The agenda for adopting a new constitution is a purely Armenia agenda, not only because we adopted that agenda and announced it back in February 2020, but also now the citizens of Armenia, by voting for the Civil Contract [CC] party, have also voted for that agenda, because the adoption of a new constitution is one of the important provisions of the CC election program, on the grounds that the people of Armenia have the right to finally have their own legitimate constitution adopted by and to define—with a free expression of will—for themselves a legal system and rules of living. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Monday stated this at the National Assembly while presenting the upcoming five-year program of Armenia’s new government.

“On the other hand, it is impossible to deny that Azerbaijan is very actively raising and even instrumentalizing the topic of [Armenian] constitutional reforms, and this is a well-known fact. But if this means that the issue of a new constitution [of Armenia] is an Azerbaijani agenda, as some [Armenian] opposition circles claim, let’s go back and look at the history of the Third Republic [of Armenia]. With that same logic, since 1994, only Azerbaijan has continuously raised the topic of the return of the seven regions; that is, there has been no initiative in Armenia related to it. And as the publicized papers on the negotiation of the Karabakh issue testify, all the previous authorities of Armenia—that is, the political or leaders, defenders or representatives of the two current opposition factions—have actively negotiated on this issue.

So why did they negotiate? So why did they keep Armenia on the Azerbaijani agenda for 24 years. Why were they guided by the Azerbaijani agenda? Is it because they were led by Azerbaijan or were representatives of Azerbaijan, especially since some of them were born and raised in Azerbaijan? I make these descriptions to show what absurd conclusions the logic of a number of our oppositionists can lead to.

As for the text of the new constitution [of Armenia], we will publicize it in the coming months, and as I said, there should be no reference to the 1990 Declaration of Independence [of Armenia] in the new constitution. Why? For a simple reason: we [i.e. the incumbent Armenian authorities] have announced the need and decision not to continue, to end the Karabakh movement.

We have made that decision, and the people [of Armenia] have approved that decision. To refer to the Declaration of Independence in the new constitution would mean continuing the Karabakh movement, would mean returning to the logic of the conflict, and we cannot do this, especially after the 2026 national [parliamentary] elections where our people voted for peace, and the peace agenda is now a national agenda.

Accordingly, the preservation, strengthening, and institutionalization of the peace established with Azerbaijan is a priority agenda for the [Armenian] government,” added the premier.