Speaking at a meeting with parliament speakers of the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic States in Baku on June six, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev reiterated Baku’s official situation that signing a peace arrangement with Armenia is difficult as lengthy as the present-day Structure of Armenia remains unchanged. President Aliyev’s remarks came correct after Armenian International Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, speaking at an Armenian parliament session, falsely attempted to equate the openly irredentist promises that are enshrined in the Armenian Structure with Azerbaijan’s Structure where no this sort of claims exist. Mirzoyan claimed that the two Armenia and Azerbaijan see every single other’s constitution as an obstacle to a resilient peace, and constitutional modifications are not on the agenda of the ongoing peace talks. In an formal statement following President Aliyev’s remarks, the Armenian International Ministry turned down creating constitutional amendments to eliminate the irredentist promises against Azerbaijan, alleging that Armenia does not have territorial promises in opposition to its neighbours, and that the draft model of the peace agreement envisages the sides not applying domestic laws in get to fulfill their obligations.
The ongoing peace talks among Armenia and Azerbaijan have generated some vital breakthroughs considering that December 2023 when the two countries jointly issued a assertion on reaching a peace agreement primarily based on the ideas of sovereignty and territorial integrity. Immediate negotiations concerning the two sides with out the negative interference of 3rd events paved the way to achieving the agreement on the delimitation and demarcation of twelve.7 kilometres of the border with the return of four Azerbaijani villages – Baghanis Ayrım, Ashaghi Askipara, Kheyrimli and Ghizilhajili – to Azerbaijan which had been occupied by Armenia in the 1990s.
This coincided with the emergence of the radical extremist priest Bagrat Galstanyan who is a revanchist extremist recognised for praising terrorism and irredentism and now the chief of opposition to the Armenia-Azerbaijan normalisation and border delimitation settlement. Bagrat’s anti peace stance been given assistance from both equally pro-Russia and professional-West revanchist circles, these kinds of as the professional-Russia former presidents Kocharyan and Sargsyan, the Armenian Church and the professional-Western extremist Jirayr Sefilyan.
Pashinyan’s Search for a New Constitution
On Jan 18, Armenia’s PM Nikol Pashinyan argued that Armenia wants a new structure not just amendments. Pashinyan’s statement is crucial as it advocates the modification of the state ideology enshrined at present in Armenia’s Structure. He argues that the new realities in the location as nicely as the ongoing changeover in the worldwide procedure involve Armenia to stop irredentist promises from neighbours and focus on Armenia as a condition within just its territorial borders as part of making sure what he phone calls legitimacy. In other words and phrases, Pashinyan’s watch is that in order to assure its stability Armenia should abandon the territorial claims in its Structure and adopt a new a single. Pashinyan’s quest for a new constitution is generally about the domestic politics and issues of Armenia, on the other hand, the irredentist statements that the Armenian Structure has are the major hurdle to obtaining strong peace in the South Caucasus area. In an interview to local media in February, Pashinyan touched upon the need to remedy the challenge of the Armenian Declaration of Independence and argued that if condition guidelines continue to be guided by the Declaration’s message about the reunification of the Countrywide Council of the former Nagorno Karabakh and the Supreme Council of Armenia there “will not be peace”. The Armenian PM even utilised a metaphor evaluating the Armenian Declaration of Independence which is made up of open statements on neighbours to a pink costume that attracts bulls.
Irredentist Claims in Armenia’s Structure
When Azerbaijan details out the have to have for variations in the latest Armenian Structure, it is referring to the elimination of the territorial promises enshrined in the Armenian Declaration of Independence to start with and foremost. The preamble to the Declaration states, ‘Based on the December 1, 1989, joint conclusion of the Armenian SSR Supreme Council and the Artsakh Nationwide Council on the “Reunification of the Armenian SSR and the Mountainous Location of Karabakh”.’ This indicates that Armenia’s condition plan is centered on the annexation of portion of the internationally recognised territory of Azerbaijan.
In other text, Armenia’s irredentist statements against Azerbaijan are rooted in the Armenian Declaration of Independence and designed a portion of countrywide policy. These claims began in 1988 as part of the Miatsum (Unification) motion with the intention of annexing aspect of Azerbaijan’s Karabakh location to Armenia and turned into a whole-blown conflict with the subsequent Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani lands and irredentist maps hanging on the partitions of Armenian officers. The Declaration also contains oblique territorial claims versus Turkey in the preamble the place it can make “the realization of the aspirations of all Armenians and the restoration of historical justice” a priority for Armenia, and in clause 11 which states that “The Republic of Armenia stands in support of the job of obtaining worldwide recognition of the 1915 Genocide in Ottoman Turkey and Western Armenia.” In Armenian political discourse the time period “Western Armenia” signifies the Jap parts of the Republic of Turkey, so restoring historic justice refers to territorial promises on Eastern Turkey.
However, the Armenian Declaration of Independence is not the only impediment in the peace process: the termination of the Armenian Parliament’s 13 July 1992 choice prohibiting the Armenian authorities from recognising Karabakh as element of Azerbaijan need to be resolved also. In fact, this legislative conclusion prohibits Armenian PM Pashinyan from signing a peace deal and recognising Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. Considering that the ruling Civil Deal Celebration of Armenia retains a sizeable parliamentary bulk, they could nullify this legislative selection very easily with out keeping a referendum. The Armenian Constitution adopted in 1995 necessitates presidential candidates to have been resident in the place for ten decades and to have been a citizen throughout that time. When Robert Kocharyan turned Armenian president he did not meet up with individuals requirements. As a substitute he argued that his candidacy was “legal” based on the Armenian Declaration of Independence. The Armenian Constitutional Court and the Central Election Commission licensed and registered him. In addition, Armenia’s formal and diplomatic files have contained territorial claims versus Azerbaijan in the kind of references to the lawfully non-existent entity Nagorno Karabakh all these years.
To sum up, Armenia’s argument that a peace treaty with a clause about neither aspect applying domestic legislation already contradicts the present irredentist promises enshrined in Armenia’s Structure as nicely as the legislative decision of July 1992. Contemplating that the Armenian parliament and Constitutional Court have to approve a possible peace settlement this presently makes uncertainty. In addition, Azerbaijan desires to realize a long lasting peace with Armenia as a region and the Armenian people today, not just with the ruling Civil Deal Social gathering. It is the territorial statements enshrined in the Armenian Structure that are a subject of worry for Azerbaijan, not Armenia’s internal political system which Pashinyan wishes to transform. To search for the removal of the statements to Azerbaijani territory enshrined in Armenia’s Declaration of Independence and other official documents can rarely be deemed interference in purely inside affairs, as claimed by Armenia’s MFA. By now revanchists are professing that they will nullify Pashinyan’s selections. Azerbaijan’s stance on the removal of the current territorial statements from Armenia’s Structure is rational, as upcoming Armenian governments ought to not be in a position to stroll absent from a peace offer or revive territorial statements in opposition to Azerbaijan by making use of the current Declaration of Independence and the parliamentary decision. Having into account Pashinyan’s hesitation to keep a referendum, what he can do to demonstrate his government’s sincerity about the peace procedure is terminate the July 1992 parliamentary selection.
At the conclusion of the working day, Armenia must pick amongst peace, normalisation, and prosperity on the a single hand, and territorial promises against its neighbours on the other, as PM Pashinyan talks about real Armenia and historic Armenia. The United States which regularly refers to a “just and tough peace” ought to also persuade Armenia to take out the irredentist statements from its Structure as trying to keep them will not deliver peace to the location.
[Representational image by the Presidential Press and Information Office of Azerbaijan, via Wikimedia Commons]
Rufat Ahmadzada is a graduate of Metropolis, College of London. His exploration region covers the South Caucasus and Iran. The views expressed in this posting are those people of the writer and do not automatically mirror TGP’s editorial stance.
