The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Armenia released a statement addressing recent remarks made by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

The statement says: “The Republic of Armenia does not have any territorial claims toward any of its neighbors, including Azerbaijan. 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 internal affairs of the country.”

The MFA expressed concerns that such statements could undermine the peace process and questioned the commitment of Azerbaijan’s leadership to achieving peace. It pointed out that the draft peace agreement includes mutual recognition of territorial integrity and a clause preventing either party from using domestic laws to avoid fulfilling the agreement’s terms.

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 Armenian MFA noted in its statement.

Aykhan Hajizade, the press secretary of Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responded to the Armenian MFA’s statement, accusing Armenia of diverting international attention from key obstacles to peace. Hajizadeh emphasized that the main issue hindering peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia is Armenia's ongoing territorial claims, which he asserts are embedded in various legal and political documents, particularly Armenia’s Constitution. Hajizade pointed out that the Armenian Constitution references the Act of Independence of Armenia, which calls for the “unification of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.” He argued that these territorial claims are the primary barrier to achieving a lasting peace agreement between the two countries.

During an earlier meeting with representatives of the Turkic countries’ parliaments, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated that signing a peace treaty between Yerevan and Baku would be impossible unless Armenia’s constitution was amended. Aliyev claimed that Armenia has “territorial claims from Azerbaijan” based on a clause in its constitution, which he deemed unacceptable. Additionally, he mentioned that Azerbaijan had suggested to Armenia that both countries jointly petition the OSCE to abolish its Minsk Group.

Armenian Speaker Rejects Aliyev’s Comments on Peace and Minsk Group

Referring to Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev’s statement that they proposed to the Armenian side that they jointly petition the OSCE to abolish its Minsk Group, Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia, Alen Simonyan, told the reporters that Armenia is taking steps, which are the conclusion of the peace treaty with Azerbaijan, and the talks about the OSCE Minsk Group are the talks that can be held after the conclusion of the peace treaty.

"If we sign a peace treaty, its [i.e., the OSCE Minsk Group] meaning is simply lost because is it not the same Azerbaijan that says that as if Armenia has some ambitions, some demands [from Azerbaijan]? We will sign the peace treaty, and the issue will come out. I think there will be no need for it. I don’t understand why Aliyev tries to attack the peace process every time we already have agreements,” Simonyan said. 

“It would be good if Mr. [Azerbaijani] President talked about the [Armenian] massacres in Sumgait, the [Armenian] massacres in Baku, he should have talked about that [Armenian] genocide first if we are going to peace. The party that wants peace should first of all point out, emphasize the open places that can hinder peace, instead of talking about such things,” noted Simonyan and added that such torpedoing is not acceptable, and Azerbaijan should first release the Armenian prisoners of war.

As for Aliyev’s statement that Armenia has “territorial claims from Azerbaijan” under the clause stipulated in its constitution, the Armenian parliament speaker said as follows, in part: "I can only repeat the position of the [Armenian] MFA and say that I cannot add anything to it. The constitution [of Armenia] is our internal matter, we have been talking about the constitution for a long time, but not in that context. We have seen the need for very big changes globally after 2018 and have initiated them in 2020.”