Baku Rejects Pashinyan’s Latest Proposal on Peace Treaty, Reiterates Demand for Changes to Armenia’s Constitution

Azerbaijan on Monday all but rejected a proposal made by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who said that a peace treaty with Azerbaijan should be signed soon with the understanding that the remaining provisions of the document be hashed out after the signing of the document.

Azerbaijan’s foreign minister, Jeyhum Bayramov, and a top aid to President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, in separate statements, cited Baku’s long-held precondition demanding amendments to Armenia’s Constitution and called for more concessions from Yerevan.

Hikmet Hajiyev, Aliyev’s top foreign policy adviser, suggested that Armenia must not only amend its constitution but also downsize its armed forces.

During a press conference on Saturday, Pashinyan said that he had sent a new proposal to Baku on Friday outlining Yerevan’s approach to signing a peace treaty with Azerbaijan. He explained that, since both countries had already fully agreed on 13 of the 17 provisions of a draft peace treaty, the document should be signed, with the remaining issues to be tabled for discussion after the approval of the document.

“We propose to sign and ratify what has been agreed at this point and to continue discussing all remaining issues,” Pashinyan said during the Saturday press conference, adding that the agreed upon provisions cover “all basic principles of peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan.”

Bayramov on Monday acknowledged receiving Pashinyan’s proposal, but said that several “important points” were left out of the text of the Armenian leader’s document.

“Their draft treaty does not include important provisions and we were told that this is the problem’s solution [proposed by Yerevan.] In the context of the past historical conflict, every provision of the peace treaty is very important. Our advice to the Armenian side is to approach these issues more seriously,” Bayramov said, reiterating the demand for Armenia to amend its constitution.

During the press conference, Pashinyan asserted that Azerbaijan’s constitution is the document that contains territorial claims from Armenia. He cited a portion of the Azerbaijani document that contends that “the Southern and Eastern Transcaucasia are Azerbaijani territories.”

“Azerbaijan has presented claims for the entirety of the present-day provinces of Syunik and Vayots Dzor, and partially for the provinces of Tavush, Gegharkunik, Ararat, Lori and Shirak. Unlike the Constitution of Armenia, the Azerbaijani constitution does contain territorial claims against Armenia,” Pashinyan emphasized.

“The Azerbaijani documents I cited contain language that suggests that the territory of Azerbaijan is 108,000 square kilometers and after solving the border issues with Armenia and Georgia it will become 141,000 square kilometers. This means that under this logic the present-day Constitution of Azerbaijan stipulates territorial ambitions for another 45,000 to 46,000 square kilometers,”

Hajiyev, the top Aliyev advisor, rejected Pashinyan statement when speaking to reporters on Sunday.

“Until this changes, we will see serious problems in negotiating a peace treaty between the two states,” Hajiyev told reporters on Sunday, referring to demands for changes to Armenia’s constitution.

Both Hajiyev and Bayramov also complained about what they called Armenia’s “intensive” military build up, referring to recent arms deals Armenia has made with France and India.

Hajiyev said that “restrictions should be imposed to the armed forces of Armenia.” Calling Armenia an “aggressor state,” Hajiyev said that similar sanctions that were imposed on former Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein should be imposed on Armenia.

At his press conference on Saturday, Pashinyan also addressed Baku’s ongoing accusations that Armenia is arming itself, saying that Azerbaijan has purchased weapons from Israel and other countries for years.

“Azerbaijan has been acquiring weapons from Slovakia, Serbia, Bulgaria. At least three European Union member states have military-technical cooperation with Azerbaijan. And Azerbaijan is acquiring huge volumes of weapons from Israel,” Pashinyan said, saying if Azerbaijan can buy weapons from other countries, why can’t Armenia?

Aliyev’s top advisor also said Yerevan should also end the EU’s monitoring mission along Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan launched in February 2023.