PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE
NEWS RELEASE
EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
AMERICAN AVENUE 1
YEREVAN, ARMENIA
TELEPHONE (+374 10) 46 47 00; 46 47 01; 46 47 02
E-MAIL: [email protected]
August 3, 2005
Council of Europe Press Conference and U.S. Embassy Statement on the
Constitutional Reform Process
On August 3, the Council of Europe held a press conference on the
constructional reform process in Armenia. Speaking at the conference
were Council of Europe Special Representative of the Secretary General
in Armenia Bojana Urumova, Head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan Vladimir
Pryakhin, British Ambassador Thorda Abbott-Watt, and U.S. Charge
D’Affaires Anthony Godfrey.
U.S. Embassy Statement on the Constitutional Reform Process The United
States welcomes the agreement by the Venice Commission of the Council
of Europe to the amendments to the constitution and looks forward to
their adoption at the November national referendum.
We continue to support the efforts of the Venice Commission and share
the view that the revised draft constitutional amendments represent a
step forward. We applaud the Government’s progress toward democratic
and constitutional reforms.
The process, however, is far from over.
We hope that the Government takes the appropriate steps to open the
discussion to the public and gain the consensus necessary to ultimately
pass a referendum.
When the National Assembly meets in August, we hope legislators
will take seriously the Council of Europe’s recommendations, and
that government and opposition parties will engage in constructive
debate to successfully bring meaningful constitutional reforms to a
referendum in November.
U.S. Charge D’Affaires Anthony Godfrey, U.K. Ambassador Thorda
Abbott-Watt, Council of Europe Special Representative of the Secretary
General in Armenia Bojana Urumova, and Head of the OSCE Office in
Yerevan Vladimir Pryakhin speak at a Council of Europe press conference
on the constitutional reform process.