Aliyev links peace deal to Armenian Constitution

PanARMENIAN.Net - Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in Munich that signing a peace treaty depends on amendments to Armenia’s Constitution, stressing that peace has effectively already been established.

“Our position has been conveyed to the Armenian side for many years: the necessary changes must be made to Armenia’s Constitution. As soon as those changes are made, the very next day we can sign the peace treaty,” Ilham Aliyev said, according to Haqqin.az.

The Azerbaijani leader also stated that “peace between the two countries has already been established.”

“The agreements reached at the Washington summit, including the signed Joint Declaration and the initialing of the peace treaty, de facto mean that peace has been established. The formal side of the matter depends on Armenia. The sooner constitutional amendments are made and territorial claims against Azerbaijan are removed, the sooner the peace treaty will be signed,” he explained.

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, in turn, linked progress on the TRIPP project to amendments to Armenia’s Constitution. He made the remarks during a panel discussion titled “Shaping the Strategic Order of Eurasia: Middle Corridor — European Security Agenda in Stability, Peace and Connectivity,” held on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, Minval.az reports.

The minister said that, in line with the Washington Declaration, signing the initialed peace agreement and advancing the TRIPP project require the removal of “territorial claims against Azerbaijan enshrined in Armenia’s Constitution.”

He emphasized that lifting transit restrictions for cargo deliveries to Armenia and the export of Azerbaijani petroleum products have contributed to the formation of an unprecedented stable environment. In response, Armenia has allowed cargo exports to third countries through Azerbaijani territory, while meetings between analysts and experts have become an additional means of strengthening trust.

Speaking to journalists, Aliyev also addressed the issue of transport routes.

“We have long advocated the creation of corridors, starting with energy corridors, continuing with transport, and now also in the fields of electricity and fiber optics. Thus, alongside strengthening our country’s potential and developing international ties, we are adding new components to the existing connectivity concept.

If oil and gas pipelines can be considered an established fact, although there is a need to expand gas transport infrastructure; if issues related to railway communication have been partially resolved and Azerbaijan does not face serious difficulties either in ensuring transit transportation or exporting its own products, although the Zangezur corridor would provide an additional contribution in this direction; then matters related to electric cables, fiber-optic lines, data centers and the transmission and transit of information as a result of artificial intelligence activities are today the areas we are specifically engaged in,” he said.

Armenia has stated that the text of the new Constitution will be ready in March.