Addressing the UN General Assembly in New York, Pashinian also sent mixed signals about a possible change of Armenia’s constitution demanded by Azerbaijan.
“The president of Azerbaijan and I have stated many times that at least 80 percent of the mentioned agreement has been agreed upon,” he said. “Now, to seize this historic opportunity and avoid the risk of reaching a deadlock, Armenia proposes to take what has already been agreed in the draft Agreement, sign it … and then go on with negotiations on pending issues. We are ready to do this right now.”
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev reiterated on Monday that this arrangement is unacceptable to Baku. Aliyev has also made the signing of a peace deal with Yerevan conditional on a change of Armenia’s constitution which he says contains territorial claims to Azerbaijan.
Pashinian insisted in his speech that there is “nothing of this kind in our constitution” and that “it is the constitution of Azerbaijan that contains territorial claims on Armenia.”
But he went on to say: “If our Constitutional Court decides that the peace agreement with Azerbaijan is in contradiction with the constitution of Armenia -- even though our experts assure that this is not likely to happen -- then we will face a specific situation where constitutional changes will be needed for the sake of achieving peace.”
Pashinian declared in January that Armenia needs a new constitution reflecting the “new geopolitical environment” in the region. In May, he ordered an ad hoc government body to draft the constitution by the end of 2026. The head of the body said earlier this month that it will likely be put on a referendum in 2027.
Armenian opposition leaders and other critics have portrayed these plans as further proof that Pashinian is bowing to yet another Azerbaijani demand. They say that he is increasingly desperate to sign the interim peace deal in hopes of misleading Armenians and increasing his chances of holding on to power. They also claim that Azerbaijan has no intention to make peace with Armenia before clinching more far-reaching concessions from Pashinian.
Pashinian spoke during the ongoing session of the UN assembly a few hours after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken hosted fresh talks in New York between the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers. According to virtually identical Armenian and Azerbaijani readouts of the talks, the ministers agreed to “put additional efforts towards the conclusion” of the peace treaty. It is not clear whether the two sides narrowed their differences.