Will Armenia change its constitution to sign the peace treaty?

According to the international group Tasnim news agency, “Gagham Manoukian” party representative Opposition Dashnaktsutyun said on Friday in the Armenian parliament: “The Armenian government cannot sign any document higher than the country’s constitution.” He said that there was a possible peace agreement between Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan.

He said that Nikol Pashinyan’s government is trying to change the constitution for this purpose at the request of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Manoukian said that the Armenian authorities want to remove the article related to Nagorno-Karabakh from the constitution.

Last week, Pashinyan discussed the article that was already included in the peace agreement between Baku and Yerevan, spoke and said: There is an agreed clause in the peace treaty. It states that the parties cannot refer to any of their laws to avoid fulfilling the obligations of this contract.

The Constitution of Armenia refers to the declaration of independence of this country in 1990. In turn, this declaration refers to the 1989 law on the annexation of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Province of Azerbaijan to Soviet Armenia.

In addition, the Supreme Council of the Soviet Union, which was the highest authority at that time, immediately canceled the discussed action.

Pashinyan last week once again criticized the current constitution and announced that as long as these provisions remain in the original law, there will never be peace between Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan It will not be established.

Manoukian announced: After removing the reference to the annexation document of Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia from the Constitution, the Constitutional Court cannot question the conformity of the agreement with the Republic of Azerbaijan with the original law.

Furthermore, in the preamble of the current Constitution of Armenia, adopted in 1995, the international community is asked to recognize the events that took place in the Ottoman Empire in 1915 as ” recognize the Armenian Genocide.

The deputy of the Armenian opposition party claimed that according to the decision of the Constitutional Court, the preamble of the first article of the Constitution cannot be canceled even through a referendum.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on February 1 that the Declaration of Independence of Armenia contains direct requests for the annexation of Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, and references to this document are reflected in the Constitution of Armenia.

According to him, peace can be achieved if Armenian claims about Karabakh are ended and changes are made in the Armenian constitution and other legal documents of this country.

Vladimir Vardanian, deputy of the ruling party of Armenia, said that every international document becomes effective after it is signed, declared by the Constitutional Court and approved by the National Assembly.

But Vardanian emphasized that international agreements and national laws are valid in completely separate areas.

He noted: Paying attention to this issue is an attempt to deviate from international laws again.

Ara Hazmalian, an Armenian international law expert, says: It is a basic principle of international law that no government can refer to local laws, including the constitution, to avoid fulfilling its obligations in an international agreement. But it is also a fact that any international agreement must be ratified, and if it contradicts the constitution, it cannot be ratified.

Despite the hot debate about it in Armenia, It is not clear whether the draft of the new constitution of this country will be presented or not.

It should be said that in the early 1990s, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict caused a conflict between the Republic of Azerbaijan and Armenia. Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts were occupied.

As a result of the 44-day war in 2020, Baku took control of those 7 districts and part of Karabakh, and a peacekeeping force Russia deployed in the region.

Baku announced “local anti-terrorist operations” in Karabakh on September 19-20, 2023. Yerevan called the move “ethnic cleansing” and “aggression”.

On September 20, Karabakh separatists said they had agreed to Baku’s terms. Later, the migration of the Armenian population from Karabakh to Armenia began.

On September 28, the self-proclaimed Republic of Karabakh announced that it would cease its activities. Many leaders of this separatist republic were arrested and brought to Baku. Will the Republic of Azerbaijan and Armenia be realized this year?