Our strategy is the following: to make Armenia such that it can live in our region without external aid and external support. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who is in Germany on an official visit, stated this during a meeting held at the German Council on Foreign Affairs in Berlin and responding to the question of whether Armenia is preparing to change its constitution, since this is the main obstacle to signing the peace agreement with Azerbaijan.
“This is not about interrupting external relations with the international community or partners. Our goal is to be able to discuss our regional agenda with the countries of our region and to be able to create an atmosphere of harmony, solidarity as much as possible. We will never have a situation where there are zero problems; there are problems everywhere, including in Europe,” Pashinyan said.
“What is our [i.e. Armenia’s] discourse? We say that peace [between Armenia and Azerbaijan] is established, unequivocally, and we can see it on the ground; but on the other hand, it requires daily care. Without daily care and attention, it will be at risk,” he noted.
“Our position is very open because when Azerbaijan raises this concern, saying that there are territorial claims against Azerbaijan in Armenia’s Constitution, we can prove that there are no territorial claims against Azerbaijan in our constitution. And we can prove this both de jure and in practice. Moreover, in Armenia also there are certain interpretations and readings of Azerbaijan’s constitution according to which, there are territorial claims in Azerbaijan’s constitution against Armenia. But why are we [i.e. Armenia] not raising this issue? Because all these issues are addressed in the text of the agreement on peace and on establishing interstate relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which was initialed in Washington. Moreover, our constitution contains a provision according to which, ratified international documents have higher legal force than domestic legislation. I have publicly said that if our Constitutional Court decides that it does not comply with our constitution, I will personally initiate constitutional amendments [in Armenia],” the Armenian premier said.
He added that Armenia is ready to respond to the questions Azerbaijan wants answered, to sit down and discuss the nuances: “By the way, there was even an idea to carry out an international legal examination to understand the answer to this issue.”
“On the other hand, my answer would not be complete if I did not mention another nuance: since 2018 we had—and have—an agenda to adopt a new constitution. And recently, in our party congress declaration, we stated that after receiving a new mandate from our people in the 2026 [parliamentary] elections, we will initiate the adoption of a completely new constitution for the Republic of Armenia. We are not discussing this topic with Azerbaijan because it is entirely a domestic topic; it is our internal matter,” he said.
“Yes, I am convinced that our people will vote in favor of a new constitution because it concerns the strengthening of our democracy, the strengthening of our statehood, the strengthening of our independence, and of course, it may also have certain regional and international impact,” the Pashinyan stated.
