The purpose of the constitutional amendments initiated by the Armenian authorities may be to renounce the demands for the recognition of Karabakh and the Armenian Genocide, which will result in the end of the Third Republic, which is the mainstay of the Karabakh movement. Eduard Sharmazanov, National Assembly ex-deputy speaker as well as vice-chairman and spokesperson of the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), told this to a press conference Monday.

According to him, the incumbent Armenian authorities fulfill the preconditions of Turkey—as they handed over considerable territories of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) to Azerbaijan, PM Nikol Pashinyan is afraid to call Artsakh’s Hadrut and Shushi towns "occupied," does not visit Karabakh ever since the war in the fall of 2020, and does not say anything about the Armenian Genocide.

Under this situation in Armenia, Sharmazanov considers unacceptable the process of normalization of relations with Ankara, as it legitimizes Turkey's demands.

"This is a crime," the RPA spokesman added

As for within the framework Armenia’s “football diplomacy" with Turkey during the period in office of the RPA, as per Sharmazanov, it was Armenia that had set the respective conditions—including the exclusion of Turkey from the Karabakh process.

"At that time, the Armenian foreign minister did not allow his Turkish counterpart to make a statement on Karabakh. Besides, third president of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan [i.e., who is also chairman of the RPA] set a condition that Turkey must first ratify the [Armenian-Turkish] protocols. [Then US Secretary of State Hillary] Clinton stated that the ball is in Turkey's court, whereas now no one takes Armenia seriously, even in the CSTO; the [Armenian] authorities are unable to engage it in repelling the [Azerbaijani military] aggression in the sovereign territory of the republic," Eduard Sharmazanov concluded.