Eviralnews,, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated yesterday that achieving sustainable peace in the South Caucasus region is not only possible, but also inevitable. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan reacted to these statements and considered it a distortion of reality.
According to the ministry, Pashinyan's proposal for a peace agreement, as well as his general claims about the tripartite joint statement of November 10, 2020, both indicate an attempt to distort the facts.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan has emphasized that the request of the Armenian authorities to sign the peace agreement by removing some of the agreed provisions and trying to postpone the solution of existing problems in bilateral relations to the next stage is unacceptable.
According to the ministry, the main condition for achieving a lasting and real peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia is to end Armenia's ongoing territorial claims against Azerbaijan. These claims are clearly stated in the Constitution of Armenia, including the explicit reference to the “Union of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh”, as well as in many other legal and political documents of this country.
In response to claims that there are territorial claims against Armenia in the country's constitution, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan announced: Attempts to create such parallelism and equality will be fruitless. Unlike the Armenian constitution, Azerbaijan's 1991 constitution and 1918 declaration of independence do not make any territorial claims against Armenia. Referring to the clause in the draft peace agreement stating that “none of the parties can refuse to fulfill their obligations under the peace agreement by citing their internal laws”, Armenia declared that the territorial claim contained in its constitution is harmless. This claim is completely unfounded. It is clear to everyone that no international agreement is superior to the constitution.
The statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan states: The Prime Minister of Armenia has once again misinterpreted his commitments regarding the reopening of communications. Paragraph 9 of the tripartite statement clearly mentions Armenia's obligations and how to control transport communications. In general, Armenia's claim that despite signing the tripartite statement and contrary to its commitments, Azerbaijan continued its military activities in Nagorno-Karabakh until September 2023 and did not withdraw its armed forces from these areas, thus preventing the return of displaced persons and refugees. ethnic cleansing against the local Armenians is a distortion of reality. In addition, introducing the voluntary migration of people of Armenian descent from Azerbaijan to Armenia and other countries after the 2023 anti-terrorist operation as ethnic cleansing is another charge.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced at the opening ceremony of the “Yervan Dialogue” forum on September 10 that he believes that achieving lasting peace in the South Caucasus region is not only possible, but also a reality. He also confirmed the statement of his foreign minister the previous day and emphasized the importance of efforts of all parties to achieve peace.
Pashinyan added that 80% of the provisions of the peace agreement, including 13 full articles and two partial articles, have been agreed upon between the two sides.
He suggested that the agreed parts of this agreement be signed and the negotiations continue on the remaining clauses.
The Prime Minister of Armenia also emphasized that this agreement foresees the establishment of official diplomatic relations between Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Pashinyan mentioned that the constitution of Azerbaijan also contains territorial claims against Armenia.
He made this claim by pointing out that the Constitution of Azerbaijan in 1991 refers to the Declaration of Independence of Azerbaijan in 1918.
However, the Prime Minister of Armenia emphasized that Armenia will not raise this issue as part of the negotiations, because the agreed peace text states that neither side can use their domestic laws as an excuse for not fulfilling their obligations.
He also emphasized the progress in the issues related to the precise determination of the borders between Armenia and Azerbaijan and stated: the basis of this process is the Almaty statement. The reopening of transport connections in the region is also an important step towards sustainable peace. We have also introduced the Intersection of the World initiative. This initiative is important for us because it provides rail connection with Iran as a strategic country for us and in the future with Turkey and Russia.
The Prime Minister of Armenia has described the reopening of road and rail communication routes between Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan through the territory of Armenia as an important step.
Emphasizing Armenia's readiness to create this possibility, he noted that Nakhchivan is currently connected to the outside world through Iran and Turkey.
Referring to the tripartite statement of November 2020, Pashinyan said: “The responsibility of guaranteeing the security of the reopening of communications on the territory of Armenia has been assigned to Yerevan.” Some international partners try to provide what is not in the tripartite declaration. But there is no situation where a part of the territory of Armenia is under the control of another country. There is no provision, and there cannot be, that limits the jurisdiction of Armenia in its sovereign territory by violating customs, border, quarantine and other controls in any way.
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan announced in a joint press conference with his Luxembourg counterpart in Yerevan on September 9 that the parties have reached a full agreement on 13 of the 16 articles of the draft peace agreement.
Expressing his hope for the early signing of this agreement, he stated that out of 16 draft articles, 13 articles have been fully agreed and 3 articles have been partially agreed upon.
Earlier, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced in a press conference that 13 of the 17 articles of this document have been agreed upon.
On August 27, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jihon Bayramov, in a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Ankara, announced the creation of a historic opportunity to establish lasting peace in the region. However, he added that currently, the main obstacle to the finalization of the peace agreement is the existence of territorial claims against Azerbaijan in the Armenian constitution.
Bayramov stated that they have submitted the draft peace agreement and its five basic principles to Armenian officials, but there are still some unresolved issues during the negotiations.
Referring to the progress achieved in the negotiations, he emphasized that a significant part of the draft agreement has been agreed upon by the parties, but the existence of territorial claims against Azerbaijan in the Constitution of Armenia and some other laws is still a serious obstacle to the finalization of the agreement. Peace remains.
Also, Bayramov pointed to the existence of Armenia's territorial claims against Turkey and raised this issue as another challenge facing the peace process.
Conflict history:
In September 2020, the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War was fought for 44 days between the armed forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The Republic of Azerbaijan regained control of a part of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions.
On September 19, 2023, Azerbaijan conducted a limited military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh.
On September 28, Samuel Shahramanian, the self-proclaimed president of Nagorno-Karabakh, issued a decree to dissolve the republic. He related this decree to the conditions created after September 19, 2023.
On October 15, 2023, the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, announced in his speech in Khankandi, the center of Nagorno-Karabakh, that Azerbaijan has fully restored its sovereignty, the Nagorno-Karabakh issue has been resolved, and the conflict has ended.
A peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia has not yet been signed.
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