Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov has again openly tied the signing of a peace agreement with Armenia to the adoption of a new Armenian Constitution, despite repeated claims by Pashinyan’s team that the constitutional process is not being pursued at Baku’s demand.
Bayramov said Armenia must complete the process of adopting a new Constitution before the peace agreement can be signed.
While describing the timing and procedure as Armenia’s internal matter, he made Baku’s position clear.
“We will wait for the full completion of this process and the final signing of the peace agreement,” Bayramov said.
The statement once again directly contradicts attempts by Armenian officials to present the new Constitution as an exclusively domestic initiative unrelated to Azerbaijani demands.
In May, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said Azerbaijan had not formally demanded a constitutional change within the bilateral negotiations, while acknowledging that Baku has repeatedly stated publicly that it will not sign the peace agreement unless Armenia changes its Constitution.
Nikol Pashinyan has likewise insisted that adopting a new Constitution is a “purely Armenian agenda.” Yet in August, he acknowledged that Azerbaijan is actively raising and “instrumentalizing” the constitutional issue.
Pashinyan has also said the new Constitution should contain no reference to Armenia’s 1990 Declaration of Independence, whose preamble refers to the 1989 reunification decision concerning Armenia and Artsakh.
Removing that reference is one of Azerbaijan’s repeatedly stated demands toward Armenia.
