Speaking during the first session of the Public Council operating under her office, Galian said the document will first be discussed by the board and parliamentary faction of the ruling Civil Contract party before any decision is made on its publication.
“The Constitutional Reforms Council is working very actively. We convene sessions every week. And the text is already ready, as I promised,” Galian said. “But I have no news yet regarding its publication, because it has been decided to discuss the text also at the Civil Contract party board and in the faction. After that, a decision will be made regarding the publication of the text.”
It remains unclear whether the draft constitution retains a reference to Armenia’s 1990 Declaration of Independence in its preamble. Azerbaijan has argued that the current reference to the declaration in Armenia’s constitution amounts to a territorial claim to Nagorno-Karabakh, a region that was predominantly populated by ethnic Armenians and remained outside Baku’s control for decades until Azerbaijan completed its military takeover in 2023, triggering an exodus of the local Armenian population.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian spoke in favor of removing it about a year ago and has recently reaffirmed that stance.
“There should be no reference to the Declaration of Independence in the new Constitution,” Pashinian said. “Let me tell you why: because the Declaration of Independence is built on the logic of conflict. We cannot follow the logic of conflict if we want to build an independent state.”
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly said that Baku will not sign an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty, initialed last August, unless Armenia removes the reference from its constitution. Under Armenian law, doing so would require adopting a new constitution through a referendum.
Pashinian previously said that the new constitution would be put to a referendum after Armenia’s parliamentary elections scheduled for June 7.
In a video message posted on Facebook on Friday Pashinian said his ruling Civil Contract party is “the only political force that says there must be no reference to the Declaration of Independence in the new Constitution.” This suggests that the referendum will not take place if Pashinian and his party are voted out of office.
Armenian opposition groups have pledged to block the constitutional change sought by Pashinian, arguing that his unilateral concessions encourage further demands from Azerbaijan and will not bring lasting peace.