Aliyev said on Thursday that Armenia should not only change its constitution but also ensure the return of Azerbaijanis who lived there until the late 1980s. Yerevan should start talks with the “community of Western Azerbaijan” for that purpose he said, referring to much of Armenian territory.
The Armenian government did not react to the statement. Artur Hovannisian, the secretary of the ruling Civil Contract party’s parliamentary group, refused to comment on it during a news conference.
“Expressing any position publicly during the negotiation process means bringing the issue to a deadlock,” said Hovannisian. “The public will find out when there is no need for confidentiality. I, of course, neither deny nor confirm.”
Hayk Mamijanian, a senior opposition parliamentarian, described this as a sign that Pashinian does not mind meeting Aliyev’s latest demand while being reluctant to champion the Karabakh Armenians’ right to return to Nagorno-Karabakh recaptured by Baku in September 2023.
“They are not responding [to Aliyev] for the simple reason that the people negotiating on behalf of Armenia have no red lines,” Mamijanian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
“The people negotiating on behalf of Armenia have no red lines for the simple reason that Pashinian is desperate to get Aliyev’s autograph,” he said, referring to the prime minister’s hopes to sign the peace treaty as soon as possible.
Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said on Thursday that Baku and Yerevan now agree on 15 of the 17 articles of the draft treaty discussed by them. It can be swiftly finalized and signed if both sides show the necessary “political will,” he told an annual meeting of the foreign ministers of OSCE member states.
Mirzoyan said in September that the would-be treaty contains 16 articles. It is not clear whether a new clause has been added since then. Opposition figures in Yerevan suggested that Pashinian agreed to meet another Azerbaijani condition.
Pashinian's critics maintain that his appeasement policy is only encouraging Aliyev to demand more Armenian concessions and will not bring real peace.