Why does the Costitution of Armenia worry Turkey and Azerbaijan? The demands of the Turkish-Azerbaijani unity in amending the RA Constitution

Constitution Day is celebrated in Armenia on July 5. The Constitution of the Republic of Armenia was adopted through a popular referendum held on July 5, 1995 and has been amended twice since then, in 2005 and 2015, with the first of which our country transitioned from a presidential system of government to a semi-presidential one, and with the second, from a semi-presidential system to a parliamentary system of government.

However, it is noteworthy that the current Constitution of Armenia worries the authorities of Turkey and Azerbaijan, and the latter, along with their many demands and preconditions, regularly announce that Armenia must adopt a new constitution to regulate relations with them.

In particular, on September 27, 2021, on the occasion of the first anniversary of the Azerbaijani aggression against Artsakh, the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev gave an interview to the Turkish state "Anadolu" news agency, stating that in order to regulate relations with Turkey, Armenia should adopt a new constitution. According to him, the text of the current Constitution of Armenia contains references to "territorial claims against Turkey". "How can a weak and completely destroyed country like Armenia make territorial claims against such a powerful country like Turkey? It's like a mental illness. Therefore, they should give it up," he said.

The authorities of Azerbaijan and Turkey complain about the fact that in the preamble of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, reference is made to the Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Armenia adopted on August 23, 1990, which is an integral part of the Constitution, and there is also an unambiguous reference to the provision that says: "The RA Constitution supports the recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide that took place in Western Armenia and the Ottoman Empire." In other words, in the founding document of the state of Armenia, one of the main goals of the creation of the state was fixed - the obligation to support the process of condemnation and recognition of the Armenian Genocide. This actually means that the current Republic of Armenia, despite its limited capabilities, does not give up its rights to its historical homeland, Western Armenia, which it can restore under favorable geopolitical realities.

Naturally, Turkey and Azerbaijan are very aware of all this and that is why they are trying to solve this problem before settling relations with Armenia. Let's note that the Armenian authorities are trying to satisfy this demand in the process of normalizing relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan. For a long time, there have been discussions on the issue of constitutional reforms in Armenia, which have not yet been made public and put to a referendum.

Not wanting to pay tribute to the theory of conspiracies at all, we believe that as a result of the amendments, the aforementioned paragraph will be removed from the text of the main law of RA, so that it "does not hinder the regulation of relations with Turkey". However, we would like to draw the attention of our readers to the fact that even if Armenia fulfills the next demand presented by Turkey and Azerbaijan, the position of these countries towards Armenia will not change after that.

Remember that during the term of office of the first president of Armenia, the issue of international recognition and claim of the Armenian Genocide was not included among the foreign political priorities of Armenia, but this did not help Turkey to regulate relations with Armenia in any way. In addition, using the example of the Artsakh issue, let us prove that when 75% of the territory of Artsakh came under the control of Azerbaijan as a result of the military aggression of 2020, the demands on Armenia not only did not decrease, but also increased, in the form of the so-called "Zangezur Corridor" and so on.

So, no matter how difficult it may be, the Republic of Armenia should not give way to the fulfillment of the demands of the Turkish-Azerbaijani tandem at any cost, because after their fulfillment, our country will weaken even more, and the appetite of the above-mentioned countries will increase, and the latter will present new demands.

#Detq_Trace