Azerbaijan is not serious about signing a peace treaty with Armenia, an Armenian official said on Friday, citing Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s demands for Yerevan to enact major constitutional changes.
Aliyev said on Thursday that Armenia should change its constitution and other documents if it wants to make peace with Azerbaijan. He specifically objected to the current Armenian constitution’s reference to a 1990 declaration of independence which he said “infringes on Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.”
Edmon Marukyan, an Armenian ambassador-at-large, said Aliyev thus set a “completely new precondition” for the peace deal that has been discussed by the two sides for the last two years
“Azerbaijan avoids signing the peace treaty and continuously raises new demands during the whole process of negotiations, thus torpedoing the peace process,” tweeted Marukyan. He said the “endless demands” prove that Baku “does not want peace in the region.”
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It was not clear whether Marukyan expressed the Armenian government’s position. The government did not officially react to Aliyev’s latest demands as of Friday evening.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated on January 18 that Armenia must adopt a new constitution reflecting the “new geopolitical environment” in the region. Critics believe he first and foremost wants to get rid of the current constitution’s preamble that makes reference to the declaration cited by Aliyev.
In a radio interview broadcast on Thursday, Pashinyan did not deny Armenian opposition claims that he wants to change the constitution under pressure from Azerbaijan. He reiterated his criticism of the 1990 declaration.
Opposition lawmakers say his unilateral concessions will only lead to more Azerbaijani demands and increase the risk of another war. In recent weeks, four of them have been allowed by the Armenian Foreign Ministry to see written proposals regarding the treaty exchanged by Yerevan and Baku.
In a joint statement issued on Friday, they said they visited the ministry earlier in the day to take a look at the most recent Armenian proposals that were sent to Baku on January 4.
“We note that there is no significant progress in the negotiation process and all the concerns we voiced after getting acquainted with the previous packages of proposals, which are related to Armenia not receiving any additional security guarantees … and new concessions imposed on Armenia with the threat of force, remain,” they said.
They also said that the Foreign Ministry and an unnamed security service suspect them of breaking their pledge not to publicize the information made available to them. They rejected the government “threat” and said they will continue to raise public awareness of the negotiation process.