The declaration mentioned in a preamble to the Armenian constitution cites a 1989 unification act adopted by the legislative bodies of Soviet Armenia and the then Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast. Baku says that this continues a territorial claim to Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani leaders regularly state that they will not sign a peace treaty with Yerevan unless this and other, unspecified Armenian legal acts are repealed.
Armenia’s Constitutional Court downplayed late last month the legal significance of the preamble, effectively echoing the Pashinian government’s assurances that it does not call into question its recognition of Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh. It said the reference to the 1990 declaration “does not apply to any principle or aim which is not enshrined in the [articles of the] Constitution.”
Armenian opposition figures and legal experts critical of the government condemned this interpretation of the preamble, accusing the court of overstepping its powers. Some of them said Pashinian ordered the unusual ruling in a further bid to convince Azerbaijan to drop its precondition.
The main opposition Hayastan alliance held a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday to promote a draft statement by the National Assembly defending the declaration and denouncing “any attempt to denigrate the fundamental principles and national goals of Armenian statehood enshrined in it.” Such attempts constitute a “grave crime against the sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia,” says the proposed document read out by a Hayastan lawmaker, Gegham Manukian.
The hearing boycotted by the parliament’s pro-government majority was attended by representatives of other opposition groups, non-partisan government critics as well as Archbishop Bagrat Galstanian, the leader of a protest movement sparked by Pashinian’s territorial concessions made to Azerbaijan this spring. Galstanian vowed to continue campaigning for regime change, saying that Pashinian has proved “totally bankrupt in the political, social, military, diplomatic and leadership senses.”
“Yes, we haven’t succeeded at this stage, but our struggle is continuing contrary to all kinds of human weaknesses, interests and scheming because our struggle is about … saving our statehood,” said the opposition-backed cleric.
The Constitutional Court ruling did not satisfy Baku, with the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry claiming earlier this month that it actually underscored the Armenian territorial claims.
In recent weeks, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has also set other conditions for signing a peace deal with Yerevan. Aliyev made fresh threats of military action against Armenia on October 4, accusing it of playing “dangerous games.”