A constitution is necessary because things are happening before my eyes that are bringing the republic to disaster, and no one is held accountable for them. It is the Constitution that will ultimately call officials to order. It is impossible to imagine an isolated republic in which we would have a constitution purely of our own and put it into practice. This goes hand in hand with the progress of peoples, with Russia and the countries of Europe.
Previously, our hope rested on the human being’s innate inclination towards morality; it still does. But a lack of restraint, a certain atmosphere of behaviour, a state of mind forced this people into things I would not have wished to see. Of course, it does not depend on what I wish, but those things could have been avoided. Let there be a constitution and law, because we are all answerable before the law, from the president to the last citizen. I am not afraid of the law. I am afraid of my brother, afraid of everyone, but I am not afraid of written law.
Certainly, laws govern the world. There, I have said it and landed myself in trouble: now try proving how laws govern the world…
Laws govern the world — unwritten and written laws. Unwritten laws govern it; written laws reveal and bring to light many unwritten ones, while life and human reason seek to turn moral norms that arose independently of them into law and give them constitutional form. The measure is the narrow passage between written and unwritten laws. I think our Constitution belongs there.
We shall not leave an ignorant document behind us. The people’s moral reserves are so great, after all, that they will somehow find their way out of all this, even at the cost of losses.
By its purpose, the Constitution is a necessity: to keep political passions from flaring up and to prevent forces, whether far from us or ruling over us, from driving us into civil clashes and upheavals. For that reason alone, I think it is right that our life should be brought into some order by the Constitution. Within a classical democratic republic, some Armenian national variant will emerge. Still, the country must be saved from disaster. There must be a right, if the devil has tempted me, there must be a right to seize my hand and cut it off…
Country, Nation, State, Land, Human Being and Structure — that, ultimately, is the Constitution, and that is what we need to make our way and reach our destination.