Aliyev said that the constitutional change is a “precondition” for a comprehensive peace accord between the two South Caucasus nations.
“The Armenians must change their constitution,” he told an international forum in Baku. “I’m saying this not because I want to interfere in another country’s internal affairs. “I’m saying this because the constitution of Armenia mentions the [1990] declaration of independence which in turn says that the so-called Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is part of Armenia. How can we sign a peace treaty when they have such reference in the constitution?”
“So I’m saying that they must change their constitution not because I’m rude or arrogant but because it’s a precondition,” he said.
Aliyev already demanded on February 1 that Armenia remove from its constitution the reference to the 1990 declaration which cites a 1989 unification act adopted by the legislative bodies of Soviet Armenia and the then Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian countered afterwards that during their peace talks and written exchanges last year two sides agreed to make sure that they “cannot refer to their respective laws to refuse to comply with any provisions of the peace treaty.” The treaty would commit them to recognizing each other’s territorial integrity.
Pashinian himself declared in January that Armenia needs a new constitution reflecting the “new geopolitical environment” in the region. His critics say that he did so under Azerbaijani pressure.
Pashinian has denied that he wants to scrap the current Armenian constitution at the behest of Baku. Still, he has said that peace with Azerbaijan will be impossible as long as the constitutional reference to the 1990 declaration remains in place.
Aliyev on Tuesday also renewed his demands for the opening of the “Zangezur corridor” that would connect Nakhichevan to the rest of Azerbaijan through Armenia’s Syunik province. He pointed to a relevant clause in a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement that stopped the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
“They [the Armenians] are trying to get rid of that provision,” he said. “But that’s not possible.”
The Armenian government has said all along that Azerbaijani passengers and cargo passing through Syunik cannot be exempt from Armenian border controls. It insists on conventional transport links between the two countries.
Syunik is the sole Armenian province bordering Iran. This explains why Tehran is strongly opposed to the corridor sought by Azerbaijan as well as Turkey.
Aliyev renewed his demands after forcing Pashinian’s administration to agree to hand over four disputed border areas to Azerbaijan as part of what Baku and Yerevan call the start of a delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. Armenian opposition leaders and other critics of Pashinian have strongly condemned him for bowing to the Azerbaijani pressure, saying that will only encourage Baku to demand more Armenian concessions.