Armenia to publish draft constitution in move that could see peace deal signed before elections
Armenian authorities have announced that the draft text of a new constitution will be published in March, a move that could help secure the signing of a long-awaited peace treaty with Azerbaijan before June’s parliamentary elections.
Azerbaijan has indicated that the peace deal could be signed before the elections on the condition that Yerevan commits not to have any ‘territorial claims’ against Azerbaijan in its new constitution.
Work on drafting the new Armenian Constitution is expected to be completed within the first half of 2026, Justice Minister Srbuhi Galyan said during her press briefing on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan Armenia has previously stated Armenia intends to hold a referendum on a new constitution after the 2026 parliamentary elections set to be held in June.
Although Armenia has officially expressed its intention to change the constitution, it insists that it would not be doing so based on Azerbaijan’s demands.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
Azerbaijani officials, including President Ilham Aliyev, have repeatedly stated that Armenia’s constitution contains territorial claims against Azerbaijan and demanded that it be changed, which remains one of the major sticking points holding up the signing of peace treaty initialled in Washington in August 2025.
Armenia’s constitution references the Declaration of Independence, which in turn said the declaration was ‘based’ on a joint decision made by Soviet Armenia’s Supreme Council and the Nagorno-Karabakh National Council on the ‘reunification’ of the two territories.
Days before Armenia disclosed the deadline for publishing the text of the new constitution, Azerbaijani MP Gudrat Hasanguliyev said Armenia and Azerbaijan could sign a peace agreement by June, ‘that is, before the next elections in Armenia’.
Hasanguliyev suggested that the signing would be possible only if Armenia ‘undertakes an obligation’ not to have territorial claims against Azerbaijan in its new constitution.
OC Media
