If Azerbaijan does not ratify the Regulation, it will have no legal force – Vahe Grigoryan

There is reasonable doubt about what the issue would have been if, for example, the Constitutional Court had ruled that the Regulation was unconstitutional, constitutional law expert Vahe Grigoryan told Alpha News.

Recall that according to the Constitutional Court decision, the Regulation on the Activity of the Commissions on Delimitation of the State Border between Armenia and Azerbaijan complies with the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia.

On October 21, the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Foreign Relations gave a positive opinion on the draft law on the approval of the Regulation.

“The constitutionality of the law is decided by the Constitutional Court, which issued the resolution and recognized it as consistent with the Constitution, but there is an important peculiarity here. Certain actions provided for by this Regulation were taken before the decision of the Constitutional Court, and there is a reasonable doubt as to what the issue would have been if, for example, the Constitutional Court had made a decision that the Regulation contradicted the Constitution. The Regulation was recognized as consistent with the Constitution, but it can be said that many procedures in this regard were violated,” Grigoryan noted.

According to the expert, if Azerbaijan does not ratify the Regulation, it will have no legal force.

“Baku has not even started the process yet, and Armenia is trying to ratify it very quickly. The ratified regulation will be valid for Armenia, but it comes into force only by the mechanism of mutual notifications. Therefore, ratification of the Regulation itself is not a mandatory condition for its entry into force. And if Azerbaijan does not ratify it, the Regulation will have no legal force.

There is a common misconception that this provision is equivalent to a peace agreement, which, however, is not true. In this regard, this document should discuss the issue of the return of the occupied territories by Azerbaijan, which is the wrong approach. I believe this issue should be the subject of discussion of a conditional peace agreement,” Grigoryan concluded.