The ruling party in Armenia has suggested amendments changing the order of the national anthem’s stanzas. Although their proposal has yet to be approved, this new version of the anthem has already been performed several times.

Parliamentary Speaker Alen Simonyan and two MPs from the ruling Civil Contract party proposed the amendments to the law on Armenia’s national anthem on 4 November.

The bill aims at establishing a unified, shorter version of the anthem, in addition to rearranging some of its stanzas. It would also remove an article from the current law, which stipulates that the current anthem is defined by the law’s appendix, and would remain valid until a new anthem’s text and music are defined by a different law.

The anthem, ‘Our Fatherland’, was adopted on 1 July 1991, based on the anthem of the First Armenian Republic (1918–1920). The bill would move up the anthem’s final stanza, making it second-to-last, with the ruling party arguing that this order had an ‘appropriate logic message’.

The anthem’s current second-to-last verse praises the Armenian flag:

Look at it, tricoloured,

A valuable symbol for us.

Let it shine against the enemy.

Let Armenia be glorious forever.

The final verse is focused on sacrificing oneself ‘for the freedom of his nation’:

Death is the same everywhere,

A man dies but once,

Blessed is the one who dies

For the freedom of his nation.

RFE/RL has reported that the newly structured national anthem was used in several recent official ceremonies, including in September’s inaugural parliamentary session. They also reported that the proposed new version of the anthem was used during Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s visit to the Anti-Corruption Committee on the third anniversary of its establishment on 8 November.

The Yerevan State Chamber Choir, the ensemble which performed the new version of the anthem, told RFE/RL that ‘the desire came from the Prime Minister's staff’, adding that it was ‘a final state decision,’ and that the choir had been performing that version ‘for months’. 

Some in Armenia have accused the government of violating the law of the anthem, which regulates the use of the national anthem. However, the co-author of the draft amendment, MP Sisak Gabrielyan, told RFE/RL that the law explicitly contains the lyrics and the sheet music for the anthem, but does not clarify the order in which the stanzas are supposed to be sung.

Changing Armenia’s national anthem has been on the agenda for years, with the authorities establishing a state commission in 2006 for the selection of a new anthem.

In January of this year, Simonyan suggested that the national anthem and coat of arms of Armenia should be changed. Previously, in 2019 Simonyan, then vice-speaker of parliament, announced a competition for the lyrics of the new anthem and formed a working group.