Baku was quick to dismiss Pashinian’s appeal made during an international conference in Yerevan. And it again referred to much of modern-day Armenia as “historical Azerbaijani lands.”
In a lengthy speech delivered during the conference, Pashinian insisted that the draft treaty fully addresses the stated Azerbaijani concerns about territorial claims to Azerbaijan allegedly contained in the Armenian constitution.
“There is no chance that Azerbaijan's expectations will not be met if the treaty is signed,” he said. “We can be 100 percent sure that all concerns will be dispelled, and for this, the peace agreement must be signed.”
While insisting that the constitution does not lay claim to Nagorno-Karabakh recaptured by Baku in 2023, Pashinian said: “If the [Armenian] Constitutional Court decides that the peace treaty does not conform to our constitution, then I will initiate constitutional amendments.”
Pashinian promised to try to enact a new constitution through a referendum a year ago and has repeatedly reaffirmed that pledge since then. He admitted last month that he wants the kind of constitutional change that is demanded by Baku.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry swiftly dismissed Pashinian’s fresh assurances. A ministry spokesman said they only called into question to Yerevan’s commitment to peace.
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev expressed confidence last week that Pashinian’s government will accept his key preconditions for signing the peace deal. Those include not only a change of Armenia’s constitution but also the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorno-Karabakh.
Shortly after Pashinian’s latest comments, Aliyev issued yet another statement describing much of Armenian territory as “Western Azerbaijan” and “our historical lands.” Last week, he again demanded that Armenia ensure the return of Azerbaijanis who lived there until the late 1980s and give them “security guarantees.”
“We have repeatedly said that there cannot be Western Azerbaijan in the sovereign territory of Armenia,” Pashinian said in this regard on Monday.
Pashinian’s domestic critics maintain that his appeasement policy only encourages Aliyev to demand more Armenian concessions that would prelude Armenia’s very existence as a viable state. They have also decried his refusal to raise in peace talks with Baku the right of safe return of Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian population that fled the region following Azerbaijan’s September 2023 military offensive.
The draft peace treaty reportedly does not call for their repatriation. Pashinian has repeatedly made clear that the Karabakh issue is closed for his administration.