At the panel discussion of the diplomatic conference started in the Turkish city of Antalya, Hikmet Hajiyev, Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan, repeated the thesis of the official Baku that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is over for Azerbaijan and it is no longer considered a problem. According to him, the goal of Azerbaijan is to establish peace and cooperation in the region. Agreeing with Ruben Rubinyan's observation that the meeting of the leaders of the two countries in Munich is a positive sign, Hajiyev insisted that there is no need for mediators to regulate relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the parties should try to reach an agreement through direct contacts. According to him, the peace treaty is not a cure for all pains. Hajiyev again insisted that there are provisions in the Constitution of Armenia containing territorial claims against Azerbaijan, and the Mother Law of the country should be changed. Hajiyev once again complained about the activities of the EU mission on the border of Armenia and stated that Armenia has taken the path of militarization.
Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Armenia, Special representative of Armenia on the issue of relations with Turkey, Ruben Rubinyan, in response to Hajiev's claims, stated that the Constitution of Armenia and legal issues are Armenia's internal affairs, have nothing to do with the peace process and are not related to international processes.
“We have repeatedly stated that Armenia has no territorial claims to Azerbaijan. They were reflected in even joint statements signed by the President of Azerbaijan and the Prime Minister of Armenia. But, nevertheless, the best way to clarify and I mean this from both sides, that the sides don’t have any territorial towards each other is writing it down on a paper and signing it. There are two clauses in the draft treaty which address this issue. In one of them, it is stated that Armenia and Azerbaijan recognize each other's territorial integrity, and they do not have any territorial claims and will not have any territorial claims to each other either now or in the future. The other clause states that sides should not interfere with each other's internal legislation to avoid fulfilling the provisions of the given treaty. For this reason, I think that the best way to assure each other that we do not expect anything from each other regarding the territories and will not expect anything in the future is to sign a peace treaty. I know Mr. Hajiyev says that signing a peace treaty is not a ‘rocket science’, this is one of the cases when I have to agree with him, there are certain basic principles of international law here: territorial integrity, sovereignty, self-determination, respect for the legislation of the other party, equality of rights, etc. These are the basic principles of international law. And if we accept it, in any case at the level of the leaders we have already confirmed our mutual understanding of these issues, it remains to complete the technical issues. Unfortunately, we don't see Azerbaijan's eagerness to reflect these agreed principles on paper, but we hope this will change,” he said.
