Azerbaijan: Peace Deal Impossible Without Armenian Constitutional Changes

Azerbaijan: Peace Deal Impossible Without Armenian Constitutional Changes

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan Photo

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated on Thursday, June 6th, that a peace deal with Armenia is “impossible” as long as Yerevan’s Constitution remains unchanged, Anadolu Agency reports on June 7th.

Aliyev made this statement during a meeting with parliamentary speakers of the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic States in Baku:

It is simply impossible to conclude a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan while the current constitution of Armenia remains unchanged.

Aliyev noted that Armenia’s territorial claims against Azerbaijan and Türkiye are among the unresolved issues in the peace talks between Baku and Yerevan. He emphasized that Azerbaijan has never made territorial claims against any country, including Armenia:

They must completely abandon the ideas of revanchism, and we see that such ideas exist not only in the opposition, but also in the government. All these issues, of course, need to be clarified and regulated.

Aliyev also mentioned that Azerbaijan suggested to Armenia that they jointly request the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to disband the OSCE Minsk Group because it is “not functioning now.”

We will not de facto allow it to operate. It remains for it to be canceled de jure – legally, and this will show how sincere Armenia is. If Armenia prefers to maintain the Minsk Group, then their territorial claims against us will continue.

Aliyev noted that Armenia’s recent return of four border villages to Azerbaijan demonstrates that issues between the two countries can be resolved peacefully through negotiations:

If Armenia had listened to our words in 2020 and returned our lands peacefully, there would be no need for the Second Karabakh War and the anti-terrorist operation. That is, it should be a lesson for them, and I see that they, as they say, draw conclusions from that lesson.

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Anadolu Agency and agencies