As Armenia actively works on a new controversial change of the country’s constitution, Azerbaijani officials’ statements amplify the debate and the conspiracies boiling among Armenian politicians.
Armenian opposition accused Pashinyan of obeying Azerbaijan’s demands and removing any mention of Nagorno-Karabakh and the Armenian Genocide from the Constitution, leading the country to new concessions.
On January 19, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that Armenia needs a new constitution to make the country more “competitive and viable in the new geopolitical conditions,” rather than simply amending the current one.
Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev appeared to fuel the conspiracies in Armenia, saying that “peace could be achieved” between Armenia and Azerbaijan if Armenia changes its constitution and “other documents.” Azerbaijan sees Armenia’s Declaration of Independence as a territorial claim on Azerbaijan, including the unification of Armenia with Nagorno-Karabakh. Aliyev focuses on Armenia’s Constitution because its preamble references the Declaration of Independence, which in turn references the 1989 act of unification of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast with Soviet Armenia.
In late January, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said that the rumors about the changes being initiated as part of the peace negotiations were an “exaggeration.” However, the day after, he admitted Azerbaijan sees Armenia’s Declaration of Independence as problematic.
In an interview with Armenian Public Radio on February 1, Pashinyan said that the Declaration of Independence may hinder peace in Armenia, explaining that with Armenia’s economy growing and the army being “transformed” and reformed, the Declaration in the country’s constitution can be perceived as Armenia preparing for war to fulfil the declaration’s statement on the unification of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia. Armenia’s leader said this would result in the country’s neighbors uniting against Armenia to “destroy” it.
The current concept of the draft of the Constitutional amendments, according to RFE/RL’s Armenian service, do not include any change in the preamble of the country’s main law.
As early as 2020, Turkey demanded constitutional changes in Armenia, saying that Armenia’s current constitution is laying territorial claims on Turkey.
Other changes
Although the current public debate has focused on the possible deletion of certain phrases from the constitution, and the proposal to abandon the principle of a stable parliamentary majority and create the possibility of “forming a minority government”, two options have been put forward for its implementation. According to the first option, the president of the country can appoint as prime minister the person who enjoys the confidence of the largest number of parliamentary deputies. The second option is to follow the system currently in use for the election of the mayor of Yerevan, with the candidate who receives the most votes being elected as prime minister.
