Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated on Thursday, June 6, that Azerbaijan will not agree to sign a peace treaty with Armenia unless there are amendments made to the latter’s constitution. Speaking to lawmakers from Turkic states, Aliyev emphasized that any peace agreement hinges on Armenia revising its constitution due to what he perceives as “territorial claims” to Azerbaijan embedded within it.
Aliyev has consistently reiterated these demands earlier in the year, emphasizing the necessity for Armenia to remove references to a 1990 declaration of independence, which, in turn, cites a 1989 unification act between Soviet Armenia and the then Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast.
These demands come in response to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s call on January 19 for a new Armenian constitution that reflects the evolving geopolitical dynamics of the region. Pashinyan claimed afterward that his intention was not to revoke the current constitution at the request of Baku. Nonetheless, he underscored the impossibility of achieving peace with Azerbaijan as long as the constitutional reference to the 1990 declaration remains intact.
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan recently claimed that the issue of constitutional amendments has not been part of the ongoing negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan regarding the peace agreement.
