Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has reiterated his criticism of a 1990 declaration of Armenia’s independence resented by Azerbaijan as he defended his plans to try to enact a new Armenian constitution.
The declaration made reference to a 1989 unification act adopted by the legislative bodies of Soviet Armenia and the then Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast. It also called for international recognition of the 1915 genocide of Armenians “in Ottoman Turkey and Western Armenia.” The declaration is cited in a preamble to the current Armenian constitution adopted in 1995.
In an interview with Armenian Public Radio broadcast on Thursday, Pashinyan gave more indications that he wants to exclude this reference from the new constitution.
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“We really need to settle our relations with the declaration today,” he said. “The question is whether our state policy should be referenced to it and whether our state policies should be guided by that message and based on the decision of the National Council of Nagorno-Karabakh and the Supreme Council of Armenia on the reunification of Karabakh and Armenia.”
“If so, it means we will never have peace. Furthermore, it means that we will now have war,” claimed Pashinyan.
Pashinyan did not deny Armenian opposition claims that he wants to change the constitution under pressure from Azerbaijan. He said at the same time that Baku is publicly demanding such a change in a bid to discredit the constitutional reform and eventually “weaken” Armenia.
He also admitted that the new constitution envisaged by him would not necessarily prevent Azerbaijani aggression.
Pashinyan’s political opponents and other critics say that his continuing unilateral concessions to Baku only increase the risk of another war.