New Constitution in Armenia`s interests

ArmInfo.  Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Alen Simonyan assures that the adoption of the new Constitution is driven solely by Armenia's interests and is not being carried out at the request of Baku.

"The Armenian Constitution and the planned amendments are being  adopted in Armenia's interests. They are not being adopted in  Azerbaijan's interests. They are being adopted for Armenia's survival  and future," Simonyan said during a briefing in parliament on March  24.

When asked whether Armenia could demand constitutional amendments  from Azerbaijan, Simonyan noted that negotiations were held with Baku  regarding a peace treaty, and there is no such clause in it-all  clauses of the peace treaty are bilateral.

"There is no such agenda. Armenia needs a good army. I am doing this  so that the Armenian army is well- armed and capable of defending  itself. I don't think I should impose anything on Azerbaijan, Turkey,  or Georgia so that tomorrow they might think about imposing something  on us." "I'm thinking about Armenia's interests. And Armenia's  interests mean that we must have a Constitution that prevents anyone  from viewing us as a threat in the region," Alen Simonyan noted.

The day before, RA Justice Minister Srbuhi Galyan announced that the  text of the draft Constitution of Armenia is completely ready. "The  legal part of the document is completely ready, and the political  context is currently being developed. We will continue working with  the Council to ensure there are no undiscussed issues," Galyan said.  Responding to a question about RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's  opposition to the inclusion of a reference to the RA Declaration in  the draft RA Constitution, as he assessed it as creating conflict  risks (in particular, one of the Declaration's clauses envisages the  unification of Armenia with Nagorno-Karabakh, which Azerbaijan  opposes, tying constitutional amendments to the possibility of  signing a peace agreement with Yerevan). Galyan noted that the Prime  Minister, as a political figure, has the right to express his  position. Council members may also have different approaches, but by  examining all initiatives, it is necessary to reach a common  denominator.