In my opinion, we have not paid due attention to the anthem of the Republic of Armenia until now. In essence, it has been de jure unclear what the officially approved anthem of the Republic of Armenia is: The Chair of the Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Diaspora, Youth and Sport Sisak Gabrielyan said this.
At January 10 regular sitting of the Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs the draft law on Making Amendments and Addenda to the law on RA Anthem authored by the deputies Sisak Gabrielyan, Taguhi Ghazaryan, Alen Simonyan was debated.
“We propose that the relevant authorized body, the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, after adopting the law, publish the official versions of the anthem, including both short, vocal and instrumental versions, and that this will be exclusively the official anthem of the Republic of Armenia,” Sisak Gabrielyan said.
The key rapporteur answered the deputies’ questions, touching upon the definition of the short version of the anthem, provisions on liability in case of violation of the anthem.
Welcoming the proposing amendments, the co-rapporteur Alkhas Ghazaryan called on her colleagues to endorse the draft.
The RA Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Zhanna Andreasyan presented the positive position of the Government on draft. She noted that there is an obligation to play the anthem in the version approved in 2006 in public schools and universities. The proposed amendment expands the scope to include pre-school, vocational, and secondary specialized institutions, with the logic that state policy should be unified across all educational institutions.
In the format of exchange of ideas, the MPs referred to the cases regarding the violations of performance of the anthem.
The Secretary of the Armenia Faction Artsvik Minasyan noted that a very important issue is under debate, but in his opinion, the draft is not ready for presenting at the NA sitting. He informed that they will not participate in voting the draft, suggesting to organize a work discussion and complete it.
The revised draft was endorsed.