Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called the country’s 1990 Independence Declaration “anti-state” on Oct. 29, arguing that its text is incompatible with the existence of an independent state.
Pashinyan made the remarks during a news briefing, according to Armenia’s state news agency, Armenpress.
“It is impossible to have an independent state with that text. That text is about the impossibility of having a state,” he said.
A New Constitution and Opposition Resistance
Pashinyan said the adoption of a new Constitution was included in the election platform of his ruling Civil Contract party. Because the party won an absolute majority, he said, the government is obligated to carry out that program.
The prime minister said the opposition had linked the constitutional process to international and regional issues. He predicted that the dispute was unlikely to lead to an early election and said he expected to make the opposition an offer “it cannot refuse,” without explaining the proposal.
He also said the government could conduct the process in a way that generates enough public pressure for opposition lawmakers to support a vote enabling a constitutional referendum.
Pashinyan said the draft of the new Constitution would be published soon. He had said a day earlier that constitutional reform was an internal Armenian matter and that Yerevan would discuss it with the Armenian public, not with Azerbaijan or another outside party.
Why the Issue Matters to Azerbaijan
The preamble of Armenia’s current Constitution refers to the 1990 Declaration of Independence. The declaration, in turn, cites a 1989 resolution on the unification of Soviet Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
Azerbaijan argues that the constitutional reference preserves a basis for territorial claims against it and says the issue must be resolved before a peace treaty between Baku and Yerevan can be formally signed.
Pashinyan previously said the new Constitution should not refer to the declaration because retaining the reference would continue the logic of the Karabakh movement and return Armenia to a conflict-based political framework. In an official speech in August, he said maintaining and institutionalizing peace with Azerbaijan was a government priority.
Sources: Vesti Baku; Armenpress, Oct. 29 briefing; Office of the Armenian Prime Minister.