The political processes taking place in Armenia do not stem from an internal agenda, but are largely shaped under the influence of Azerbaijan’s perceptions and demands. This opinion was expressed by political commentator Hakob Badalyan while speaking about the removal of the Declaration of Independence from the Constitution and the authorities’ plans to build the so-called “New Armenia”.
According to him, within the framework of these plans, the issue is not about reforming the state or “building a new state from scratch”, but about the gradual dismantling of the existing statehood. He asserts that the implemented policy is aimed at weakening the current system, depriving it of power, and creating a situation in which Armenia will lose its political and legal weight even in international perception.
Badalyan noted that Azerbaijan has put forward a number of key demands, and especially after 2022 a new stage began, in which Armenia effectively started removing itself from the Artsakh issue, transferring this process into the legal-political dimension.
According to Badalyan’s assessment, now that the Artsakh issue has received a favorable solution for Azerbaijan, Baku is putting forward the next task — to achieve the weakening or dissolution of the Republic of Armenia as a political-legal entity. In his words, in the event of such a scenario, the discussion would no longer be about a fully sovereign state, but about a “decorative” or “object-state”.
He also emphasizes that this process, in his opinion, is not proceeding through military means, but through political decisions, which, as he puts it, means that changes favorable to Azerbaijan are being carried out “from within”.
Referring to the role of the current government, Badalyan notes that even if there is theoretically a desire to change the political course, the possibilities for doing so at present are extremely limited.
He is convinced that the process that has been formed has already gone beyond full independent control and is developing according to a logic dictated by external influences, primarily the agenda imposed by Azerbaijan.
Badalyan assesses that Armenia is in a difficult and decisive phase, where the key issue is not only foreign policy, but also the preservation of state institutions and the redefinition of political sovereignty.