Today marks the 31st anniversary of the adoption of Armenia’s Declaration of Independence.
Thirty-one years ago today, on 23 August 1990, the Supreme Council of Soviet Armenia drafted a special declaration concerning Armenia’s independence. The declaration chose the path of the country’s independence as the only path for Armenia’s development.
A year and a month after the declaration’s discussions, on 21 September 1991, the citizens of Soviet Armenia voted unanimously “yes” to that declaration.
It is worth noting that the declaration consisted of 12 points, in which were enshrined the points presented by the Supreme Councils of Soviet Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast.
Immediately after the adoption of the declaration, on 24 August, based on the Declaration of Independence of Armenia, the Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR decided to rename the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic the Republic of Armenia, and to consider the sitting twelfth-convocation Supreme Council as the first-convocation Supreme Council of the Republic of Armenia.
Armenia’s first Supreme Council was formed in 1990 and consisted of 260 deputies elected by the majoritarian electoral system. At that time, Armenia was still a Soviet republic.
In the new parliament, which began functioning on 20 July of the same year, two political forces were represented: the Communist Party and the Pan-Armenian National Movement.
Subsequently, in that parliament, the factions “Pan-Armenian National Movement,” “Armenian Democratic Liberal,” “Armenian Revolutionary Federation,” and “Communist Party of Armenia” were formed.
In the Supreme Council, the deputy groups “Republic,” “Artsakh,” “Liberal Democrats,” and “National Progress” were also active.
The Declaration of Independence was based on the joint decision of 1 December 1989 of the Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR and the National Council of Mountainous Karabakh “On the Reunification of the Armenian SSR and Mountainous Karabakh.”
It should be noted that the original of the Declaration of Independence is lost. As Aram Manukyan has stated, it was stolen in 2007 from his car. Regarding the matter, Aram Manukyan had applied to the police, but the investigation yielded no results.
