RESOLUTION FOR A NEW ARMENIA

2 March 2012
Yerevan

In the spirit of the decisions and declarations approved during previous conventions of the Heritage Party, and elaborating upon the documents adopted by the Party Council subsequent to the Sixth Congress,

The Seventh Congress of the Heritage Party hereby finds:

The Republic of Armenia and its people continue to live in a state of crisis, as they face growing internal and external challenges. As a result:

The Citizen of the Republic of Armenia has been limited in the exercise of his liberties and his right of participation in the country’s governance. In the shadow of corruption and injustice, both social and legal, he is driven to desperation and ultimately to emigration.

The People have in reality never been the source of authority, and the de facto authorities have never been accountable to the People. They continue to allocate among themselves the whole of the nation’s wealth and resources, as thousands of individuals and families descend with trampled rights into poverty and helplessness.

The Statelevers are applied in political and economic life in the service of inequality, feudalism and monopoly, in support of criminals and oligarchs, at the whim and for the benefit of certain political parties and their bosses, and to the frequent detriment of society and the average citizen.

A true appreciation of our national interest and the imperative of preserving the Armenian identity in Armenia and abroad, a brave facing of challenges to our national dignity and security, the importance of friendly relations with all countries—these must be the guiding principles of Armenian foreign policy.

While committed to the normalization of relations with Turkey, the Party considers unacceptable for Armenia to recognize in any way—in deed or document—the notorious Turkish-Bolshevik agreements of 1921, to assume any responsibilities emerging from them, or to accept such preconditions as were present in the Armenian-Turkish Protocols. The international reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide and Great National Dispossession of 1915, an undertaking of measures toward the guarantee of the right of repatriation to ancestral lands, and an enduring partnership with the Diaspora must be the foundations of this commitment.

Artsakh’s rightful independence and integrity must enjoy unconditional recognition by the authorities of Armenia. Our nation and nationhood are endangered by the absence of such recognition, as they are by distorted proposals and one-sided concessions, the absence from the negotiating table of the Mountainous Karabagh Republic, recent geopolitical currents and the condition of Armenian-Turkish relations. Finding unsatisfactory Armenia’s response to Azerbaijan’s military provocations and historical revisionism, the Party finds that a breakthrough can be achieved only through direct accomplishment of the Mountainous Karabagh Republic’s full-participant status in the talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group.

Although committed to strong and friendly relations with Russia, the Party finds unjustifiable the premature extension of the term of Russian military bases in Armenia, and considers unacceptable Armenia’s involvement in any convention of the former Soviet Republics at the expense of its own sovereignty.

Affirming the importance of developing relations with Georgia, the Party submits that there are yet serious unresolved issues concerning Georgian-Armenians, as well as the Armenian cultural heritage in that country. The native land of Javakhk has yet to become a mutually vital bridge between the two countries.

Concerned about international developments surrounding Iran’s nuclear program, the Party favors diplomatic solutions and finds that military action is unnecessarily explosive.

Appreciating the strategic imperative of Armenia’s return to the family of European Nations, the Party welcomes EU-Armenia negotiations in the framework of the Association Agreement.

Hence, on the threshold of parliamentary elections, moved by a vision of a generation-transforming new Armenia, and dedicated in its mission to establish a citizens’ government,

The Congress of the Heritage Party resolves:

• to call on all national-democratic forces and civil society to take courageous and common steps toward a concrete consolidation employing all possible means, from elections to unity on the square;
• to welcome the prospective cooperation of Heritage with political and public partners and to encourage solidarity on the basis of the evaluations and findings contained in the instant resolution;
• to convene ameeting of the Heritage Party Council on March 18 and to authorize it to make further decisions relating to the upcoming elections; and
• to authorize the Chairman of the Party Board to call the next Congress after the parliamentary elections, in order to elect new governing bodies and to deliberate upon other matters of urgency.