[youtube=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUfMfxiJWoc”]
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) rallied more than a thousand supporters in Yerevan on Monday to demand that Armenia’s Constitutional Court invalidate the fence-mending agreements with Turkey, RFE/RL reports. The whole rally seems like a big and colorful show, because very few people would consider the Constitutional Court an independent branch of the state capable of making decisions without the direct instructions from the President’s administration, or Dashnakstutyun, a true and independent opposition force, capable of impacting the government’s agenda.
The party are planning to also stage a protest action in front of the Constitutional Court on Tuesday, were the judges are scheduled to open hearings on the agreements’ conformity with the Armenian constitution. A positive ruling is a necessary condition for their discussion and ratification by the National Assembly.
Dashnaktsutyun leaders reiterated their strong condemnation of the two Turkish-Armenian protocols before the protesters, many of them holding torches and banners, marched to the court building in the city center. A nine-page petition handed by them to the court demands that the protocols be declared at least “partly unconstitutional.”
One thing I can say in favor of Dashnakstutyun rallies, is that they are always colorful and interesting to watch. As to their impact – Armenia is supposed to be a free country and everyone should be able to meet and hold rallies as much as they like.
Artur Papyan
Journalist, blogger, digital security and media consultant