Month: February 2024

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Thursday said that peace would be impossible as long as Armenia’s Declaration of Independence calls for the unification of Armenia and Artsakh. The prime minister’s comments come on the heels of President Ilham Aliyev demanding changes to Armenia’s Constitution.

«We will never have peace if the Declaration of Independence contains a decision to unify Artsakh and the Republic of Armenia,” Pashinyan told the Armenian Public Radio during an interview on Thursday.

Armenia’s independence declaration was adopted in 1990 and contained the imperative to unify Armenia and Artsakh. That sentiment is also echoed in Armenia’s Constitution.

On the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in August, Pashianyan criticized the document, saying it sows enmity and war.

During the interview, he also reiterated the need to adopt a new constitution while acknowledging that a reform process is currently underway, with a special commission tasked to represent amendment to the Constitution.

He said that a new constitution will go a long way to address what he called a “gap between the citizens and the state.”

Pashinyan said that such a gap existed because the Armenian Constitution, which was adopted in 1995 — and modified thereafter — “was never adopted under conditions and an environment where the citizen of the Republic of Armenia could say: ‘I went, voted, and adopted the Constitution.’ In other words: ‘I went and recorded my agreement with other citizens and the state, that we relate to each other this way and live this way.’”

He claimed that a constitutional referendum will allow citizens Armenia to exercise their “own free will, without coercion, without falsification, without manipulation, and established the agreement.”

Pashinyan emphasized the importance of the Constitution having an organic connection with the people.

“The organic connection with the people is not only expressed by the fact that we have to discuss, understand all the nuances, and remove all the formulations. The text of the constitution is mostly a matter for professional discussion and wording to serve the political guidelines, but the organic link with the state — the organic link with the people — is formed from the moment when the people accept and confirm this condition, and record that they are ‘a state people’ and record that within the borders of this state, we will relate to each other according to these rules,” said Pashinyan.

Pashinyan also emphasized that the government cannot change the Constitution.

“The government can propose to the people, engage in discussions with the people, present its explanations to the people, and only the people can make that decision,” said Pashinyan.

South Caucasus News

Aliyev Says No Peace Without Changes in Armenia’s Constitution

Post author By Mike Nova
Post date February 1, 2024

YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am)—Armenia must change its constitution in order to make peace with Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Thursday, stoking Armenian opposition claims that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has already agreed to make such a concession to Baku.

“In case of changing Armenia’s constitution and other documents, peace could be achieved,” Aliyev said. “Armenia’s Declaration of Independence contains direct call for uniting Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region to Armenia and infringing on Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. Armenia’s constitution cites that document.”

Pashinyan stated on January 18 that Armenia must adopt a new constitution reflecting the “new geopolitical environment” in the region. Critics believe he first and foremost wants to get rid of the current constitution’s preamble that makes reference to the declaration cited by Aliyev.

The declaration adopted in 1990 in turn cites a 1989 unification act by the legislative bodies of Soviet Armenia and the then Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast. It also calls for international recognition of the 1915 genocide of Armenians “in Ottoman Turkey and Western Armenia.”

Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan acknowledged last week that Azerbaijan has objected to this constitutional introduction during talks on a peace treaty with Armenia. But both he and Pashinyan allies claimed that the Armenian leadership is not seeking to change the constitution because of that.

Armenian opposition leaders portrayed Aliyev’s latest statement as further proof of their claims that Pashinyan is planning to enact a new constitution at the behest of Baku as well as Ankara. One of them, Artsvik Minasyan, said the two Turkic allies want to force the Armenians to “renounce their historical past and rights.”

“If you do what your enemy wants, it means you obey its rules of the game,” Minasyan told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.

Vladimir Vartanian, a senior pro-government lawmaker, stuck to the official line that Pashinyan’s administration is not forced to embark on the constitutional reform. “No constitution can be adopted under pressure because if we adopt a constitution under pressure it means that we have a problem with our sovereignty,” he said.

Pashinyan called for the new constitution just days after complaining that Aliyev has toughened its position on the Armenian-Armenian peace treaty and openly laid claim to Armenian territory. He went on to offer more security “guarantees” to Baku. Pashinyan’s political opponents say this appeasement policy will not lead to a lasting peace between the two South Caucasus nations.