
ArmInfo. The text of Armenia's new Constitution will be published in the coming months. This was announced by RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on August 24 during the presentation of the government's 2026-2031 program to parliament.
According to him, the new draft Constitution will not contain references to the 1990 Declaration of Independence. The Prime Minister argued that such a reference would mean a continuation of the Karabakh movement and a return to the logic of the conflict. The Prime Minister believes that the adoption of a new Constitution is a purely internal issue for Armenia. Its adoption follows from the election program of the Civil Contract party. The new Constitution, Pashinyan continued, is intended to permanently strengthen the connection between the judicial system and all state power and its sole source-the people.
According to the head of government, Armenia's judicial system largely continues to serve as a protector of the interests of the former elites. The reason, as the prime minister noted, is that Armenia's judicial system is "caste-based" and lacks a full, organic connection to the sole source and bearer of power-the people. "In Armenia, any power can only emanate from the people, and power that does not emanate from the people, at the very least, raises questions," Pashinyan stated.
He emphasized that there is only one way to confirm the full legitimacy of power in the judicial system: the adoption of a new Constitution. Pashinyan reiterated that the agenda for a new Constitution is exclusively Armenia's agenda, pointing to Baku's frequent demands for a new Basic Law. "On the other hand, it is undeniable that Azerbaijan is very actively raising and even instrumentalizing the topic of constitutional reforms, and this is a well-known fact. But if this means that the issue of a new Constitution is an Azerbaijani agenda, as some opposition circles claim, let's go back and look at the history of the Third Republic: by the same logic, since 1994, only Azerbaijan has consistently raised the issue of returning 7 regions, that is, there was no initiative related to this in Armenia, and, as evidenced by the published documents of the negotiations on the settlement of the Karabakh issue, all the previous authorities of Armenia, namely political forces or leaders, supporters or representatives of the two current opposition factions, conducted active negotiations on this issue. So what were they negotiating around? Why did they keep Armenia on the Azerbaijani agenda for 24 years, why were they guided by the Azerbaijani agenda? Was it because they acted on the instructions of Azerbaijan or were representatives of Azerbaijan, especially since some of them were born and raised in Azerbaijan? I give these characteristics to show what The logic of some of our opposition members could lead to absurd conclusions. Regarding the text of the new Constitution, we will publish it in the coming months, and, as I have already said, the new Constitution should not reference the 1990 Declaration of Independence. Why? For one simple reason: we declared the need and decided not to continue, but to end, the Karabakh movement. We made this decision, and the people confirmed it: including a reference to the Declaration of Independence in the new Constitution would mean continuing the Karabakh movement, would mean returning to the logic of conflict, and we cannot do this, especially after the 2026 national elections, in which our people voted for peace, and the peace agenda is now the national agenda. Accordingly, preserving, strengthening, and institutionalizing the established peace with Azerbaijan is the government's top priority," Pashinyan stated.