Armenia’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday voiced its objections to continuing threats and preconditions being hurled at Yerevan by Baku, despite the two countries announcing an agreement on a final draft a peace treaty last week.
Since last week’s announcement, however, official Azerbaijan has stepped up its preconditions and demands.
Since Sunday, Azerbaijan has accused Armenia of a massive military buildup along the border of the two countries without providing corresponding evidence, a claim Armenian military officials and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan have categorically denied.
Armenian officials believe that Baku’s claim of military activity on the border is a prelude for further military aggression by Azerbaijan.
Pashinyan on Wednesday reiterated his statement that Armenia is ready to sign the peace agreement and the two countries need to focus on the date and the venue of the signing ceremony.
However, as recently as Wednesday, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov told the British Foreign Secretary David Lamb that only after Armenia amends its constitution will a peace treaty be signed.
Claiming, once again, that Armenia’s Constitution contains territorial demands from Azerbaijan by Armenia, Bayramov told the British official during a telephone conversation, that despite the end of negotiations between Yerevan and Baku, Azerbaijan’s preconditions must be met before the signing of an agreement.
Bayramov also went on to emphasize the need for the dissolution of the OSCE Minks Group and other international bodies that were engaged in the settlement of the Karabakh conflict.
Similar assertions were made Tuesday by Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry spokesperson Aykhan Hajizada.
In responding to a series of questions from the Armenpress news agency on Wednesday, Armenia’s foreign ministry spokesperson Ani Badalyan objected to Baku’s ongoing precondition, which have been called a delay tactic by Azerbaijan.
Badalyan said Azerbaijan has failed to convey “any factual information to us about ceasefire violations allegedly committed by Armenia,” adding that Armenia’s Defense Ministry has gone on the record to say that it is willing to investigate any such allegations.
The Armenian spokesperson said that Azerbaijan has not agreed to proposals by Yerevan to create investigation mechanism on border incidents, as well as the simultaneous withdrawal of troops by Armenia and Azerbaijan along the border.
As for Baku’s insistence on amendments to the Constitution, Badalyan argued that the finalized text of the peace treaty “stipulates that Armenia and Azerbaijan recognize each other’s territorial integrity within the borders of the USSR republics, and not have territorial claims against each other and are bound to not make such claims in the future.”
“On the contrary, Armenia believes that it is the constitution of Azerbaijan that contains territorial claims to Armenia,” Badalyan added. “But we also believe that the agreed text of the peace treaty resolves this issue.”
The Armenian foreign ministry spokesperson also emphasized that Yerevan publicly has stated that it will consider the dissolution of the Minsk Group once the peace treaty has been signed.
“Armenia simply wants to be sure that this means a de facto and de jure end to the conflict and not its transfer to the territory of the Republic of Armenia under the so-called ‘Western Azerbaijan’ discourse,” Badalyan said.
Another demand by Azerbaijan, which is voiced as often as possible from its president on down is the establishment of a so-called land corridor through Armenia to provide access to Azerbaijan.
In addressing this issue, Badalyan said that the opening of transit routes between the two countries is part of a larger agenda, emphasizing that Armenia does not “unilateral obligations” in realizing this effort.
She also rejected Baku’s assertions that due to Armenia’s topography, Azerbaijan would have to control the transport link toward Nakhichevan.
“We have the type of roads and terrain that we have and to accuse us of being a mountainous country is completely frivolous, to say the least,” Badalyan said.
