Text of Armenian Constitution doesn’t contain any direct or indirect article about Nagorno-Karabakh, says Pashinyan

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 13, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has reiterated that the Armenian Constitution does not contain any article about Nagorno-Karabakh.

Pashinyan made the remarks in parliament in response to a question from MP Arusyak Julhakyan about demands voiced by Azerbaijan on changing the Armenian constitution because it allegedly contains territorial claims. Pashinyan denied the existence of such claims.

“Azerbaijan’s claims that the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia contains territorial demands against Azerbaijan are based on the argument that the preamble of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia contains a general reference to the Declaration of Independence, which in turn mentions Nagorno-Karabakh. In its 26 September 2024 decision, the Armenian Constitutional Court recorded that the reference to the Declaration of Independence in the preamble of the Constitution pertains solely to the provisions that have been stipulated in the articles of the Constitution. Not a single article of the Armenian Constitution contains any direct or indirect mention of Nagorno-Karabakh. We must also remember that there is a clear hierarchical difference, according to the adopting entities, between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. That is, whereas the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Armenian SSR’s Supreme Council as a state body of one of the 15 republics of the USSR, the Constitution was adopted by the sovereign people of the Republic of Armenia, an internationally recognized independent state. The preamble of the Azerbaijani Constitution contains a reference to the Constitutional Act adopted on October 18, 1991. In turn, the Constitutional Act refers to the Declaration of Independence of the First Republic of Azerbaijan adopted on May 28, 1918. The declaration, in turn, records that the First Republic of Azerbaijan includes Eastern and Southern Transcaucasia. In 1919, the Republic of Azerbaijan presented its administrative map to the Entente, according to which, Azerbaijan includes the entirety of the provinces of Syunik and Vayots Dzor of the Republic of Armenia, as well as parts of the provinces of Ararat, Armavir, Gegharkunik, Tavush, Lori and Shirak, nearly 60% of the territory of the Republic of Armenia. Thus, the Constitution of Azerbaijan contains territorial demands against Armenia. The Republic of Armenia does not raise an issue of changing the Azerbaijani constitution for two reasons, first of all such a demand would bring the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process into a deadlock, and second of all, the agreed-upon part of the peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan contains an article that stipulates the parties cannot refer to their internal legislation to justify failure to fulfill this treaty. Another article of the agreed-upon part of the peace treaty says that the parties recognize each other’s territorial integrity, do not have territorial demands against each other and are obliged to not make such demands in the future as well. According to Armenian legislation, after its signing the peace treaty must be ratified in parliament. Before that the government must submit the treaty to the Constitutional Court to verify its compliance with the Constitution. If the Constitutional Court were to rule that the text of the peace treaty doesn’t comply with the Constitution, although after its September 26, 2024 ruling such a development is unlikely, then the Republic of Armenia would most probably initiate Constitutional changes. If the Constitutional Court decides that the text of the peace treaty complies with the Constitution, then it will pass the ratification process in the parliament. According to paragraph 3 of article 5 of the Armenian Constitution, in the event of contradiction between ratified international treaties and norms of laws, the norms of international treaties shall apply. Thus, after ratification in parliament, the peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan will gain superior legal force against Armenia’s laws and other normative legal acts,” Pashinyan said.