Today, Nikol Pashinyan stated that during his bilateral meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Bishkek, they discussed the issues on the agenda of the Armenian-Azerbaijani process, but did not discuss the issue of constitutional amendments.
“We discussed all the issues on our agenda with the President of Azerbaijan. The Constitution is not on our agenda. On the contrary, we make it clear that we do not discuss the agenda or the issue of our Constitution with external partners or other countries,” he said.
Prime Minister Pashinyan is perhaps being entirely sincere when he assures us that they did not discuss this issue and that it is not on the agenda. In fact, there is hardly any point in asking whether the issue of the Constitution was discussed with Aliyev at all.
Generally speaking, the issues that are discussed are those on which the parties involved in a discussion or negotiation have different opinions, different approaches, different perceptions, and so on. That is the purpose of discussion or negotiation: to bring positions closer together and reach an agreement.
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Yet when it comes to changing the Constitution, complete agreement has long been evident. There is no disagreement or difference in perception whatsoever between the positions of the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia. The Azerbaijani president and those under his authority have publicly put forward the demand: the Constitution must be amended, and the reference to the Declaration of Independence must be removed. Nikol Pashinyan and those under his authority have accepted that demand and declared their determination to implement it.
So what is there left for Aliyev and Pashinyan to discuss on this matter, and why would they need to discuss it? There is nothing left to discuss in this regard.
Let me repeat: Baku has set the condition, Yerevan has accepted it and has even begun justifying it. After all, when Nikol Pashinyan declares that Armenia’s Declaration of Independence is “conflictual,” what is that if not a justification of Azerbaijan’s demand?
Therefore, on this issue, Pashinyan and Aliyev have reached complete agreement.
Hakob BADALYAN
