only on the territory of Armenia. Therefore,
the claims that there will be a possibility for rigging the results
of elections held at Armenian embassies in different countries are
not grounded.

At the same time, the opinion that dual citizenship might threaten our
national security is not logical either since the proposed amendments
dealing with army conscription ensure that Armenian citizens should
have such obligations vis-a-vis the state no threats to national
security will be possible.

Manukian reminded that ARF has organized a number of discussions and
prepared a concept paper. The proposed amendments that are based on
this concept paper are fully in line with the European Convention
on Citizenship.

"This package of amendments is addressed at all those children of the
Armenian nation who are forced to live outside the country: with this
law, the state declares that it takes patronage over the nation. The
proposed amendments first of all satisfy the requirements of the
Armenian Constitution, secondly, these amendments restore justice
eliminating any possibility for discrimination against Armenian
citizens," Manukian concluded.

Member of the ARF Bureau, Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly
Vahan Hovhannissian commented on some concerns raised by deputies
stating that those who oppose the draft have not read it fully. He
noted that it is absurd to claim that with adoption of dual citizenship
representatives of the traditional or new Diaspora who become citizens
of Armenia will have a significant impact on the electoral processes
in Armenia.

Elementary calculations can show how absurd such claims are: any
political forces or candidates that want to rely on such support
from the Diaspora would have to spend enormous money to bring such
citizens from the Diaspora to Armenia to vote.

"I believe this concern is artificial. Equally artificial is the
concern that whatever is done today is done with the sole purpose of
ensuring some votes during the parliamentary elections," Hovhannissian
said.

He noted there is no reason to be afraid that the law might have some
implications in terms of national security because some suspicious
elements might penetrate the army. "Aren’t there any problems in this
sphere today? Is everything perfect now? This is funny, let us not
link this to the issue of dual citizenship. Some serious proposals
were made which we should take into consideration.

There is a need for discussions but I think that it is necessary to
adopt the law in the first reading because of moral and political
considerations.

Some issues connected with taxation were raised which are
important. But these issues are not addressed by this law. And it
is not correct to link taxation issues to this draft because then it
would look like trade," Hovhannissian noted.

Head of ARF’s parliamentary faction Hrayr Karapetian noted that the
current parliament has the mission to restore the justice for the
Armenian nation.

Commenting on the suggestion to wait with the adoption of the law
till the parliamentary elections, Karapetian said, "It is not only
urgent to adopt the law, we are already late with adopting it.

The 1995 Constitution isolated some segments of the Armenian
nation, and any one of us could be among those isolated. It is very
strange to say that the law will add some votes to some political
parties. During the Soviet period, the ARF tried to work to preserve
the Armenian identity, to pursue the Hay Dat, to preserve the Armenian
communities. However, this does not mean that this mission exclusively
belongs to the ARF.

This is the mission of any Armenian political force that can take
the responsibility for pursuing it. Every one of us should try to
adopt this law because it derives from the Constitution," Karapetian
said. He stressed that the parliament should stay away from any party
interests because no party interests can dominate over national unity
and national interest.

"If we speak about threats that might arise for the army we should
remember that Monte, Vigen Zaqarian and others who fought and died
in Artsakh never thought that tomorrow they can become citizens
of Armenia.

When Kirk Kirkorian, Charles Aznavur and other do whatever they can
for Armenia, they do not think about citizenship. This is a moral
issue for us, and we have to solve it," Karapetian said presenting
the faction’s position on the draft.

Chairman of the National Assembly Tigran Torossian stated it is not
morally correct to link discussion of laws to party considerations
and interests.

"This is not fair towards the ARF. Neither is it fair towards the
Diaspora, or our constitution, or our nation. We draft laws for our
state. Of course, there are some manipulations of some issues but
this is the case when there should be no manipulations especially
that on the one hand we speak about national unity and then start
dividing the nation.

We have a problem: different segments of our nation appear to have
different statuses. We have to discuss this situation without attacking
our colleagues in different parties and try to arrive at a solution,"
Torossian stated noting that eliminating the ban on dual citizenship
from the Constitution was a correct measure, as it is correct to
discuss the law today.

The National Assembly’s next session will show to what extent our
deputies will follow the National Assembly Chairman’s advice and what
position they will take on this issue.