Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev declared on Thursday that Azerbaijan will not sign a peace treaty with Armenia unless Armenia changes its constitution. He claims the constitution harbors “territorial claims” against Azerbaijan.
Addressing lawmakers from Turkic states, Aliyev emphasized, “The signing of a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan is simply impossible if the existing constitution of Armenia remains unchanged.” This demand is not new; Aliyev has made similar statements earlier this year, insisting that Armenia must specifically remove a reference to the 1990 declaration of independence from its constitution which he claims cites a 1989 unification act adopted by the legislative bodies of Soviet Armenia and the then Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast.
These demands have resurfaced following Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s call on January 19 for a new constitution that reflects the “new geopolitical environment” in the region. Although Pashinyan later clarified that he does not intend to change the current constitution at Azerbaijan’s insistence, he said that peace with Azerbaijan will be impossible as long as it includes the 1990 declaration reference.
Earlier this week, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan insisted that the issue has not been on the agenda of ongoing Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations on the peace accord.
Just yesterday, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov stated that Armenia and Azerbaijan have narrowed their differences on a bilateral peace treaty following the latest proposals made by Yerevan, according to Azerbaijani news agencies. “Fewer issues remain open,” said Bayramov. He confirmed that Baku has received fresh Armenian proposals regarding the treaty, noting “positive dynamics on some points,” without giving details.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry reported on Tuesday that it officially responded to the most recent Azerbaijani proposals on the treaty received on April 26, without providing specifics of the written exchanges.
Bayramov and his Armenian counterpart, Ararat Mirzoyan, met in Kazakhstan on May 10-11 for two days of fresh talks on the peace accord. Mirzoyan’s press office later indicated that “there are still differences” between the two sides.
Mirzoyan has repeatedly expressed concern in recent months that Baku remains reluctant to recognize Armenia’s borders through the treaty.
By contrast, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan downplayed the differences between Baku and Yerevan on May 29. He mentioned “statements made from Azerbaijan to the effect that they are committed” to the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration, in which Armenia, Azerbaijan, and other newly independent republics recognized each other’s Soviet-era territories. Yerevan insists that the Armenian-Azerbaijani treaty should uphold that declaration.
