Deputy Speaker to Armenia’s Foreign Minister: When my colleagues say, “Let’s sign a peace treaty,” you start talking about constitutional changes

ArmInfo. We believe that the peace treaty should be signed, regardless of whether this happens in parallel with the TRIPP project or afterward. But if we are talking about genuine, sincere peace, we should not have to argue. After all, according to your own words, peace has already been achieved, and there is even trade turnover between the countries… The question arises: why is there no peace treaty? Aram Vardevanyan, deputy speaker of the RA National Assembly representing the opposition faction “Strong Armenia,” addressed this question to Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Ararat Mirzoyan, responding to the head of the ministry’s remarks about achieving peace.

«So, Mr. Mirzoyan, what does this mean? Why is it that when my colleagues say, “Let’s sign the peace treaty,” you start talking about constitutional amendments? I studied all the documents from August 2025 (on August 8, 2025, Armenia and Azerbaijan initialed [preliminarily signed] in Washington the text of a peace agreement on the establishment of peace and interstate relations – Ed.), and nowhere does it say anything about amending the Constitution. There is no such thing in any official statement. And it is not mentioned even in the initialed agreement on achieving peace,» Vardevanyan wondered, thereby hinting that Azerbaijan considers changing the Constitution one of the main preconditions for signing the peace agreement.

«Let us overcome this dissonance.  If everything is fine, peace has been achieved, and we are moving forward, then what difficulties are associated with signing the treaty? If there are no such difficulties, then perhaps there is no need for the peace treaty itself? If that is how you see it, then for what reason do we want to amend the preamble of the Constitution of Armenia?» the deputy speaker asked.

According to him, Azerbaijan is constantly dragging out the process by demanding concessions, as was the case with the delimitation and demarcation of the borders in Tavush, after which the process stalled, or with the TRIPP issue.

Responding to the deputy speaker’s remarks, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan noted that it is known that the other side, which initialed the August document,  has its own view of it. «They do not agree to sign the agreement and say that cooperation in the field of communications and mutual trade should begin first. They want to leave the signing for later, when real results have been achieved,» Mirzoyan noted.

Nevertheless, while speaking about the position of the ruling force, the minister shifted to the domestic political sphere. He accused the opposition of attempting a military coup and even of attempting to assassinate him personally. He stated that the constitutional referendum would show whom the people of Armenia trust and whose position they support. And if the authorities lose the referendum, they will hand over power. 

It should be noted, nevertheless, that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev demands that amendments be made to the Constitution of Armenia and that provisions which, in Baku’s opinion, contain territorial claims against Azerbaijan be removed from it. This concerns the removal of references to the Declaration of Independence in the preamble of the country’s Basic Law. Despite Aliyev’s public statements, the country’s authorities deny that this is an official precondition set by Baku for signing the peace treaty.