By Shoghik Galstian
YEREVAN (Azatutyun) — Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has met twice with senior members of his Civil Contract party to discuss the draft of a new Armenian constitution as demanded by Azerbaijan.
The issue topped the agenda of the latest meeting of the party’s governing board held on Sunday, October 18. No details were made public.
The board also discussed the draft at its previous meeting that took place on October 13 hours after Pashinyan said that his government will now “focus on the process of signing and ratifying the peace treaty initiated with Azerbaijan.” He spoke with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on the sidelines of an ex-Soviet summit in Turkmenistan on October 9.
Aliyev has said that the signing of the treaty is conditional on a change of Armenia’s constitution which he says lays claim to Nagorno-Karabakh. While rejecting this precondition in public, Pashinyan has pledged to enact a new constitution acceptable to Baku.
The Armenian Justice Ministry drafted it early this year, bypassing the Constitutional Reform Council that had been formed by Pashinyan. The document has not yet been made public.
