The Constitutional Court (CC) of Armenia actually annulled the country’s Declaration of Independence. The CC decided that the theses contained in the document, but not directly mentioned in the Constitution, have no legal force, Izvestiya writes.
Thus, the theses of building an independent, democratic, social and legal republic—which are mentioned in the two fundamental documents—are considered legitimate. Much more is outside the legal framework, including reunification with Artsakh and the desire to achieve the recognition of the 1915 Genocide, not directly mentioned in the Constitution.
After the decision of the Constitutional Court, Yerevan announced that Azerbaijan no longer has grounds to make claims against Armenian legislation.
Interestingly, the decision of the Armenian court was hardly commented on in Azerbaijan. Officials completely ignored the verdict, while experts noted that Baku demanded to rewrite the legislation, not engage in interpretations. Ilham Aliyev’s statement, which he made on Oct. 2 at a conference held in Baku, can be considered an indirect response. The Azerbaijani leader not only did not soften his stance, but on the contrary, he put forward a new demand. According to him, the Armenian side, among other things, should hold accountable the veterans of the First Karabakh War, as well as strictly “condemn the atrocities committed against Azerbaijanis who were captured and taken hostage”.
Earlier, Nikol Pashinyan proposed to change the Constitution so that it “will be in line with the changed geopolitical realities”. The problem, however, was that the first articles of the Constitution can only be changed through a referendum, which is time-consuming and expensive. In addition, the outcome of the referendum is difficult to predict. Polls have shown that the people of Armenia do not really want to rewrite the law to please the Azerbaijanis and Turks.
