Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attended the opening ceremony of the “Yerevan Dialogue-2025” international conference. The event was also attended by the Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico, who is on an official visit to Armenia. The international forum was organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia. The forum was attended by about 600 participants from more than 40 countries, including high-ranking officials, representatives of international organizations, scientific circles, analysts, experts, etc.
Welcoming the attendees, Nikol Pashinyan touched upon the draft agreement “On the Establishment of Peace and Interstate Relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan” and noted that the document has been finalized and negotiations on it are over. “Armenia has announced, and I personally have announced, that I am ready to sign it. You know that Azerbaijan officially links the signing of the agreement with two issues: The first of these is the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group structures,” the Prime Minister said, adding that the agenda for the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group is acceptable to the Government of the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian side is ready to move forward. “But on the other hand, we want to make sure that we and Azerbaijan perceive the situation in the same way. We want to make sure that Azerbaijan does not intend to close the conflict situation on its territory and export it to the territory of the Republic of Armenia. Why do we say this? Because you know that, unfortunately, in recent years, Azerbaijan has begun to call approximately 60% of the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia so-called “Western Azerbaijan,” and you know our position on this issue. We have repeatedly said that there cannot be a “Western Azerbaijan” on the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia, so what is our general proposal for the future? We propose to sign the peace agreement and, in parallel, apply to the OSCE on the issue of dissolving the structures of the Minsk Group. I think this is a constructive approach and proposal to have two documents on the table and sign them simultaneously, at the same time, in the same place,” Nikol Pashinyan noted.
According to the Prime Minister, the next issue raised by Azerbaijan is the claim that the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia allegedly contains territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Nikol Pashinyan noted that a very important prerequisite for peace is that the parties should not have any territorial claims against each other. In this context, the Prime Minister referred to the regulation on the joint activities of the two commissions for the demarcation of the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia examined last year. “By the way, the Alma-Ata Declaration is mentioned as a fundamental principle in the process of demarcation between Armenia and Azerbaijan, so both regulations, and this also means the Alma-Ata Declaration, are fully consistent with the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia.”
The Prime Minister emphasized that the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia has recorded that the Alma-Ata Declaration fully complies with the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, which means that the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia does not contain any territorial claims against any neighbor. “In the agreed text, we have a provision that Armenia and Azerbaijan recognize each other’s territorial integrity as it was during the Soviet Union, as Soviet Socialist Republics. There is one more provision in the agreed draft text of the peace agreement. The parties declare that they do not have any territorial claims against each other and will not present any such claims in the future,” said Nikol Pashinyan, referring to another important provision, which stipulates that the parties cannot refer to their state legislation as a justification for not implementing the peace agreement.
Read also
The Prime Minister noted that according to the legislation of Armenia, after signing the peace agreement, it must be submitted to the Constitutional Court. “If the Constitutional Court decides that the text of the peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan does not comply with our Constitution, then I will initiate constitutional amendments, because this peace process and the peace agreement should not be missed. And we will try, we will convince our society that this amendment should be made in order to achieve lasting and long-term peace. But if the Constitutional Court decides that the agreement is fully compliant with the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, then in that case there will be no obstacle on the way to sending the document to our National Assembly for ratification.”
The Prime Minister noted that this means that after ratification and entry into force, the peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan will have the highest legal force in the Republic of Armenia. “This is very important news, because it means that the peace agreement will resolve all the concerns that Azerbaijan may have and currently has. Therefore, it is obvious that the way to resolve the issues raised by Azerbaijan is to sign the agreement, but not not to sign it.”
The Prime Minister emphasized that the Constitution of Azerbaijan contains certain territorial claims against Armenia, but the Armenian Government did not raise this issue separately, since it considered that this issue would be addressed in the text of the agreement. “The signing of the peace agreement addresses, dispels, resolves all possible problems, both those of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Therefore, my position, my call in this situation is the following: we must focus on signing the peace agreement. And I reaffirm that I personally and our Government, our political team, are ready to move forward and assume our share of responsibility for having lasting and stable peace in our region.”
The Prime Minister also spoke about the “Crossroads of Peace” project and emphasized that within the framework of the project, Armenia has proposed a concrete solution to open regional communication routes for bilateral, international and transit movement. The Prime Minister touched upon the important principles of the “Crossroads of Peace” project: territorial integrity, sovereignty, jurisdiction and reciprocity of states. “This is a very important project to overcome crises in global supply chains. When our roads with Azerbaijan and Turkey open, it will open up new opportunities to connect the east and the west, the north and the south,” the Prime Minister said, adding that, unfortunately, there is some hesitation on the part of Azerbaijan.
Nikol Pashinyan noted that concrete solutions have been proposed for possible progress in this issue: Armenia is ready to organize cargo transportation from the western parts of Azerbaijan to Nakhichevan through the territory of Armenia. “It is very important for us to have similar connectivity. We say the following: from Azerbaijan to Azerbaijan through the territory of Armenia and from Armenia to Armenia through the territory of Azerbaijan, respecting the territorial integrity, sovereignty and jurisdiction of the countries. This proposal is official, it is on the table, and at any moment, when Azerbaijan agrees, we will be ready to enter the implementation phase of this process.”
Summing up his speech, Nikol Pashinyan noted that the Armenian Government has concrete proposals for progress and achieving lasting and stable peace in the region: “Lasting and stable peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan is not only possible, but also achievable. And we are determined, we are committed to the peace agenda. We are ready to continue consultations with Azerbaijan on how to reach the point of signing a peace agreement and other documents that will completely and categorically change the situation and the fate of the peoples of the region. We will, of course, be loyal to that agenda and will do everything that depends on us, of course, respecting the principles I have already mentioned.
Ladies and gentlemen, my conviction is that despite all the arguments, all the provocations, etc., there will be no war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, there will be peace. And that is unequivocal for me.”
The Office to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia