The document adopted by Armenia’s first post-Communist parliament declared “the start of a process of establishing independent statehood.” It also made reference to a 1989 unification act adopted by the legislative bodies of Soviet Armenia and the then Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast.
The declaration is in turn cited in a preamble to the Armenian constitution enacted in 1995 and repeatedly amended since then. Azerbaijani leaders have regularly said in the past several months that this reference amounts to territorial claims to Azerbaijan. They have made clear that the signing of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty is conditional on its scrapping.
Pashinian criticized the 1990 declaration even before Baku publicly set that precondition. He stated in February that that peace with Azerbaijan will be impossible as long as the document is referenced in the constitution.
The only legal way to remove that reference is to enact a new constitution through a referendum. Pashinian announced plans to do that earlier this year, leading his detractors to claim that he is bowing to yet another Azerbaijani demand.
Pashinian appeared to alter his rhetoric on Friday in a statement congratulating Armenians on the 34th anniversary of the 1990 declaration’s adoption. He said that “contrary to various interpretations” the constitutional reference in question “does not mean that the entire content of the Declaration of Independence is included in the Armenian constitution and that the content of these two documents is identical.”
The constitution reflects “only those provisions of the declaration that are expressed directly and literally, and any other interpretation is simply not appropriate,” added Pashinian. He did not explicitly point to Baku’s demands.
Pashinian reaffirmed his plans to change the constitution as recently as on July 5. Earlier, he ordered an ad hoc government body to draft a new basic law by the end of 2026.
“In any case, his policy remains the same: the constitution must be changed,” Artur Khachatrian, a parliament deputy from the main opposition Hayastan alliance, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Khachatrian said Pashinian also remains intent on abandoning “the principles enshrined in the declaration of independence” under Azerbaijani pressure. Hovik Aghazarian, a lawmaker representing the ruling Civil Contract party, agreed that the premier continues to take a dim view of the declaration.
“Our view, I think, is that we must not make reference to the declaration in the new constitution,” said Aghazarian.