The Armenian government rejected Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s demands for amendments to Armenia’s Constitution, accusing him of “torpedoing” the peace process.
Aliyev, on Thursday, reiterated what he called a “precondition” to the eventual peace document, saying that, without changes to Armenia’s Constitution, ratifying a peace deal would be “impossible.” Aliyev’s recent comments echoed threats he made in April, days after an agreement was reached on border delimitation that saw Armenia ceding four villages in the Tavush Province.
Aliyev, and most recently his foreign minister, Jeyhun Bayramov, claimed that Armenia’s Constitutions contains territorial claims from Azerbaijan.
“The Republic of Armenia does not have any territorial claims toward any of its neighbors, including Azerbaijan,” said a statement issued by Armenia’s foreign ministry on Friday.
“The Constitution of the Republic of Armenia and the amendments to it are internal affairs of Armenia, and we consider the attempts by official Baku to intervene in the internal discussions in Armenia as a gross intervention into the domestic affairs of the country,” the statement added.
“At the same time, we believe that such rhetoric torpedoes the peace process and casts doubts on the sincerity of the leadership of Azerbaijan to achieve peace,” the foreign ministry emphasized.
“The negotiated peace agreement clearly states that the parties recognize each other’s territorial integrity and do not have territorial claims against each other. There is also an agreed provision in the draft peace agreement that neither party may invoke its domestic legislation for not implementing its obligations under the peace agreement,” the statement explained.
“The signing of the agreement and the ratification through domestic procedures ultimately will delineate these principles in the agreement. Accordingly, we believe that the clearest and most direct way to address all the concerns by the parties is to sign the agreement, which will open the door to lasting peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” added the foreign ministry.
“The peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan is ripe enough for signing, and the Armenian side expresses its willingness to work constructively and intensively to complete and sign it within the next month,” the foreign ministry statement said.
