In His Latest Threats, Aliyev Warns France, EU & Insists of Changes to Armenia’s Constitution

In a threat-filled interview, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan threatened France and the European Union for what he called their pro-Armenian posturing, and boasted that Armenia does not stand a chance against the capabilities of Azerbaijan’s armed forces.

The Azerbaijani leader told the Russia-based Rossiya Segondya news agency that Armenia must amend its constitution as a pre-condition for signing a peace deal with Azerbaijan and demanded the dissolution of the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the group tasked with settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

He also revealed the two contentious points that continue to exist in the draft text of the treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan, saying that the sides have not come to an agreement about Baku’s demands to halt all legal proceedings in international judicial courts and its demand for the withdrawal of the European Union mission along the Armenian border.

“There are two more things the Armenian side needs to do. The first is to amend its Constitution. Because the Armenian Constitution contains a reference to the Declaration of Independence, which, in turn, includes territorial claims against Azerbaijan and declares the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region as part of Armenia. Therefore, changing the Constitution is not a whim of ours but an objective necessity,” Aliyev told the general director of the Rossiya Segondya, Dmitry Kiselev, during the interview.

“Our second condition is the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group. Since this issue is decided by consensus, it is formally impossible to do it without Armenia’s consent. Although the OSCE Minsk Group has not been functional for a long time, it still formally exists. Our question is this: if Armenia has recognized Karabakh as a part of Azerbaijan and the Minsk Group was created to solve the Karabakh issue, why is it still needed? So, Armenia’s reluctance to liquidate it and to apply together with us to the OSCE for its abolition demonstrates that the plans of the revanchists are quite serious,” Aliyev said.

“Of the 17 articles of this document, 15 have been agreed upon, and only two remain outstanding. And during my last meeting with the Armenian Prime Minister in Kazan, what I heard and felt was that these two outstanding articles can also be accepted by Armenia,” Aliyev claimed.

“One of them is about refraining from filing international lawsuits against each other. I think this is a mutually acceptable article,” said Aliyev.

He said that his government has completed what he called a “damage assessment,” saying that Armenia’s “occupation” of Azerbaijan has resulted in more than $150 billion in damages.

“I think that refraining from mutual lawsuits would be mutually acceptable,” Aliyev said.

“The other article concerns the non-deployment of representatives of other countries on our border. Why is this important for us? Because, under the guise of so-called European observers, a NATO infrastructure has been created on the Armenian side of the border with us,” Aliyev said.

He said that while there was an agreement that 40 monitors would be deployed for two months, the EU’s mission was extended without Baku’s consent. Aliyev complained that there are 200 observers currently stationed on the Armenian side of the border between the two countries.

“This mission seamlessly turned into a NATO mission, as representatives of Canada also joined it. So, this is the second article on which we must come to an agreement,” Aliyev told Rossiyan Segondya.

He blamed the West for “arming Armenia,” presumably referring to a military cooperation agreement between France and Armenia, which gained momentum this week and Paris and Yerevan held more talks, during which they pledged to strengthen those ties, with France reaffirming its commitment to assisting in Armenia defense capabilities.

“The peace treaty and the simultaneous arming of Armenia against us are two incompatible courses. After all, we have actually made great progress with the peace treaty,” said Aliyev.

He also said that French President Emmanuel Macron’s “megalomania” has led to a sharp deterioration in relations between Baku and Paris.

“We actively cooperated, many French companies worked here. Our cities became sister cities with 13 French cities. But these exorbitant ambitions and the unfounded megalomania of the Macron government, in fact, have thrown all this into an abyss,” Aliyev said, claiming that “France is doing everything to discredit Azerbaijan.”

Azerbaijan’s president boasted about the increase in Azerbaijan’s defense budget to $5 billion and warned that Armenia does not stand a chance against his country’s armed forces, despite support from France and the United States, which, in fact, has not provided Armenia with military assistance.

“Our military budget for 2025 will be record high. It is about five billion dollars,” said President Ilham Aliyev during his interview with Dmitry Kiselev, Director General of the “Rossiya Segodnya” International News Agency, APA reports.

“Armenia will not stand a chance in the arms race with us, despite the fact that they get most of the arms from the West for free or on loan, which, of course, will be written off,” Aliyev claimed.

“They [Armenia] should not forget the results of the Second Karabakh War and the anti-terror operation of September 2023. They should also realize that despite the maximum support from Macron’s regime, as well as the U.S. State Department, if they plan yet another provocation against us here on the ground, no-one will help them,” Aliyev said, adding that neither France nor the U.S. helped Armenia during the 2020 War.