During his inauguration on Feb. 14, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan again made threats against Armenia
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s office on Wednesday accused Baku of deliberately derailing the peace process and “deepening enmity in the region,” after President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan added to the chorus of threats against Armenia from his government officials.
During his inauguration address on Wednesday Aliyev said that there will be no peace treaty if Armenia does not change its laws, ramping up his recent demands for Armenia to change its Constitution because it makes references to Artsakh.
“If territorial claims [by Armenia] against us are not abandoned, if Armenia does not bring its laws into order, of course, there will be no peace treaty,” Aliyev said after he was sworn in as president, a position he has held since 2003.
The Azerbaijani leader made the threat against Armenia a day after his country’s forces attacked the Nerkin Hand region of the Syunik Province killing four soldiers and injuring another.
“Armenia seems to have forgotten the results of the Second Karabakh War [in 2020],” Aliyev continued.
“We have no claim to the territory of Armenia, but they should also give up their claims. Speaking with us in the language of groundless claims and blackmail will cost them dearly, and probably everyone can see that,” Aliyev threatened.
According to Azerbaijan’s legislation, as well as Aliyev’s own assertions, the entire territory of Armenia is “historical Azerbaijani lands.”
Pashinyan’s press secretary Nazeli Baghdasaryan accused Azerbaijan of continuing to spread enmity and hatred in the region, which, she said threatened the stability.
“The laws of the Republic of Armenia are an internal matter of the Republic of Armenia, and no external force has the right to interfere in the internal affairs of our country,” Baghdasaryan said.
“As for territorial claims, Armenia is committed to the agreements reached with Azerbaijan on international platforms to recognize each other’s territorial integrity on the basis of the Alma-Ata Declaration, to conduct the demarcation and delimitation of the borders between the two countries based on the Alma-Ata Declaration, to open the regional communications on the basis of the sovereignty, jurisdiction, the principles of equality and reciprocity,” added Baghdasaryan.
Just last week, Pashinyan pushed forward with his agenda to change Armenia’s Constitution, saying that it would be impossible to achieve peace in the region if Armenia remained guided by its Declaration of Independence, which calls for the reunification of Armenia and Artsakh.
“Azerbaijan regularly violates these agreements by persisting in aggressive rhetoric, using force and the threat of force, that contradict the written agreements reached at international platforms. Additionally, Azerbaijan continues to occupy 31 vital territories belonging to the Republic of Armenia. All this shows that Azerbaijan continues the strategy of deepening enmity in the region, which is a continuous threat of destabilization,” Baghdasaryan, Pashinyan’s spokesperson, added.
“Armenia will continue its efforts to establish peace and again offers Azerbaijan the withdrawal of troops, based on the 1991 border line, which will be a cornerstone step for stability and mutual trust in the region. As for the peace treaty, there is an already agreed-upon point in the draft being negotiated between Armenia and Azerbaijan, according to which the parties cannot refer to their legislation to refuse to fulfill any provision of the peace treaty,” said Baghdasaryan.
“We repeat: Armenia and Azerbaijan have already reached an agreement on this point, and the statements from official Baku contradict this agreement as well,” the prime minister’s spokesperson declared.