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One of the main structures of the country – the National Assembly, was always considered one of the most demanded workplaces. Though, it is difficult to be hired in the NA, but it is doubly difficult to make a decision to leave. The work experience of the parliament employees is the vivid proof of it. The number of people who have dedicated more than 20 years of their lives to the National Assembly is more than 80. So, we have decided to raise the threshold and introduce those who have been working for more than 30 years.

The longest-serving employee of the Secretariat and the National Assembly in general is the Head of the Shorthand Division Eleonora Grigoryan. The fame of 18 years-old Elya, high-speed typewriter, reached the presidency of the USSR Supreme Soviet from Hayastan Publishing House. The job invitation did not make her happy: “The Supreme Council was a nursing home, and I was a young, beautiful girl. What would I do if I went?”. However, the issue has been discussed, and it has been clearly decided in the family council – she will work. Soon she became the only typewriter for the presidents’ speeches.

She typed the Constitution and the remaining important laws. During 51 years of her work, Mrs. Elya remembers the clashes with the heads with a smile: “I said I would stay to see how you go.”

This year was a jubilee year for Gayane Grigoryan. On May 6, it has been turned 30 years that she is in the National Assembly. In 1988, Gayane was an activist of Mergelyan Institute of the Karabakh Movement and at first, she worked as a bibliographer in the Supreme Council. Then she worked in the Editorial Division as an editor. They published books, booklets and reference books related to the National Assembly.

She has a sense of ownership over the parliament: “The National Assembly is so close that leaving here is like leaving home.” Now Gayane is the Chief Specialist in the Information and Analytical Division and she is engaged in monitoring which is an important work.

Though, the Russian translator of the Secretariat Department Georgy Hlghatyan has been working in the National Assembly since 1991, however he has been in this building for a long time. He worked at the Central Committee of the Communist Party which was located in the nowadays building of the National Assembly at that time. Noticing the mastery of a simultaneous interpreter, they offered to stay and work in the National Assembly. Now he translates the laws.

Tatul Soghomonyan was hired by the Supreme Council in 1990. He has headed the largest department of the National Assembly – the Secretariat since 1996. He has received numerous thank-you letters, diplomas and medals.

It is noteworthy that those who have the longest work experience in the parliament, work in the department headed by him. The staff knows his secret: he keeps the team away from all possible optimizations. Tatul Soghomonyan is known as the only person who remembers the Constitutional Law – the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly paragraph by paragraph. The most important thing for Soghomonyan in the workplace is human relations.

Marusya Asatryan or Mrs. Maro has been 33 years old when she has been hired by the Supreme Council and has been working in this building for almost 31 years. She became the Head of the Department from a stenographer step by step. Now she tells the history of the National Assembly to the NA visitors and guests. She knows everything about the parliament: “I worked in the Press, in the Department of State Secrets where I compiled a reference book of the Supreme Council. Often I had telephone conversations with the Head of the Acts Publication Division of the Supreme Council. One day, the head called me to the building of the Supreme Council and assessed my work skills with various assignments. After some time, I received an invitation to work in the Supreme Council as a stenographer. A few years later, I moved to a newly created library then I became the Head of the library which I headed for 7 years. Then, when the departments were created, I became the Head of the Information Department.”

To the question, what has kept her in the National Assembly for so many years, she answers without hesitation that this is her second family. When she hears a negative opinion about the National Assembly, she gets offended and says that it seems like someone offends her.

Everyone likes the Ordoyan couple in the National Assembly. Every morning, the couple of 41 years come to the work holding hands and they have a date at the same place - near the arch of the Speaker of the National Assembly, after the end of the work for several decades to go home.

The wife - Karine Ordoyan, was the first who received an invitation to work in the parliament in 1987. A few years later, the husband – Sahak, joined her. After working together one year, the first Artsakh war began, and Sahak Ordoyan was drafted to war with Vazgen Sargsyan’s mediation. He returned to the National Assembly again after 11 years.

An employee of the Service Division for the NA official website Mrs. Kara and the Assistant Manager Mr. Sahak never argue. To the question whether it is not difficult for the couple to work in the same place, Sahak Ordoyan answers that they do not almost meet during working hours and adds jokingly in this context: “The building is so big that deputies or employees have been regularly lost.”

In 1992, a group of enthusiastic, young radio physic guys from Mars Union, Sasun Petrosyan, Garnik Khachikyan and several others, decided to change the voting system of the National Assembly. They applied and succeeded. Since then, the Armenian Parliament has an electronic system, attracting everyone’s attention in the region.

The system worked very well but it was possible that one day it would need to be repaired. So, it was offered the guys to stay and work. Sasun was appointed the Head of the group then the Head of the newly created division for almost 30 years. A few years later, they created a similar system for the Parliament of Artsakh. Coming to the National Assembly was fatal for Sasun. After few years, in parliament, he got acquainted with Lusine, fell in love, got married and had two children. He still remains faithful both Lusine and the NA. He says that the NA is like the mother of your children and you do not want to hurt and leave them whatever happens.

Astghik Antonyan has been hired in 1990 as a recorder of the sittings and it is already 31 years that she does the same work. She is known in the parliament as a flower lover.

A large part of the office is for the houseplants. She knows all secrets of flower care. She often helps her colleagues to take care of plants. She loves to give flowers very much, but not in a vase. Except flowers, Astghik is known as a reciter in the NA. She does not miss the opportunity and reads from her poems in the events. She also congratulates birthdays of her acquaintances and relatives with quatrains.

Seda Kupelian has been working in the NA since 1986. At first, she worked in the presidency of the Supreme Soviet, then in the Supreme Council and the National Assembly. She was the Senior Editor of the Editorial Division. She initially edited the Reference Book which was published twice a month and the shorthand of sittings – for internal circulation.

She remembered that it was difficult to type all sittings with a typing machine: “One mistake was enough to rewrite the whole page again. However, the process of typing that much and delivering it on time was more difficult. We distributed them in all printing houses of Yerevan and at the end we collected and grouped.”

Now, Seda Kupelian is the Head of the Protocol Division. She likes her work and being at the epicentre of political events.