There is no piece of paper that can be substituted for a passport. Open one door and there are ten others that remain closed. There’s no one drink, regardless of its flavor or scent, no matter how cold, that can cool one’s thirsty soul like water can. Then too you can’t take a bath and cleanse yourself with Pepsi, yogurt, fruit drinks, beer or lemonade. 

The proposal to pass legislation regarding the opposition, which hopefully won’t get lost while making the rounds in the public labyrinth, is nothing other but a piece of paper to substitute for a passport or the yogurt and fruit drink in place of water.

It doesn’t take much effort to expose the absurdity in the law regarding the opposition. If you have access to the Internet you can enter the www.parliament.am website where the text of the Armenian Constitution is available. Chapter 2, Article 28, of this document plainly states,  “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of association with others, including the right to form and to join trade unions.” Article 29, which immediately follows, declares, “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of peaceful and unarmed assembly. Article 30 talks about the right of citizens to participate in elections.

It becomes clear after reviewing these three articles of the Constitution that every citizen can become a member of whatever party or union they choose, express their will through peaceful rallies and elect representatives whose political affiliation, whether pro-government or opposition, will be clarified after the election results are lawfully tallied, without interference. If we also add to this Chapter One, Article 7 of the Constitution it becomes clear that the law regarding the opposition is more akin to an act allowing for the creation of a museum in which the opposition is to be kept in storage. Article 7 states, “The ideological pluralism and multiparty system are recognized in the Republic of Armenia. Parties are formed freely and promote the formulation and expression of the political will of the people. Their activities may not contravene the Constitution and the laws, nor may their practice contravene the principles of democracy.

What is the overriding principle of democracy? Of course it free elections. And of course there is nothing simpler than exercising free elections if Article 27 of the Constitution’s Second Chapter applies which guarantees the freedom of news and other information outlets. “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression including freedom to search for, receive and impart information and ideas by any means of information regardless of the state frontiers...”

If you have the opportunity to see and hear the opinion (not only during the election campaign but year round) of political parties and political forces operating under the protection of Chapter One, Article 7, of the Constitution and are able to compare their viewpoints and programs then any talk about implementing Chapter One, Article 2 of the Constitution is turned into a game of sorts, “The people exercise their power through free elections, referenda, as well as through state and local self-governing bodies and public officials as provided by the Constitution. The usurpation of power by any organization or individual constitutes a crime.”
And whilst they are keeping opposition activists in jail, the regime is attempting to create a so-called ‘public council’ and with the confidence of one who has lost all touch with reality is proposing to the opposition that it participate in its formation. After a lengthy and minute review of ROA Constitution’s text I found no reference to any so-named ‘public council’. Nothing of the kind exists. It is an idea borne out of crisis. But the reason for the crisis created isn’t the imperfection of the Constitution but rather the mania of some to preserve the regime at any cost.

The passage of the law regarding the opposition or the creation of the “public” council would be a smart move in just one case - if the Constitution didn’t offer a pathway out of the current situation. The pathway exists and not to travel along it only means a waste of time. Let’s assume for a moment that the ‘Public Council’ is created and sees fit to allow a handful of individuals to approach the royal court. But what will we do if a few months later we see that this body isn’t capable of overcoming the crisis situation? We would be hard-pressed to conjure up something else more “public” in nature. In that case Armenia will have lost out on yet another chance to quickly and effectively overcome the crisis.

P.S. - After the article had been completed I found out that the headquarters of the Pan- National Movement had refused the regime’s offer to participate in the formation of the Public Council and instead proposed that the stipulations of the PACE resolution be carried out as a precondition.