SPORTSWORLD.AM
Armenian National Team: Red Eagles/Karmir Artsivner
The fan movement made a statement on its social media page ahead of the FFA extraordinary meeting to be held tomorrow, November 4:
"OPEN LETTER TO THE FFA AND FFA MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS"
On maintaining the Armenian language proficiency requirement and public justification of the proposed changes
Ahead of the FFA extraordinary meeting scheduled for November 4, we express our concern regarding the proposed amendments to the bylaws. According to the official FFA statement, it is proposed to eliminate the requirements for a candidate for the FFA presidency to be fluent in Armenian and to have resided permanently in Armenia for the past year.
Our position is clear: the requirement to master Armenian must be maintained.
We believe that this is not a formal requirement. It is important for the head of the FFA to communicate directly with coaches, players, clubs and fans, understand their problems and participate in professional discussions.
According to Article 10 of the FFA Statute, the official language of the federation and its assembly is Armenian, and the Armenian text of documents prevails over versions in other languages.
We value international experience and connections. However, we do not believe that they should be at odds with knowledge of the Armenian language and direct contact with the Armenian football community.
We are also concerned that changes to the requirements for candidates are being proposed ahead of the upcoming presidential elections. Such a decision should be justified by the long-term needs of the federation and presented for open discussion.
The FFA has published the list of members who joined the request to convene an extraordinary meeting. However, it is important for us to also clarify the process of developing and officially presenting the draft amendment.
Therefore, we demand public and substantive answers to the following questions:
1. Who developed the draft amendment, and which member or body officially submitted it to the FFA Secretariat? We demand that the submitted proposal and the accompanying explanatory memorandum be published.
2. What problem will the elimination of the Armenian language proficiency requirement solve? On the basis of what assessments or professional conclusions was it proposed, and how will it contribute to the effective governance of the federation?
3. Why is the change being proposed right before the elections?
4. With whom and when was the proposal discussed? Please present the opinions and suggestions received from FFA and executive committee members, coaches, football players and other specialists, as well as clarify how they were taken into account.
Article 35, paragraph 2, of the FFA Statutes provides for the proposal for amendment to be submitted in writing, with an accompanying explanatory note.
We demand that the full draft of the amendment, the explanatory memorandum, the name of the officially submitting member or body, and the answers to the above questions be published on the official website of the Armenian Football Federation by November 3, at 6:00 PM.
We call on FFA member organizations and assembly delegates to maintain the requirement to master the Armenian language and not support its elimination.
At the same time, until the issues are publicly clarified and substantively discussed, we call for the adoption of the final decision on this amendment to be postponed in accordance with the established procedure.
We do not prejudge the motives of the authors of the initiative. But we expect that any change in the conditions for participating in the elections will be justified by the needs of football development and will be applied to everyone by the same principles.
"The FFA statute must serve the long-term interests of Armenian football, regardless of the names of the candidates," the statement released by the movement reads.