A change of Armenia’s existing constitution is Azerbaijan’s main precondition for signing an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty initialed in Washington in August. 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.
While public rejecting this precondition and insisting that the reference does not amount to territorial claims to Azerbaijan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has pledged to enact a new constitution. He said in September that it will be put on a referendum after Armenia’s next general elections due in June next year.
“I would like to reiterate the commitment that the Ministry of Justice has made, and this concerns the development of the text and its deadlines,” Galian said in remarks publicized by her office late on Thursday. “In particular, the commitment implies that the new text of the constitution should be ready by March.”
Pashinian said in April that the 1990 declaration resented by Baku must not be referenced in the new constitution. He has since continued to deny bowing to Azerbaijani pressure.
Armenian opposition groups have dismiss these assurances and pledged to scuttle the change of the constitution sought by Pashinian. They say that his continuing unilateral concessions only encourage Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to make more demands on Armenia and will not bring real peace.