Armenian PM: Azerbaijan's Constitution Contains Territorial Claims Against Armenia

The official Yerevan sees that Azerbaijan's Constitution contains territorial claims against the Republic of Armenia. This was stated by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at a press conference today.

According to him, the Constitution references the active 1991 Act of "State Independence," which in turn refers to the Declaration of Independence of Azerbaijan from May 28, 1918.

"The act also states that today's Azerbaijan is the legal successor of Azerbaijan from 1918-20. And the declaration of Azerbaijan from 1918-20 indicates that the territories of Azerbaijan include Southern and Eastern Transcaucasia, and according to the map presented by the Entente in 1919, Azerbaijan claimed the territories of current Syunik and Vayots Dzor regions entirely, as well as parts of Tavush, Gegharkunik, Ararat, Lori, and Shirak regions," he emphasized.

He responded to Azerbaijani accusations that there are territorial claims against Azerbaijan in the Armenian Constitution by stating that Armenia disagrees with such assertions. Meanwhile, Pashinyan pointed out that Azerbaijan's Constitution indeed contains territorial claims.

"Azerbaijan's documents state that the territory is 108,000 square kilometers, and after resolving border issues with Armenia and Georgia, it will become 141,000 square kilometers. This means that today's Azerbaijan also has territorial claims over an additional 45-46 thousand square kilometers. Doesn't this concern us? Of course, it does! How do we respond to this problem? Do we say, 'Let Azerbaijan change its Constitution'?" said Pashinyan.

He remarked that in this case, the Armenian side states that there is a clause in the peace treaty which has already been agreed upon, and upon signing which, this issue will be resolved with the stipulation that neither party can reference its internal legislation to evade obligations arising from the treaty.

He emphasized that everything else is history, and we should not think about erasing it but should focus on creating a new history.

It should be noted that earlier, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated that the signing of a peace treaty between Baku and Yerevan is impossible without changing Armenia's Constitution. The preamble of the Armenian Constitution states that it is based on the joint decision made on December 1, 1989, by the Supreme Council of the Armenian SSR and the National Council of Nagorno-Karabakh on the reunification of the Armenian SSR and Nagorno-Karabakh.