Armenia's new constitution will not contain a reference to the country's Declaration of Independence, ruling Civil Contract lawmaker Arusyak Julhakyan said in parliament on 11 August.

Julhakyan also stated that the draft constitution is expected to be completed and published by the end of 2026, a delay from earlier government plans to release the document in March.

The constitutional question has featured prominently in discussions surrounding the formal signing of an Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty. Azerbaijan maintains that references to Nagorno-Karabakh in Armenia's Declaration of Independence amount to territorial claims and therefore need to be addressed before the agreement can enter into force.

The process follows the US-backed Washington peace initiative launched in August 2025, when Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a Joint Declaration on Peace at the White House, and their foreign ministers initialled the draft Agreement on Peace and the Establishment of Interstate Relations. While the two sides agreed on the full text of the treaty, it has yet to be formally signed. Azerbaijan has continued to argue that references to Nagorno-Karabakh contained in Armenia's Declaration of Independence and reflected in the country's constitutional framework should be removed before the agreement is finalized, a position Yerevan has repeatedly described as an internal Armenian matter. At the same time, the government has argued that a new constitution is needed because the current document, adopted under previous administrations, lacks sufficient public legitimacy.

Julhakyan's remarks indicated that the new constitution will not retain a reference to the Declaration of Independence, an issue that has remained at the centre of discussions surrounding the formal signing of a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The reform process has faced additional challenges following Armenia's June parliamentary elections. Civil Contract secured 64 seats in the 105-member National Assembly, falling short of the two-thirds majority required to initiate a constitutional referendum. Days after the vote, Justice Minister Srbuhi Galyan said there may be alternative legal mechanisms to advance the process, although no details were provided.