Armenian revanchism unveiled Gallup poll extravaganza

After Aram Navasardyan, director of Gallup's Armenian office, unveiled the latest survey results, the narratives arising from these polls proved remarkably amusing. To avoid being unfounded, I will provide specific evidence of how meaningless this survey and its results were.

So, in July, 80.3% of respondents believed that the Constitution of Armenia should remain unchanged, 11.7% thought that some provisions should be changed, and 3.3% believed that the country needs an entirely new constitution. The most shocking part is that Aram Navasardyan decided to comment on these survey results from Gallup in a very peculiar way.

According to his reasoning, before the statements made by the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, demanding changes to the Constitution of Armenia, the figures were different. "In particular, in January, only 38.1% of respondents believed that the Constitution of Armenia should remain unchanged, 34.2% thought that some provisions should be changed, and 13.4% believed that Armenia needed an entirely new constitution," said Navasardyan.

On one hand, it's heartening to recognize that the Azerbaijani president is capable of influencing the stance of Armenian citizens. In Armenia, even the current government lacks significant authority, and its "strength" lies in the weakness of its opponents, particularly the Armenian opposition led by the Armenian "Pope Gapon," Bagrat Galstanyan. Against this backdrop, the acknowledgement that the statements of the Azerbaijani president led to a dramatic shift in the position of Armenian society is a condemnation of both the Armenian authorities and the Armenian opposition.

Furthermore, this serves as evidence of the legitimacy of our head of state's demands. Let me remind you of the wording in the Declaration of Independence of Armenia from August 23, 1990, which contradicts the principle of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. It states: the Supreme Council of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic expressing the united will of the Armenian people… exercising the right of nations to free self-determination based on the December 1, 1989, joint decision of the Armenian SSR Supreme Council and the Artsakh National Council on the ‘Reunification of the Armenian SSR and the Mountainous Region of Karabakh’…declares the beginning of the process of establishing of independent statehood…”

Armenia still constitutionally relies on the decision of the Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR from December 1, 1989, which has long lost its legal force due to the abolition of the Armenian SSR and the self-dissolution of the Karabakh junta. According to the Gallup poll, 80.3% of respondents essentially supported territorial claims against Azerbaijan. They supported these claims after Armenia's defeat in the 44-day war and the defeat of the remnants of the Karabakh junta during the one-day anti-terrorist operation in September 2023.

This is the very Armenian revanchism that Azerbaijan talks about needing to eradicate. Therefore, the Armenians surveyed by Gallup have provided official Baku with arguments in favour of the importance of changing the Armenian Constitution. Azerbaijan has every right to demonstrate these arguments everywhere. At the same time, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan finds himself in a truly idiotic position. After all, it was he who stated that Armenia needs a new constitution: "The world is changing, our region will inevitably change, no matter what we think about this evolution, the Republic of Armenia will also change and must change. And in this case, we should not stop this evolution, which is itself illogical, but rather, we should manage the situation in accordance with the interests of Armenia."

And so, Armenian society has responded to Pashinyan's position. How will he live with this now, and how will he prove his legitimacy? It's a vicious circle, reminiscent of the well-known joke. This is further confirmed by another significant point. According to the Gallup poll, about 60% of Armenian residents condemned the delimitation of the border with Azerbaijan carried out by the country's authorities. Only 37% of respondents approved of the border delimitation, while 5.2% found it difficult to answer.

This brings to mind the statements made by Narek Zeynalyan, a member of parliament from the ruling Civil Contract party, to Armenian journalists. He mentioned that the residents of the village of Kirants (Guney) in the Tavush (Tovuzgala) region of Armenia are pleased with having a clearly defined border with Azerbaijan. "The residents see everything with their own eyes; they realize that the street opposition's words are lies and fabrications. They are satisfied that the border is now clear; it is acceptable for them that this side of the line is Armenia, and the other side is not Armenia," Zeynalyan asserted.

So, either he is lying, or the Gallup poll data is false. However, besides the ruling party MP in Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan finds himself in an awkward position once again. He has repeatedly stated his recognition of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity, including the Karabakh region and enclaves. It is these enclaves that Armenia is returning in the process of border delimitation with Azerbaijan. This process has already begun and will be justly concluded. It doesn't matter what the surveyed Armenians by Gallup think about this. Because if official Yerevan reneges on its promises and disrupts the border delimitation process with Azerbaijan, Baku will have the right to determine the Armenian-Azerbaijani border according to its own terms. Fortunately, Baku has plenty of grounds to establish the border with Armenia where Azerbaijan deems appropriate, regardless of the outcry from Yerevan.

By Akbar Hasanov