July 5 is the Constitution Day in Armenia, one of the most important public holidays which, however, has not become a holiday and is “marked” in as much as it is a non-working day. And this is not a surprise because since independence the consciousness of the independent state and constitutional order has not been rooted in Armenia. The chair of the Constitutional Court confessed on one occasion that there is a Constitution in Armenia but there is no constitutionality. The Constitution was adopted in 1995 and was amended once in ten years, first in 2005, then in 2015. It was amended in lack of broad public consensus and through rigged referendums. The political forces were not able to come to a consensus on the main law of the country, and this is one of the reasons for the lack of constitutional awareness. Instead we have witnessed repetitively that the political forces have achieved consensus on handing the sovereignty of the country and ruling out constitutional order because this was the condition for their being in government. The Armenian constitution was adopted and amended in periods of so-called change of government. In 1995 the government changed, and the military oligarchy came to power. In 2005 power went to the criminal oligarchy. These processes were marked by bloodshed and strong internal shock. In 2015 the form of governance was changed through amending the Constitution. Armenia moved from semi-presidential to parliamentary governance, and the Electoral Code was adjusted. The ruling criminal and oligarchic system, unlike the public at large and political parties, was the first to feel the power of the Constitution. And this is natural because the criminal rule is based on clear agreements and internal systemic “rules” otherwise it cannot survive. This is very similar to the Constitutional order because the Constitution itself lays down the public arrangements on coexistence. The ruling system realized that the Constitution can be a powerful weapon for protection from public claims and to retain their systemic privileges and quotas while the public at large remains at the level of false and unreal perceptions. This process was completed with the 2005 Constitution. Armenia stepped into the reality of two parallel constitutions, criminal and national. The country lived under criminal rule, and the national constitution was a weapon against the public which functioned as a tool for neutralizing the basic rights, namely the right to form government. What transformations does the 2015 Constitution suppose aside from change of the form of governance? Usually, judging by the experience of many other countries, it must be the “legitimization” of criminal order, i.e. the synthesis of the two Constitutions. The first signs are already there. Recently there has been a consolidation of political forces over legitimization of several state crimes. In the long run, however, there is uncertainty because the main premise for constitutional order – sovereignty – is being destroyed step by step. The independent state, the constitutionality is accessible to very few peoples who are capable of being aware of their right. Where do the Armenian people stand?
