Hrayr Tovmasyan: The Armenian-Turkish protocols will hardly be
declared anti-constitutional
09.01.2010 13:55

Lusine Vasilyan
`Radiolur’

The signing of the Armenian-Turkish protocols became one of the
pivotal events of 2009. The protocols will remain high on the agenda
in 2010. On January 12 the Constitutional Court of Armenia is expected
to consider the documents.

The procedure of ratification of international agreements differs in
Armenia and Turkey. In Turkey international agreements are ratified
through adoption of laws. `Turkey adopts a law on ratification of
international agreements. Actually, the text of the agreement becomes
the text of the law. Therefore, the procedure differs from the one
applied in Armenia, where international agreements are ranked higher
than national laws,’ lawyer Hrayr Tovmasyan clarifies.

In Turkey the protocols are still in the stage of parliamentary
discussion. In Armenia the protocols will first be considered by the
Constitutional Court. Before the protocols are submitted to the
National Assembly, the Constitutional Court will have to answer to
what extent the commitments enlisted in the protocols correspond to
Armenia’s Constitution.

Hrayr Tovmasyan considers that the protocols will hardly be declared
anti-constitutional.