Nikol Pashinyan: Constitution of Azerbaijan contains  territorial  claims against Armenia

ArmInfo.When the Azerbaijani side talks about ceasefire violations, and the Armenian side denies  them, the best solution is to have a project to monitor the situation. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this during a press conference in Yerevan on August 31, touching upon the  accusations from the Azerbaijani side regarding ceasefire violations and in response to a request to express Yerevan's position on the future of the OSCE Minsk Group.  

Pashinyan once again emphasized that  this is the best solution for resolving the issue. In this regard, he  added that the proposal from official Yerevan to create a mechanism  for investigating incidents is still valid. "As for the dissolution  of the Minsk Group, we believe that this can only happen when peace  is within reach. While we are open to discussing this, it is  important not to put the cart before the horse. The question we need  to ask is how effective and necessary it is today. Azerbaijan has  been using this issue in such a way that if Armenia does not agree to  dissolve the OSCE Minsk Group right now, immediately it implies  territorial claims. We do not have any such claims. In addition, they  claim that the Constitution of Armenia contains territorial claims. 

We do not agree with this. They refer to the fact that the preamble  to the Constitution contains a reference to the Declaration of  Independence, which mentions Nagorno-Karabakh. However, the  Declaration contains Article 5, which states that the armed forces  are created under the leadership of the Supreme Council in 1995. When  the Constitution was adopted, the army and the Ministry of Internal  Affairs began reporting to the President of the Republic, which means  that the text of the Declaration was not literally transferred to the  Constitution: what is written literally and word for word refers to   Constitution, and what is not written does not concern the  Constitution." Pashinyan also pointed out that elections in Armenia  have always been held on an area of 29,743 square kilometers and the  people of Nagorno-Karabakh have never participated in the electoral  processes in the Republic of Armenia.  Then the Armenian Prime  Minister proposed considering the Constitution of Azerbaijan. "It  contains a reference to the 1991 Act of Independence, as well as to  the 1918 Declaration of Independence of Azerbaijan, which states that  today's Azerbaijan is the successor to the First Azerbaijan Republic.  It mentions the Southern and Western Transcaucasia as part of it, and  there are territorial claims to the regions of Tavush, Gegharkunik  and Ararat. In comparison with our Constitution, the Constitution of  Azerbaijan contains territorial claims to Armenia. We do not raise  this issue, because the agreed articles of the peace treaty already  state the fact that neither side can refer to its internal  legislative acts," Pashinyan said.

 At the same time, he also highlighted Azerbaijan's territorial  ambitions to Georgia and Armenia as outlined in the Azerbaijani  constitution. Pashinyan believes that bringing up the content of  Azerbaijan's constitution in negotiations will drag the process into  a dead end. That is why Yerevan is avoiding this topic. However, this  does not mean that the Armenian side is not concerned about these  issues.