Over the past week, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced what he described as the country’s new “Fourth Republic,” presenting a new constitution as the institutional foundation of a political era built around peace rather than conflict.

The announcement carries particular significance for Armenia’s relations with Azerbaijan. Baku has consistently identified constitutional change as a non-negotiable precondition for signing a final peace treaty, arguing that Armenia’s existing constitutional framework contains latent territorial claims against Azerbaijan through its reference to the 1990 Declaration of Independence, which itself invoked the reunification of Karabakh with Armenia.

Pashinyan, however, has sought to frame the constitutional process not as a concession to Azerbaijan, but as a domestic transformation driven by the Armenian public’s purported rejection of the old conflict-oriented political paradigm.

“We cannot do this, especially after the 2026 elections, in which our people voted for peace,” Pashinyan said today.

Pashinyan and his government continue to push for a new constitution, arguing it will establish a "Fourth Republic" and fix judicial gaps, while maintaining that the process is a domestic priority rather than a concession to outside pressure.

Official Yerevan has not set a specific final date to adopt a new constitution. Pashinyan's administration plans to put a new draft through a public discussion and eventually a nationwide referendum, but the timeline remains uncertain after the ruling party did not secure a constitutional majority in the June 2026 parliamentary elections.

Pashinyan also formally declared the establishment of Armenia's "Fourth Republic," a new political era built around a "logic of peace" rather than conflict.

It follows the country's June 7, 2026........

© AzerNews