Armenia’s justice minister Gevorg Danielyan believes the establishment of diplomatic relations and an open border with Turkey will inevitably necessitate certain amendments in some of Armenia’s laws to ensure “a normal enforcement” of the agreements between the two countries that have “essentially differing domestic legislations.” In an exclusive interview with RFE/RL, Danielyan said such amendments in the country’s criminal, civil and land codes will become all but “unavoidable”. “When we study Turkey’s domestic legislation, we understand that whether we want it or not, from the viewpoint of a proper protection of the country’s security and citizens’ rights and freedoms, there will emerge a need to revise legislation,” said Danielyan. “Let me just bring another example on how they envisage the rights of foreigners in accordance with their legislation. In Turkey there is the law on extradition, according to which Turkey gives the foreign culprits as many rights and liberties as are given to the citizens of Turkey by the given foreign country. They have signed such a contract with already 112 such states.” According to Danielyan, the ratification of the protocols will make it necessary to make amendments in the country’s land code to provide stricter procedures for land purchase. He said any restriction in ownership or property rights is “linked with security.” “The notion of security concerns not only areas near the border. We may have a territory or premises even in the center of the republic that would be considered a zone of security for us. It could be an administrative building of the Defense Ministry or an administrative building of the General Staff,” explained Danielyan. To the question as to whether this means that the process of buying land must be restricted, Danielyan said, “We will inevitably come to that.” At the same time, the minister ruled out any amendments in the penal code that will entitle the government to prosecute people for dissidence. Moreover, Danielyan thinks Turkey itself will reconsider its notorious law that allows prosecution of people for “denigrating Turkish symbols”, which is widely viewed by human rights groups as a restriction of freedom of speech. Meanwhile, a number of political groups in Armenia opposed to the current rapprochement with Turkey. Danielyan also brushed aside critical opinions that the current protocols with Turkey reaffirm the 1921 Treaty of Kars, which defined the borders of Soviet Armenia and is still widely viewed by Armenians as treasonous. “All these claims that these international agreements give legal force to other international agreements are far from being true. One should read article 6 of our constitution to understand that in our country all international agreements are valid only if ratified by the National Assembly. These concerns are the result of legal ignorance,” concluded the minister.
