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Political analyst Karen Bekaryan believes Armenia needs protection from its incumbent authorities.

“We have reached a point where it’s necessary to defend even the document at the core of the country's existence – the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of Armenia,” Bekaryan told parliamentary hearings held by the opposition Hayastan faction on Thursday.

The hearings defending the declaration came after the Constitutional Court downplayed the legal significance of the 1990 declaration of Armenia’s independence referred to in the Constitution in September.

“As absurd as it may sound, Armenia, including its constitutional order, Constitution, Declaration of Independence and right to exist, needs protection from its leadership to ensure lasting and dignified peace,” the analyst stated.

In his speech, Bekaryan recalled Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's 2019 statement in Stepanakert's Renaissance Square that “Artsakh is Armenia, period!”, stressing that it inflicted a heavy blow to Artsakh's sovereignty and undermined the peace process, paving the way for Azerbaijani military aggression.

“Interestingly, commenting on his statement in an interview to the Public TV Company on 11 November 2022, Nikol Pashinyan briefly said that he relied on the Declaration of Independence. The man placed reliance on the Declaration of Independence, created major risks, catastrophe, a lot of challenges, but two years later he claimed that the Declaration of Independence, in particular the part concerning Artsakh, has no legal force, has no relation to the Constitution and constitutionalism and cannot be relied on. The Constitutional Court echoed his remarks. It begs the question: doesn’t this amount to an overthrow of the constitutional order?” the lawyer underscored.