THOUSANDS PROTEST PROTOCOLS, URGE COURT TO REJECT DOCUMENTS

Asbarez
Jan 11th, 2010

YEREVAN-Thousands marched Monday to Armenia’s Constitutional Court
during a demonstration organized by the Armenian Revolutionary
Federation, urging the high court to invalidate the documents.

The Constitutional Court is scheduled to begin hearings on the
Armenia-Turkey protocols to rule whether they conform with the
Armenian Constitution, before they are submitted to the National
Assembly for ratification.

The key contentions are the preconditions inherent within the
documents, the approval of which will only benefit Turkey and severely
curtail Armenia’s ability to push forward a national agenda based on
national interests.

The ARF contends that the protocols, in their current format,
would hinder the process of garnering international recognition of
the Armenian Genocide, force Armenia into recognizing the current
Armenia-Turkey borders and bind the resolution of the Karabakh conflict
with the normalization process.

The demonstrators, bearing torches and the signs reading "No to the
Protocols" marched to the Constitutional Court building, where they
submitted a nine-page letter delineating their demands from the court.

Among the speakers were Chairman of the ARF Supreme Council of Armeina,
Armen Rustamian, member of the ARF parliamentary bloc Hrair Karapetian,
Armenian Deomcratic League (Ramkavar-Azatakan Party of Armenia)
representative Harutyun Arakelyan and Chairman of the New Times Party
Aram Karapetyan. The leaders of the Heritage Party attended the rally
as well.

Rustamian explained that the main objective of the demonstration and
the petition is to provide a way out of the protocols, saying that
the Constitutional Court had the right to express its objections to
the protocols.

He said that must recognize that the protocols, in their current
state, veer from main points of the Armenian Constitution. He added,
that if the Court did not heed the demonstrators’ call, then it will
be up to the parliament to reject the protocols.

Chairman of the ARF’s parliamentary bloc and a Bureau member Vahan
Hovanessian met with Constitutional Court Chairman Gagik Harutunian
late last month to discuss the hearings and present the party’s
concern.