Homenetmen’s Charter and Bylaw
Soon after its establishment, Homenetmen developed a charter and bylaw to regulate the organization’s operations and activities across its growing chapters, strengthen the relationship between the chapters and the Central Committee, and establish guidelines for the admission of new members. To this end, Homenetmen formed a committee of three leaders (H. J. Sirouni, Krikor Hagopian, and Dikran Khoyian) to manage the task of drafting the organization’s Charter and Bylaw.
H. J. Sirouni (Hagop Jololian), a prominent and experienced figure of the Armenian community in Constantinople and the editor-in-chief of the “Azadamard” Daily, drafted Homenetmen’s first Charter and Bylaw, which consisted of 66 articles. After discussions and revisions, it was adopted by the 4th Homenetmen General Assembly, held on June 19, 1921, in Constantinople.
Along with the organization’s first Charter and Bylaw, the first Homenetmen Scouting Bylaw was also developed, consisting of 33 articles.
Later, both the Homenetmen Charter and Bylaw and the Homenetmen Scouting Bylaw were revised during the first overseas Homenetmen General Assembly, held in Paris in 1931.
In modern times, the Homenetmen Charter and Bylaw were subjected to a comprehensive revision. It was approved and adopted by the General Assembly in 1974, in Beirut. This Assembly was the first to include representatives from the organization’s worldwide structure. Since then, the Charter and Bylaw have been revised and improved on 9 additional occasions.
The introductory paragraph of the Charter and Bylaw states: “Homenetmen’s General Charter and Bylaw are inspired by the organization’s founding and democratic principles, which form the pillars of our youth-centered and idealistic organization”.
Homenetmen’s current Charter and Bylaw consists of 154 articles, which were last revised and approved by the organization’s 13th General Assembly in Armenia in 2023.