A Single Motherland Two Independent Republics

A SINGLE MOTHERLAND TWO INDEPENDENT REPUBLICS
Lilit Poghosyan

Hayots Ashkhar
11 Sept 2007

Yesterday on the occasion of the launch of the second sitting of 4th
congress parliament NA Speaker Tigran Torosyan convened a conference
to introduce the main colors of the mosaic of the discussions and to
answer the questions of the journalists.

According to the speaker the agenda of the current sitting will mainly
include issues related to the economic development of the country,
legislative initiatives adopted by the previous National Assembly by
the first or second reading and reports. The report on the fulfillment
of 2006 budget was discussed yesterday.

Responsible representatives from the Central Bank and other structures
will also appear with similar reports in the near future.

The previous National Assembly overlooked their reports during May
hustle and bustle. Later the parliament will start discussing program
related documents, including the discussion of 2008 state budget.

Besides that there will be appointments of certain pivotal
positions. The first one is the appointment of the Prosecutor General,
whose candidacy, according to the amended Constitution is confirmed
by the parliament, by the proposal of the President. This issue
will be discussed by the parliament either today or tomorrow, as the
President has already appealed to the National Assembly to reaffirm
Aghvan Hovsepyan in the position of the Prosecutor General.

In future nominations will start in the council of justice, NA
representatives in TV and Radio national committees, and Head of
Supervisory Palace – issues bound for the parliament after July 7
and must come to an end in six months time.

Thus, according to T. Torosyan soon the Prosecutor General will appear
in the National Assembly and respond to the questions of the MPs,
give clarifications regarding the most recent sensational cases,
for example regarding the motives of changing the precautionary
measures of ex-Foreign Minister Alexander Arzumanyan. Yesterday the
journalists were trying to get the answers to these questions from
the Speaker of the National Assembly.

What is the attitude of NA Speaker to the announcement made by the
Head of ARF fraction Hrayr Karapetyan, according to which in case
the process of Minsk Group enters a deadlock Dashnaktsutyun will
come out not in favor of NKR recognition, but from the position of
the reunification of Armenia and Karabakh. " I respect the stance
of Dashnaktsutyun and all the other parties. But one thing is clear
for me – the only way to guarantee NKR legal independence is its
recognition by international community.

Especially, in case of exercising the right to self-determination, all
the legal, historical, and political bases exist for the recognition
of NKR independence. Of course there are serious difficulties in
the world and particularly in Europe connected with the fulfillment
of those rights, but we must try to overcome these difficulties,"
Tigran Torosyan underscored. Moreover, he said, " It is the only right
version, close to the reality. The opposite one is fraught with serious
consequences." The speaker also reminded us about the famous clause
of PACE 1416 resolution, according to which any territory can become
independent, by the democratic support that is to say referendum of the
population of that territory. Whereas," the continuation of the clause
underscores that in case of unification it will be considered as an
aggression of a COE member-country towards another member-country. We
don’t have the right to overlook the norms of international law. Yes we
are a single nation, with a single motherland and a single goal. But
we must have two independent republics to achieve that goal. This is
the truth," speaker of the National Assembly states.

The speaker also said, three of the delegations representing Armenia,
in the international arenas (PACE, OSCE PA and the staff of delegates
of the inter-parliamentary union) is not replenished and will be
completed immediately after the current four-day session. T.

Torosyan, ex officio, leads the delegation of CIS parliamentary summit,
because it is the demand of the tradition that is why," Armenia should
try to stand out by its productive proposals and not other things."

The journalists also inquired about the issues discussed during the
morning session of the Republican fraction and whether Serge Sargsyan
participated in those discussions. " The presence of the Prime Minister
in the session of the fraction is quite natural, I think. As you know
the Prime Minister is also the acting party leader and it is natural
that he should have participated in the regular session before the
four-day sitting? It has always been like that and there is nothing
strange in it. We have discussed general approaches and principles
regarding the activity of our fraction in the parliament.

We haven’t discussed any special draft law or issue."