ArmInfo.With the agenda of constitutional changes, the Armenian government questions the legitimacy of Armenia. This statement was made by the ex- Ombudsman of Armenia, head of the Tatoyan Foundation, Arman Tatoyan, reacting to yesterday's interview with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, who again pointed out the need for constitutional reforms in the country and the threats of the President of Azerbaijan.
"The President of Azerbaijan first spoke about the need to change the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, and even in the language of threats, on April 13, 2021.
The constitutional issue is a specific Azerbaijani-Turkish dictate, which, unfortunately, also stems from the political interests of the RA government.
Today, the President of Azerbaijan simply repeated this and threatened to change not only the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, but also laws, government regulations and all other legal acts (by the way, this is also not news). In other words, the Constitution will be followed by the laws of the Republic of Armenia, the army, the economy, etc.," Tatoyan noted.
In this regard, according to Tatoyan, his Foundation has studied the socio-political field of Azerbaijan and there are the same theses and justifications with which the RA government puts forward the question of the need for a new Constitution.
"Today (February 1 - ed.) the President of Azerbaijan personally praised this discussion of the RA government.
With this agenda, the Armenian government questions the legitimacy of Armenia. Our state is becoming a hostage to the Azerbaijani government.
This is absolutely beneficial to Azerbaijan in the sense that it diverts attention from its crimes in Artsakh and legitimizes them," the human rights activist added.
At the same time, he drew attention to the fact that today it is vitally important for Azerbaijan to remove from the agenda by all possible means such topics as the mass forced resettlement of Artsakh Armenians in September 2023, their return, mass crimes of Azerbaijan in different periods, occupation of Armenian territories and other topics. Not to mention the fact that in parallel, Azerbaijan's plans to eradicate the Armenian cultural heritage, deepen hostility and annexation of Armenia are deepening.
"Instead of focusing on issues that are vital for us (from responsibility for Azerbaijani crimes to the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh and the elimination of the Azerbaijani invasion of Armenia), the Azerbaijani dictatorship is being promoted," Tatoyan concluded.
Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, in an interview with Public Radio on February 1, explained the need to adopt a new Constitution. The Prime Minister recalled that recently he has been talking a lot about the relationship between the concepts of "Motherland and State" and the need to strengthen state institutions. According to him, in general, in 2018, the popular, non-violent, velvet revolution also concerned the relationship between citizens and the state, the civil state is de jure, de facto social and labor relations.
"We have a gap between the citizen and the state, which is expressed in legitimacy, because the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, adopted in 1995, and changed several times, has never been adopted in such conditions and circumstances for a citizen of the Republic of Armenia to say to himself: go, voted and adopted the Constitution," the Prime Minister said, emphasizing that "a non-state people turns into a state people" precisely at the moment of a constitutional referendum, when a person votes voluntarily, without coercion, without falsification and without manipulation.
According to the Prime Minister, it is not so important what is written in the Constitution, but how organic it is for the people. The text of the basic law is, in fact, specialized and determines political guidelines. The need to adopt a new Constitution is due to a genetic connection designed to fill the gap between the people and the state. The new Constitution is also intended to legitimize the relationship between the state and the people, since legitimacy is very important in all respects. Let us also add that against the backdrop of public criticism that rained down after these statements by the prime minister and yesterday's threats by Aliyev on the issue of the Constitution of Armenia, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister Taron Chakhoyan hastened to shift responsibility for the idea of changing the Constitution to the RA opposition.
According to him, it was at the instigation of the Armenian opposition that the President of Azerbaijan began to speculate on these issues. Let us recall that on January 19, at the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia, Pashinyan said that Armenia needs a new Constitution that will make the Republic of Armenia more viable in the new geopolitical conditions.
The prime minister's counterparts stated that the initiative comes from Baku, mainly with the goal of eliminating from the Constitution references to the Declaration of Independence, which contains reference to the resolution on the reunification of the Armenian SSR and Nagorno-Karabakh. The 11th paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, which states that the Republic of Armenia supports international recognition of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 in Ottoman Turkey, is also considered problematic.