Will Armenia have time to save face?

Our Armenian neighbors have very wrong ideas about national dignity. They are fighting with all their might to preserve what is not there, considering their short-sightedness and stubbornness as manifestations of national pride and dignity. In fact, Armenia lost its dignity thirty years ago, but after losing the war, it got the opportunity to return it, which it stubbornly resists.

Who is the Armenian side doing wrong by proudly refusing to amend the Constitution? Only to myself. The so-called pride does not allow Yerevan to "humiliate itself" and agree with Baku's demands, although it is clear to everyone that it will still have to be done. The Armenian side is only delaying the inevitable.

To be honest, the stubbornness of the neighbors is not very clear. There is no shame in removing toxic points from the basic law. However, this is only the case when the issue is resolved quickly and without bickering. When the case drags on for years and, in the end, still leads to the expected result, it is no longer painless for self-esteem. But Armenia has reached this stage on its own. She was informed long ago about the need to bring the Constitution into line with the norms of good neighborliness. Azerbaijan has long made it clear that the signing of a peace treaty is directly linked to this issue. Not out of harmfulness, not out of hatred, not out of revenge, but out of considerations of objective necessity. By changing the preamble of the country's basic law, Armenia would join the ranks of normal states. Now she is not one, and, apparently, she is not going to change anything about it.

"The Republic of Armenia can change its Constitution by the decision of the citizens of Armenia. The Republic of Armenia will not change its Constitution at the request of any country, to change or not to change is the internal affairs of the Republic of Armenia," Deputy Chairman of the ruling party and Minister of Economy of Armenia Gevorg Papoyan said at a briefing.

The Armenian minister is wrong. Of course, the basic law of the country is its internal affair, but in our case it is not so. Unfortunately, the Constitution of Armenia cannot remain only an Armenian matter, because it contains claims to Azerbaijani lands. Azerbaijan does not care at all what rights and freedoms Armenia gives to its citizens, what it demands from them and on what foundations it builds its statehood. All this does not concern him and does not interest him. In Armenia, they pretend that they do not understand what is being said and what is the essence of Baku's demands. And the longer it takes to resolve the issue, the more difficult it will be for the Armenian side to save face later. And after all, you may not have time to do this, having lost your face completely.

We have repeatedly cited points from the Armenian legislation that are subject to liquidation. But, taking into account Minister Papoyan's statement, we will have to start this hurdy-gurdy again in order to once again try to hammer in the elementary truth: the fundamental documents of the state with such content cannot remain his personal business in any way.

The Declaration of Independence of Armenia states: "The Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR, expressing the united will of the people of Armenia... implementing the right of nations to free self-determination, based on the joint Resolution of the Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR and the National Council of Nagorno-Karabakh of December I, 1989 "On the reunification of the Armenian SSR and Nagorno-Karabakh"... PROCLAIMS: The beginning of the process of establishing independent statehood."

In other words, Armenia declared its independence by virtually annexing the territories of Azerbaijan. In addition, she documented claims to the lands of Turkey, mentioning the so-called "Western Armenia" in the text of the declaration. These provisions remain in this document and, as we understand it, no one intends to remove them from there.

And it would be half the trouble if the preamble to the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia did not state that "the Armenian people, based on the fundamental principles of Armenian statehood and national goals enshrined in the Declaration of Independence of Armenia, which fulfilled the sacred covenant of its freedom-loving ancestors ...", and so on. The text of the Constitution itself does not mention Karabakh, but it is based, as mentioned above, on the national goals enshrined in the Declaration of Independence. Consequently, the basic law of the Republic of Armenia has fixed the appropriation of the territories of a neighboring state as one of the main goals of the Armenian nation. Against this background, Pashinyan's recognition of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity turns into nothing

By the way, Armenia itself does not hide the fact that such provisions have put an obstacle in front of any international or domestic document in which Karabakh is represented as part of Azerbaijan. Armenian lawyers admit that this makes the peace treaty obviously invalid. The agreement that Yerevan, Washington and Brussels for some reason consider ready for signing.  

At the same time, attempts are being made to put pressure on Baku in order to force it to conclude a crude peace with Armenia without guarantees, despite the senselessness and unreliability of such agreements. Overly optimistic assessments of the situation by European and American officials make us doubt their sincerity, because the reality is completely different and the same US Secretary of State or the head of EU diplomacy cannot be unaware of this. Azerbaijan is not stubborn or capricious. Elementary logic suggests that a peace treaty with a neighbor who considers your lands his own at the Constitutional level is meaningless and therefore excluded.

It is even somehow inconvenient to repeat this simple truth over and over again to adults, respectable uncles burdened with high positions and ranks...