It turns out that neither the Armenian authorities nor European organizations are the ones taking the initiative for organizing the constitutional amendments. Instead, the National Autonomous Union is the one responsible. Leader of the National Autonomous Union Paruyr Hayrikyan discussed that during a press conference yesterday. It is no surprise to know that the NAU is going to say “yes” to the constitutional amendments. However, during the conference held yesterday, Paruyr Hayrikyan only talked about the negative sides of the amendments. Those negative sides have even become the center of attention of the European court of Human Rights. According to Hayrikyan, this is due to the fact that these amendments violate Human Rights and the European convention on freedom. But of course, minor details like this can not neutralize the large advancement seen in the proposed plan. Hayrikyan believes that the process of amending the constitution is eternal and he presented some clauses yesterday. Those clauses are being prepared to be included in the next constitutional amendment packet, but he did not clarify as to why those clauses had not been added to the constitutional amendments. We asked the question of whether or not the NAU was going to take part in the referendum propaganda. “We will take part with the total right to take the initiative and grasp it in our hands,” said Hayrikyan and he stated that he was ready to lead the campaign in favor of saying “yes” to the constitution and transfer his “huge and one of a kind” experience to Mher Shahgeldyan. The NAU plans on signing its name next to the 22 political parties. Why are they going so slow? “It is the rule of life. The father must wait, be patient and check to make sure that his children have understood what he means, how they apply that and then say what he has to say,” said Hayrikyan in a fatherly tone. Hayrikyan “modestly” emphasized that there was no one better than him to lead the “yes” propaganda. He does not accept the accusations claiming that he is cooperating with the authorities in the “yes” propaganda. “They are the ones cooperating with us,” said oppositionist Hayrikyan. “There are some oppositionists who claim that we must have a parliamentary republic. That is just absurd from the state perspective,” concluded P. Hayrikyan as he commented on Shavarsh Kocharyan’s statement.
