The Parliamentary elections in Armenia will be held on 2 April 2017. Following constitutional amendments, endorsed previously by voters in a referendum in December 2015, Armenia is “transitioning from a semi-presidential to a parliamentary political system”. The changes considerably reduce the president`s authority in favor of the prime minister and the national parliament. Thus, for the first time, Armenian citizens will elect members of parliament (MPs) “under the revised political system”.
Notable the elections will be held one year before the start of the second and last parliamentary term of current Armenian president Serzh Sarkisian and the end of Armenia’s transition to a parliamentary political system. The National Assembly which will be elected in April will also choose the next president of the state, which will obtain a formal honorary role.
In anticipation of this event Armenia attempted to freeze the negotiation process on Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, aimed at maintaining the current status quo in affront to international law and first of all, 1993 UN Security Council resolutions.
However, the April escalation 2016 demonstrated that “the status quo has been already changed”given to fact that some strategic heights that had been under the Armenian occupation were retaken by the Azerbaijani armed forces “for the first time since a ceasefire agreement was signed in 1994”.
The “four day war” also yielded some dynamics in diplomatic efforts, emphasizing urgent conflict resolution efforts in order to prevent the resumption of a full-scale war with possible security implications for the whole region. Thus, the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia met in Vienna and Saint Petersburg, and “the ceasefire has largely been adhered on the LoC”.
Aftermath Armenia attempted to utilize its traditional provocative policy of recognition of the so-called “Nagorno-Karabakh Republic”, aimed at spoiling the negotiation process.
International organizations and world states adhere to the position that Nagorno-Karabakh belongs to Azerbaijan, and the military forces of Armenia must be withdrawn from all occupied territories of Azerbaijan, which finds its legal consolidation in the documents adopted by international organizations on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, including the above-mentioned resolutions of the UN Security Council.
Moreover, on June 16, 2015, Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has delivered its judgment in the case of “Chiragov and other v. Armenia”, declared that “violation of the applicants` rights occurred on the sovereign territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan” and found “the Republic of Armenia responsible for the breaches of the applicants’ rights”. Furthermore, dealing with the categories of “effective control” and “belligerent occupation”, the supranational judicial institution provides a legal assessment of the issues mainly stem from the facts of military aggression. Thus, with reference to the 1907 Hague Convention on respecting the laws and customs of war on land and 1949 Geneva Convention relative to the protection of civilian persons in time of war, the Court noted that notion of effective control in fact denotes belligerent occupation. Concerning the jurisdiction of Armenia in the framework of its effective control over Nagorno-Karabakh and the surroundings territories, the Court noted in particular that “numerous reports and public statements, including from members and former members of the Armenian government, demonstrated that Armenia, through its military presence and by providing military equipment and expertise, had been significantly involved in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict from an early date”.
Thus, Armenia`s occupation of the Azerbaijani territories has been proved in the judgment of the supranational (international) court, the decisions of which have legally binding nature. The ECHR puts an ultimate end to the Armenian speculations on this issue.