While continuing to emphasize the need for a new Armenian Constitution as a precondition to the signing of a peace agreement with Armenia, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan put forth new approaches to the process, by suggesting an initial agreement on the “main principles,” in what seems to be another stall tactic by Baku.
“I believe we can finalize the text of the peace agreement, or at least its main principles, within a few months,” Aliyev said at a meeting with Canada’s new ambassador to Azerbaijan Kevin Hamilton on Monday, according to the Turan news agency.
He put forth this new option, saying that if the principles are agreed on, then the actual text can be developed, mimicking the pattern adopted under the OSCE Minsk Group conflict resolution process where the sides agreed to the so-called Madrid Principles, without fleshing out their actual specifics.
“Reaching an agreement on the basic principles, initializing them, and then working on the text” can be an option, Aliyev said emphasizing that such an approach may be pursued “if Armenia amends its constitution.”
The main condition for the peace agreement, Aliyev told the newly-appointed Canadian ambassador, is the amendment of the Armenian Constitution, reasserting his threat and precondition for advancing the process.
He said Armenia’s Constitution “contains territorial claims against Azerbaijan, and until this is addressed, a peace agreement will not be signed. This is a known fact.”
Armenia’s foreign ministry accused Aliyev of torpedoing the talks, saying that the amending of the constitution is Armenia’s domestic concern.
Aliyev countered, and said that the Nagorno-Karabakh issue is Azerbaijan’s domestic matter, telling the new Canadian ambassador that Armenia wanted to include Nagorno-Karabakh in the peace agreement, which he said, “was unacceptable.”
The Azerbaijani leader claimed that peace negotiations with Armenia began in earnest in December, saying anything before that did not matter.
Aliyev complained to the newly-appointed diplomat that for 28 years, Armenia refused to comply with the fundamental principles of international law.
“They violated all humanitarian laws and ignored the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council demanding the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. No one held them accountable in the slightest. A number of countries discussing the conflict did not declare their support for the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan,” Aliyev added.
“Now, after we have defeated Armenia’s occupying forces on the battlefield and expelled them from our lands, we hear statements supporting our territorial integrity. But we have already secured it ourselves. Whether someone recognizes our territorial integrity or not is irrelevant,” the Azerbaijani leader said.
He also criticized the Armenian Diaspora communities, in certain Western countries, that are attempting to advance “pro-Armenian sentiments.”
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