DeFacto Agency, Armenia
May 29 2006
ADOPTION OF CONSTITUTION IS ANOTHER STEP TOWARDS DEVELOPMENT
Interview with NKR Attorney General Armen Zalinian, the head of the
Task Force on NKR Constitution.
AA: “Mr. Zalinian, you have been working on the NKR Constitution bill
for over a year. In what stage are you now?” Armen Zalinian:
“Generally, the process of working out and adopting a constitution
defies hastiness. Every point requires a thorough consideration,
meaningful and tried approaches and tools. We are guided by these
principles, and considerable work has been done so far. The concept
of the NKR Constitution has been published, and currently the
constitutional committee is discussing the first two chapters, namely
the provisions on constitutional order and the basic human and civil
rights, freedoms and duties. It means that soon we are going to have
the main law of our country.” AA: “What are the basic tenets of the
NKR Constitution?” Armen Zalinian: “Those are reflected in the
concept. As a constitution of a sovereign, democratic, legal, social
state, in the NKR Constitution the right for self-determination
fulfilled by the people of Artsakh, promotion of democracy, rule of
law, human rights and freedoms, promotion of local governance,
establishment of a civil society will be set down. These are the main
components, upholding law and lawfulness between the society and the
state. The key idea of the Constitution is the following scheme: rule
of right through the law.” AA: “In the long run, how will Nagorno
Karabakh benefit from the adoption of the Constitution? After all,
the country has existed without a constitution for 15 years.” Armen
Zalinian: “A country’s constitution is the determinant and the result
of a people’s historical evolution. A constitution imbibes the spirit
of a people, its legal thought and heritage, established in the
course of centuries, the system of values, which guide the
aspirations of these people. The fact that Karabakh lived without a
constitution for years on is ordinary from the standpoint that a
newly established country is unable to adopt a constitution in a
short period of time. It is necessary to have experience in state
building and a choice of guidelines. Besides, the people of NKR were
forced into a war and then had to overcome the hardships of this war
in the legal, social and economic, spiritual and cultural and, why
not, home political spheres. Over the past 15 years a tangible
experience in state building has been accumulated, which is a
sufficient ground for having our own constitution.” AA: “Is the NKR
Constitution going to be a copy of the Constitution of the Republic
of Armenian in terms of contents and form?” Armen Zalinian: “The NKR
Constitution will be a constitution of a sovereign, democratic,
legal, social state with semi-presidential governance. It will be
consistent with the tendencies and demands of development of
constitutionalism in the world. And the reality determined by the
necessity of strengthening our independent statehood will certainly
be taken into consideration. The necessary tools have been worked
out. In this context, the constitutional experience of the Republic
of Armenia, the logic and philosophy of the constitutional reform are
very important. Several provisions introduced in the renewed
Constitution of Armenia will be used in our Constitution. The
constitutional experience of other countries is also taken into
consideration. In other words, we pick up everything that is
positive, everything that proved successful.” AA: “What will be the
procedure of adopting the Constitution?” Armen Zalinian: “Naturally,
a referendum. I believe that our people will vote to the referendum
on the Constitution, because the adoption of the Constitution will be
another important step towards the establishment and strengthening of
our republic.”
SVETLANA KHACHATRIAN.