Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan participated in the panel discussion on “Armenia’s internal and external security” within the framework of the World Armenian Summit in Yerevan.
The Prime Minister answered many questions of the speaker and those present at the discussion, among which refering to the challenges facing Armenia, the strategy of Real Armenia, foreign policy, topics related to EAEU and CSTO, development of Armenia-European Union cooperation, energy security of our country. Nikol Pashinyan, in response to the questions, also spoke about the signing of the peace treaty with Azerbaijan, as well as the topics related to the unblocking of regional transport channels.
Referring to the signing of the peace treaty, the Prime Minister noted that also according to the statements made by Azerbaijan, 80 percent of the treaty has been agreed upon. “What are we saying today? We are saying that 80 percent of the peace treaty, including with the statements made by Azerbaijan, has been agreed upon. We say, let’s sign what is agreed and move on to the rest, issues that have not been agreed upon so far. But there is a view that, no, unless everything is agreed or all the articles are agreed, that treaty should not be signed. And I’m sorry, how many articles should it have?
Look, there is an announcement that no peace treaty will be signed until all the articles are agreed upon. And how many articles should there be in that treaty? I will give an example: there is an article that was not agreed upon, which was proposed by Azerbaijan just months ago. Can they explain this subtlety? Let’s say there is X number of articles, is it all agreed? One of the parties can say: there is one more article, we have to agree also on this. It may turn out later that there is one more article that needs to be agreed upon.
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In other words, nowhere is it written that the peace treaty must have 25 articles and cannot have 17 articles or 15 or 14 or 13. The problem here is political will“, the Prime Minister emphasized. According to Nikol Pashinyan, the fact is that there is no peace treaty in the world, or any agreement that answers all possible questions. “We say: could what is agreed become a framework, have a framework significance for peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, yes it can. We say, let’s sign, let’s go discuss the supposed articles 27, 28, 30, 40, because after signing it, the atmosphere, the environment, everything will change for the benefit of the discussion of those articles,” said Nikol Pashinyan, adding that after that, agreeing on other issues will be easier.
Referring to the assertions of the Azerbaijani side that there are territorial claims against Azerbaijan in the Constitution of Armenia, the Prime Minister noted. “What do they mean? We assume that they mean the reference of the preamble of the Constitution of Armenia to the Declaration of Independence, where there is a reference to the decision of the National Council of Nagorno-Karabakh and the Supreme Council of Armenia on the reunification of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia. Is there such a thing in the Declaration of Independence? Yes, there is. Does that mean that this content is expressed in the Constitution? There is no such thing written in the Constitution, and it does not mean that this content is expressed. Why do I think this? Because there is Article 5 in the Declaration of Independence, which states that the Republic of Armenia creates armed forces, security bodies, etc. under the Supreme Council to ensure its security.
According to the Declaration of Independence, all law enforcement bodies of Armenia are subject to the Supreme Council. But in 1995, when the Constitution was adopted, all law enforcement bodies were placed under the authority of the President of the Republic. Did the Constitution contradict the Declaration of Independence? Yes, it did. And therefore, the content of the Declaration of Independence, which is expressed literally, has been expressed in the Constitution”.
According to Nikol Pashinyan, on the contrary, when we look at the Constitution of Azerbaijan, we see that there are territorial claims against Armenia. “How? Their Constitution refers to the Act of 1991, if I remember correctly, it’s called the Act of State Independence, the Act of State Independence in turn refers to the First Republic of Azerbaijan of 1918-1920, and the Declaration of the First Republic of Azerbaijan. In that declaration, it is written that Azerbaijan is founded on the territory of southern and eastern Transcaucasia. Apart from that, in 1919, Azerbaijan officially presented a map of its territory to the Entente states and the League of Nations, which includes the entire Syunik and Vayots Dzor regions of the Republic of Armenia, part of Ararat region, part of Tavush region, part of Lori region, part of Shirak region. This is an obvious territorial claim against Armenia, but we do not raise this issue, we do not say Azerbaijan must change the Constitution for a peace treaty to be signed.
Why? Because there is an article in the agreed part of the peace treaty that says neither party can refer to its domestic law for failing to fulfill its obligations under this treaty. We consider that this issue is solved by that article”.
Speaking about the other assertion of the Azerbaijani side that no agreement can contradict the Constitution, the Prime Minister noted that when the agreement is signed, it will be sent to the Constitutional Court to verify its constitutionality. “If the Constitutional Court decides that this treaty contradicts the Constitution, we will say so be it. But if the Constitutional Court decides that it does not contradict the Constitution, it will go to the National Assembly and be ratified. Once ratified, in accordance with Article 5, Clause 3 of the current Constitution of Armenia, international treaties ratified in the Republic of Armenia take precedence over Armenian legislation. In other words, a ratified international treaty is higher than the law of the Republic of Armenia, and if that treaty has been ratified, then it does not contradict the Constitution. And the undertaken obligation, in particular, the obligation that the Republic of Armenia and Azerbaijan have no territorial claims against each other and undertake not to raise such territorial claims in the future, becomes de jure, essentially, a provision with the highest legal force”.
Nikol Pashinyan referred to the “Crossroads of Peace” project of the Armenian Government and the possibilities of unblocking regional transport communication routes. The Prime Minister emphasized that the meaning of the “Crossroads of Peace” project is about the readiness of the Armenian Government to open all possible roads passing through Armenia. “In Syunik, Tavush, Gegharkunik, Shirak, Vayots Dzor, we are ready to provide our roads in all possible places. According to what principles? The roads should operate without bypassing or without damaging, or without subordinating Armenia’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and jurisdiction. In other words, like the roads of all the countries of the world,” stressed the Head of the Government.
Referring to Azerbaijan’s statements that if Armenia does not want, they will implement the projects through the territory of Iran, the prime minister once again officially stated that our country is ready to ensure the transition to Azerbaijan under exactly the same conditions as the Islamic Republic of Iran. “Moreover, we do not rule out certain simplifications of the procedures and perceive it in the logic of bilateralism. Azerbaijan says: well, you don’t want it, we are going through Iran. We don’t mind them going through Iran, of course, it is a matter of Iran-Azerbaijan relations, but we are reassuming again, under the conditions the Islamic Republic of Iran provides that passage, we are also ready to do it under the same conditions. Moreover, in the bilateral logic, we are also ready to make certain simplifications”, the Prime Minister noted.