"There will be a peace treaty" - Pashinyan's response to Aliyev
Pashinyan’s response to Aliyev
“There will be a peace treaty, and it will be based on written documents, [agreements] that have been reached so far at the highest level,” the Prime Minister of Armenia responsed to the statement of the President of Azerbaijan.
On March 18, Ilham Aliyev addressed the people of Azerbaijan on the occasion of Novruz. He stated that “there will be no peace agreement” if Armenia does not accept the conditions of Azerbaijan and does not agree to delimitation on its terms.
Pashinyan was referring to Aliyev’s address to the Azerbaijani people on the occasion of the holiday. He pointed out that the President of Azerbaijan spoke from the village of Talysh in the Terter region, which the Armenians left following the 2020 war in Karabakh. Pashinyan called the demolition of Armenian homes and the construction of homes for Azeris as “vandalism”.
He stated that according to the tripartite statement of November 9, 2020, which ended the war, the villagers had a right to return to their homes. Thus, in his opinion, Baku is demonstrating “its own model of integration”, which consists in “demolishing houses belonging to Armenians by right of ownership, erasing Armenian inscriptions from ancient monuments and considering the issue resolved.”
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“Act of aggression against Armenia”
Thus Pashinyan characterized Aliyev’s statements, calling the latter’s speech “a gross violation of agreements reached at the highest level.”
Pashinyan cited statements signed in 2022 in Prague and Sochi, according to which both countries reaffirmed “their commitment to the UN Charter and the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1991”, and agreed “to resolve all problematic issues on the basis of mutual recognition of sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability boundaries.”
According to him, the borders of the Soviet republics were thus recognized as national borders
“Azerbaijan continues to talk about delimitation based on some historical maps, which is absolutely unacceptable for the simple reason that it contradicts written agreements.”
“We need reliable international mechanisms”
Pashinyan believes that reliable mechanisms are needed both in the case of the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace agreement and “agreements in the Stepanakert-Baku format.”
“Impunity for violations of agreements agreed at the international level inspires Azerbaijan and encourages new provocations,” he stressed.
In this regard, he recalled the last “monstrous provocation”, the incident on March 22, “when a soldier of the Armenian Armed Forces, Arshak Sargsyan, was killed by sniper fire from the Azeri side.”
“Azerbaijan is leading the situation to a new escalation”
Pashinyan once again addressed his international partners with a warning: the possibility of a new escalation is additionally furthered by “absurd talk about so-called Western Azerbaijan, which Baku is conducting at the state level.” According to him, this is “an open encroachment on the sovereign territory of Armenia.”
“The reason for the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is these long-standing policies and narratives that question Armenia’s right to exist,” he said.
“Baku’s rude interference in the internal affairs of Armenia”
Pashinyan considers statements from Baku that “there are supposedly no national minorities in the country”, “accusing Armenia of being a mono-ethnic country” as “gross interference in the internal affairs of Armenia”. He pointed out that, in fact, there are even minority representatives in the Azerbaijani parliament.
Then Pashinyan addressed the situation in Azerbaijan, maintaining that “the persecution of representatives of national minorities in Azerbaijan is systemic.” According to him, the international press is flooded with “info about killings and arrests of leaders who defend the interests of national minorities.”
“Maybe Azerbaijan will show goodwill and establish parliamentary quotas for national minorities in the Milli Majlis and guarantee this under the constitution? Perhaps this will be the first step towards correcting the situation,” he said.
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Pashinyan’s response to Aliyev
