Azerbaijan Responds to Pashinyan

The head of the press service of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ayhan Hacizade, has responded to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Hacizade wrote on his X account, 'There are no grounds to claim that the Constitution of Azerbaijan contains territorial demands against Armenia.'

It is worth recalling that during a parliamentary session yesterday, Prime Minister Pashinyan stated, 'The preamble of the Constitution of Azerbaijan references a constitutional act adopted on October 18, 1991... In November 1919, the Republic of Azerbaijan presented its administrative-territorial map to the Entente, according to which the whole regions of Syunik and Vayots Dzor of Armenia are included in Azerbaijan, as well as parts of the territories of Ararat, Armavir, Gegharkunik, Tavush, Lori, and Shirak regions, which overall constitutes about 60 percent of today's territory of Armenia. Thus, these references clearly indicate that the Constitution of Azerbaijan contains territorial demands against Armenia.'

However, Armenia does not raise the issue of changing the Constitution of Azerbaijan for two reasons. First, such a demand would lead to a deadlock in the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process. Second, there is a provision in the agreed section of the peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan stating that the parties cannot reference their internal legislation to justify a failure in implementing this agreement. Furthermore, another article in the agreed section of the peace treaty indicates that both parties recognize each other's territorial integrity, do not have territorial claims against one another, and commit to refrain from raising such claims in the future. We do not raise the issue of changing the Constitution of Azerbaijan, and by the same rationale, we believe there is no need to amend the Constitution of Armenia in this context.