Speaking at a assembly with parliament speakers of the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic States in Baku on June six, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev reiterated Baku’s official position that signing a peace arrangement with Armenia is difficult as extensive as the present Structure of Armenia remains unchanged. President Aliyev’s remarks arrived ideal just after Armenian International Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, talking at an Armenian parliament session, falsely experimented with to equate the overtly irredentist claims that are enshrined in the Armenian Constitution with Azerbaijan’s Structure where no this sort of promises exist. Mirzoyan claimed that the two Armenia and Azerbaijan see each other’s structure as an impediment to a durable peace, and constitutional adjustments are not on the agenda of the ongoing peace talks. In an official statement next President Aliyev’s remarks, the Armenian Overseas Ministry rejected producing constitutional amendments to get rid of the irredentist claims towards Azerbaijan, alleging that Armenia does not have territorial claims in opposition to its neighbours, and that the draft model of the peace arrangement envisages the sides not working with domestic laws in purchase to meet their obligations.
The ongoing peace talks among Armenia and Azerbaijan have made some essential breakthroughs considering the fact that December 2023 when the two countries jointly issued a statement on achieving a peace agreement dependent on the ideas of sovereignty and territorial integrity. Direct negotiations in between the two sides without having the detrimental interference of 3rd events paved the way to reaching the agreement on the delimitation and demarcation of 12.7 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 nineties.
This coincided with the emergence of the radical extremist priest Bagrat Galstanyan who is a revanchist extremist identified for praising terrorism and irredentism and at the moment the chief of opposition to the Armenia-Azerbaijan normalisation and border delimitation agreement. Bagrat’s anti peace stance gained aid from both of those pro-Russia and professional-West revanchist circles, these as the professional-Russia former presidents Kocharyan and Sargsyan, the Armenian Church and the pro-Western extremist Jirayr Sefilyan.
Pashinyan’s Research for a New Constitution
On Jan 18, Armenia’s PM Nikol Pashinyan argued that Armenia requires a new structure not just amendments. Pashinyan’s assertion is significant as it advocates the modification of the point out ideology enshrined at existing in Armenia’s Constitution. He argues that the new realities in the location as properly as the ongoing transition in the global procedure require Armenia to stop irredentist promises from neighbours and aim on Armenia as a point out inside its territorial borders as component of ensuring what he phone calls legitimacy. In other terms, Pashinyan’s look at is that in buy to be certain its safety Armenia need to abandon the territorial statements in its Constitution and adopt a new a single. Pashinyan’s quest for a new structure is generally about the domestic politics and troubles of Armenia, on the other hand, the irredentist claims that the Armenian Constitution includes are the most important hurdle to obtaining resilient peace in the South Caucasus location. In an job interview to nearby media in February, Pashinyan touched upon the want to address the challenge of the Armenian Declaration of Independence and argued that if point out procedures continue on to be guided by the Declaration’s concept 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 employed a metaphor comparing the Armenian Declaration of Independence which has open claims on neighbours to a purple costume that attracts bulls.
Irredentist Statements in Armenia’s Structure
When Azerbaijan factors out the require for alterations in the current Armenian Structure, it is referring to the elimination of the territorial statements enshrined in the Armenian Declaration of Independence initial and foremost. The preamble to the Declaration states, ‘Based on the December 1, 1989, joint choice of the Armenian SSR Supreme Council and the Artsakh National Council on the “Reunification of the Armenian SSR and the Mountainous Region of Karabakh”.’ This indicates that Armenia’s state policy is based mostly on the annexation of aspect of the internationally recognised territory of Azerbaijan.
In other words, Armenia’s irredentist statements from Azerbaijan are rooted in the Armenian Declaration of Independence and manufactured a component of national plan. These statements begun in 1988 as portion of the Miatsum (Unification) motion with the purpose of annexing section of Azerbaijan’s Karabakh area to Armenia and turned into a complete-blown conflict with the subsequent Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani lands and irredentist maps hanging on the partitions of Armenian officers. The Declaration also is made up of oblique territorial claims in opposition to Turkey in the preamble the place it makes “the realization of the aspirations of all Armenians and the restoration of historical justice” a priority for Armenia, and in clause eleven which states that “The Republic of Armenia stands in assist of the process of accomplishing global recognition of the 1915 Genocide in Ottoman Turkey and Western Armenia.” In Armenian political discourse the expression “Western Armenia” signifies the Japanese areas of the Republic of Turkey, so restoring historical justice refers to territorial promises on Eastern Turkey.
On the other hand, the Armenian Declaration of Independence is not the only impediment in the peace procedure: the termination of the Armenian Parliament’s 13 July 1992 final decision prohibiting the Armenian authorities from recognising Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan must be addressed much too. In truth, this legislative choice prohibits Armenian PM Pashinyan from signing a peace offer and recognising Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity. Contemplating that the ruling Civil Contract Get together of Armenia retains a substantial parliamentary greater part, they could nullify this legislative selection quickly without the need of keeping a referendum. The Armenian Structure adopted in 1995 involves presidential candidates to have been resident in the country for 10 decades and to have been a citizen all over that time. When Robert Kocharyan became Armenian president he did not meet people needs. Alternatively he argued that his candidacy was “legal” primarily based on the Armenian Declaration of Independence. The Armenian Constitutional Courtroom and the Central Election Commission certified and registered him. In addition, Armenia’s official and diplomatic paperwork have contained territorial statements towards Azerbaijan in the kind of references to the legally non-existent entity Nagorno Karabakh all these a long time.
To sum up, Armenia’s argument that a peace treaty with a clause about neither facet employing domestic legislation presently contradicts the present irredentist promises enshrined in Armenia’s Structure as effectively as the legislative selection of July 1992. Thinking about that the Armenian parliament and Constitutional Courtroom have to approve a achievable peace arrangement this previously produces uncertainty. In addition, Azerbaijan needs to attain a lasting peace with Armenia as a nation and the Armenian persons, not just with the ruling Civil Contract Occasion. It is the territorial claims enshrined in the Armenian Constitution that are a issue of problem for Azerbaijan, not Armenia’s inside political technique which Pashinyan would like to transform. To seek the elimination of the claims to Azerbaijani territory enshrined in Armenia’s Declaration of Independence and other official documents can barely be considered interference in purely inside affairs, as claimed by Armenia’s MFA. Presently revanchists are boasting that they will nullify Pashinyan’s conclusions. Azerbaijan’s stance on the elimination of the present territorial promises from Armenia’s Structure is rational, as future Armenian governments should really not be in a position to walk away from a peace offer or revive territorial claims from Azerbaijan by utilizing the present Declaration of Independence and the parliamentary choice. Having into account Pashinyan’s hesitation to hold a referendum, what he can do to confirm his government’s sincerity about the peace method is terminate the July 1992 parliamentary conclusion.
At the conclude of the working day, Armenia will have to pick out in between peace, normalisation, and prosperity on the just one hand, and territorial claims in opposition to 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 resilient peace” need to also encourage Armenia to eliminate the irredentist statements from its Structure as holding them will not bring peace to the region.
[Representational image by the Presidential Press and Information Office of Azerbaijan, via Wikimedia Commons]
Rufat Ahmadzada is a graduate of City, University of London. His research area addresses the South Caucasus and Iran. The sights expressed in this posting are these of the writer and do not essentially replicate TGP’s editorial stance.
