Populism instead of progress Pashinyan is dodging again

The manipulative game by Yerevan around the Armenian constitution continues. Attempts to create a false impression of alleged readiness for peace with Azerbaijan directly confirm the periodic contradictory statements of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

The conditions from the Azerbaijani side remain unchanged: the de jure dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group, as well as amendments to Armenia’s basic law excluding territorial claims against Azerbaijan. The Armenian side has not advanced a single step in this direction—neither in changing its constitution nor in the practical dismantling of institutional remnants of confrontational policy. Once again, Nikol Pashinyan confirmed Yerevan’s inconsistent policy, now in the Albanian capital Tirana, where he recently gave vague answers to specific questions from an Azerbaijani journalist.

“We do not yet have a draft for a new constitution, but we have analysed our current constitution, we know the issues raised by Azerbaijan, and obviously, de jure, according to the decision of our Constitutional Court, our current constitution contains no territorial claims against our neighbours. This is already a legally established fact, and that is very important,” said Nikol Pashinyan, effectively “shifting the blame” to the ruling of Armenia’s “highest judicial authority.”

Let us recall that in April of this year, the head of Armenia’s Constitutional Court, Arman Dilanyan, in an interview with Radio Liberty, stated that the basic law of Armenia contains no territorial claims not only against Azerbaijan but also against any other country, calling Baku’s accusations “false.”

In the same April, Nikol Pashinyan declared that the new Armenian Constitution should not include any reference to the Declaration of Independence. The Armenian Prime Minister also claimed that the provisions of the Declaration of Independence, which form the basis of the current constitution, pose a threat of war to Armenia. In March, Pashinyan announced that the authorities plan to hold a referendum on adopting a new constitution in 2027, noting that his team is considering the possibility of holding the referendum simultaneously with the parliamentary elections in 2026. At that time, he insisted that changing the constitution is strictly a matter of internal policy and will have no regional or international impact.

Just recently, the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia, Srbuhi Galyan, told journalists that the text of the new Armenian constitution will be ready in 10 months. As the minister noted, the document is currently in the drafting stage, with various text options being discussed. However, no final decision has yet been made. At the same time, the removal of the reference to the Declaration of Independence from the constitution has not been discussed, Galyan added, addressing the statement by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

The contradictory statements of the Armenian leader are a kind of manipulation that official Yerevan is trying to carry out in order to achieve the signing of a peace agreement without making the necessary amendments to its constitution. It is also clear that the Armenian authorities are still entertaining the idea of signing a “truncated” peace treaty, despite the fact that all previous attempts by Yerevan in this regard have ended in failure.

“…currently, the Azerbaijani side raises concerns that supposedly there are territorial claims against Azerbaijan in the Armenian Constitution—I have already spoken about this. If these concerns are sincere, then the shortest way to resolve this issue is to sign a peace agreement,” Pashinyan said to an Azerbaijani journalist.

As we can see, Pashinyan once again tried to dodge around the constitution, making one absurd statement after another.

It is also clear that the Armenian side is trying to delay the dissolution of the long-defunct “dead” OSCE Minsk Group by coming up with absurd excuses. This is directly confirmed by the following absurd statement from Pashinyan:

“…Azerbaijan raises two issues for signing a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia. One issue is related to the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group. We say that, overall, this agenda is acceptable to us, and we want to be sure that Azerbaijan’s desire is not to close the conflict on its own territory and export the conflict to the territory of the Republic of Armenia. And there is a solution for this. The solution we propose is the following: to sign a peace agreement and simultaneously address the OSCE for the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group,” the Armenian prime minister said.

From Pashinyan’s statements, the following conclusions can be drawn: first, he acknowledged that the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict took place on Azerbaijani territory, thereby confirming that Karabakh belongs to Azerbaijan.

Second, the Armenian authorities continue their verbal acrobatics around the constitution. However, Baku has long understood that this is nothing more than a populist game aimed at misleading the international community.

Thirdly, the Armenian prime minister’s concerns that Azerbaijan might supposedly transfer the conflict onto Armenian territory are complete nonsense and a denial of reality. In this regard, it is worth reminding Pashinyan that for nearly thirty years, it was Armenia that held the territories of a foreign state under occupation. Meanwhile, Baku is striving to turn the page on the conflict permanently. Here too, there is clear populism on the part of the Armenian authorities, who are trying by all possible means to obstruct Baku’s peace agenda.

Official Baku responded to Pashinyan’s statements by emphasising the key points. In a comment from the spokesperson of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Aykhan Hajizada, it was said:

“On May 15, during an interview in Albania with Azerbaijan Public Television, the Armenian Prime Minister once again attempted to mislead the international community regarding the territorial claims in the Armenian Constitution and the dissolution of the Minsk Group. It is an undeniable fact that expressions of support for territorial integrity in international agreements hold no significance for the Armenian side. To prove this, it is pertinent to recall the process of Armenia’s accession to the frequently referred Almaty Declaration, and how it has grossly violated this agreement. The Armenian reservations made during the process of joining the Almaty Declaration, and the existence of legislative acts in force that oppose recognising Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan, are well known.”

The Armenian prime minister’s attempt to justify his claims by referring to the constitutional provision on the priority of international treaties—which Armenia has joined and ratified—over domestic laws is also completely unfounded. To prove the opposite, it is enough to look at Article 5 of the Armenian Constitution (the hierarchy of legal norms). According to this article, the Armenian Constitution has the highest legal force, and the clause on the priority of international treaties, to which the prime minister refers, does not apply to the constitution itself.

Indeed, neither Pashinyan’s statements nor the notorious decision of the Armenian Constitutional Court dated September 26, 2024—that the “reference to the Declaration of Independence in the preamble of the constitution applies only to those provisions of the declaration enshrined in the articles of the constitution”—change the main fact: there has been no progress on this point in the peace process so far. But peace requires not stagnation and rhetoric, but legally enshrined responsibility. If Armenia is truly ready for a historic turnaround, the only possible path is to officially enshrine this in its own basic law, without attempts to disguise the old agenda in new packaging.