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Akbar Novruz

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Armenia is expected to publish the draft text of its new constitution within the next month, Justice Minister Srbuhi Galyan announced on Thursday, as constitutional reform remains a key issue in the ongoing peace process between Baku and Yerevan, according to News.am.

Speaking to journalists outside the Armenian government building, Galyan said the document would be made public within the coming month unless unforeseen circumstances delayed the process.

The minister also outlined how public consultations on the proposed constitution would be conducted, stressing that discussions would be more extensive than those typically organised for ordinary legislation.

"The same way as discussions on draft laws are organized, but broader, more inclusive, and longer—taking into account the importance and volume of the document," Galyan said.

The announcement comes amid continued discussions over constitutional provisions that Azerbaijan considers incompatible with the normalisation of relations between the two countries.

Baku has repeatedly called for changes to Armenia's constitution, particularly concerning its reference to the country's Declaration of Independence, which Azerbaijan maintains contains territorial claims against it.

The issue remains one of the principal obstacles to the formal signing of the peace agreement initialled by Azerbaijan and Armenia in Washington in August 2025.

During Thursday's exchange, journalists asked Galyan about the apparent contradiction between Azerbaijan's demand to remove the reference to the Declaration of Independence and the Armenian government's insistence that constitutional reform is a matter of domestic policy.

The justice minister rejected the suggestion that the reform process was specifically intended to remove particular provisions at Azerbaijan's request.

"Our internal agenda is to develop a new constitution and decide what should or should not be in the constitution. Our internal agenda is not to remove anything from the constitution, our internal agenda is to write a new constitution," she stated.

Her remarks suggest that Yerevan intends to present the constitutional reform process as a comprehensive domestic initiative rather than a measure undertaken solely in response to Azerbaijan's demands.

However, the question of whether the new constitution will retain references to the Declaration of Independence remains particularly significant for the Azerbaijan-Armenia peace process.

Azerbaijan has maintained that the removal of constitutional provisions it regards as territorial claims is necessary to eliminate legal and political obstacles to lasting peace.

Armenian officials, meanwhile, have emphasised that decisions concerning the country's constitutional framework must be made through its own domestic procedures.

The expected publication of the draft constitution will provide the first indication of how the Armenian government intends to address these competing considerations.