FOUNDING PARLIAMENT’S “DECLARATION”: EMBATTLED GROUP SEEKS TO ESTABLISH “NEW STATE”

POLITICS | 14.04.15 | 10:54

By GAYANE MKRTCHYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter

With a week’s delay caused by arrests of its leading members, Armenia’s
radical opposition group, Founding Parliament, has published its
declaration on “Forming and Developing the Armenian State”, stressing
that the main goals of the 1990 Independence Declaration and the 1995
Constitution of the Republic of Armenia have not been fulfilled.

Five members of the group, including its chairman Garegin Chukaszyan
and leading member Jirair Sefilian, were arrested on April 7 and
were later charged with attempting to organize mass disturbances at
an April 24 rally. All were taken into two-month custody pending trial.

Another Founding Parliament activist was charged with keeping arms
and ammunition, but was released on bail pending trial.

Hayk Grigoryan, deputy chairman of the Founding Parliament, says
despite the developments they are determined to initiate a process
aimed at “removing the anti-national regime”.

Alek Yenigomshyan, the temporary coordinator of the group, adds
that they have a program for the transitional stage after “removing
the regime”. In particular, he says, they plan to submit a draft
Constitution to be approved in a referendum, after which, if they get
sufficient votes, they will undertake to implement preterm nationwide
and local elections.

“And if not, then the elections will be held under the current
Constitution. The citizens who sign contracts with us commit themselves
to accepting the ideas of the Founding Parliament, while the Founding
Parliament assumes the obligation to building a State of a new
quality,” Yenigomshyan says.

The Founding Parliament’s temporary coordinator says they are not
“Utopists”, but they believe in the idea of solidarity. He gives
assurances that the arrests of Sefilian and other leaders of the
movement have not thwarted the group’s plans and that the struggle
will continue.

The Founding Parliament’s rallies held in provinces so far have failed
to attract any significant number of supporters. Even fewer people
appear to support the radical opposition group’s plans for launching
a non-government push specifically on April 24 – the day when public
events attended by high-level foreign delegations are due to be held
in Yerevan to mark the centenary of the Armenian Genocide. Only two
of the parliamentary opposition parties, namely the Armenian National
Congress and Heritage, publicly condemned the arrests of the Founding
Parliament activists last week.

The group’s Yenigomshyan says that they have no expectations of
cooperation with anyone, as, he emphasizes, they are “going to create
a new State”, nor are they preparing for the next general elections
“as the Founding Parliament’s philosophy is to find a system solution
outside the current system.”

The Founding Parliament says it plans to hold a march and a rally in
Yerevan’s Liberty Square on April 17, which has been approved by the
city authorities. The group also reminds that its plans for holding
a rally near the Erebuni Museum on the outskirts of Yerevan on April
24 have also been approved by the Municipality.