Azerbaijan has repeatedly made the signing of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty conditional on a change of Armenia’s current constitution which it says lays claim to Nagorno-Karabakh. It reaffirmed this precondition even after Yerevan and Baku finalized the text of the draft treaty last week.
While rejecting this demand in public, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian announced plans for such change a year ago. Pashinian stated last month that the new constitution sought by him “may have a regional significance as well.” Armenian opposition leaders portrayed the statement as further proof that it is designed to satisfy Baku.
“We are talking about a constitution that does not jeopardize peace, a peace treaty, and relations aimed at peace,” Galian told reporters.
The minister said at the same time that the current Armenian constitution “cannot obstruct the peace process.”
Baku specifically wants Yerevan to remove a constitutional preamble that mentions Armenia’s 1990 declaration of independence, which in turn cites a 1989 unification act adopted by the legislative bodies of Soviet Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast. The only legal way to do that is to adopt a new constitution through a referendum.
Galian, said earlier that a government panel headed by her will “do everything” to draft the new constitution before Armenia’s next general elections expected in June 2026.