Question: During his speech in Jabrayil, the President of Azerbaijan I. Aliyev once again referred to Armenia’s acquisition of military equipment and made threatful comments. Moreover, threatening and aggressive statements from Azerbaijan on different levels have recently become more frequent. How would you comment on these statements?
Answer: Official Yerevan has repeatedly and at the highest level announced that it has no aggressive intentions towards any of its neighbours, recognizes their territorial integrity and does not have any territorial claims. It should be emphasized that the recent decision of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia, in which the Supreme Court verified and confirmed that the regulation on Joint Activity of the Commissions on the delimitation of the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan complies with the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia and denied all the claims that the Constitution contains territorial claims against any of Armenia’s neighbours. The Republic of Armenia has also stated that although certain of its territories are occupied, it does not have any intention or agenda to return them through military means, because the mentioned regulation on the Joint Activities on Commissions on delimitation of the border gives all the opportunities to address and solve these issues peacefully and through negotiations.
As for armaments, the UN Charter grants each state the right to self-defense. Moreover, international law obligates every state to protect its citizens. Armenia acquires armaments and equipment solely for the purpose of exercising its right to self-defense and fulfilling its obligation to protect its citizens. At the same time, Azerbaijan’s acquisition of offensive armaments is many times higher than Armenia’s acquisition, something that Azerbaijan’s president frequently announces.
Now, taking all this into account, here is a question: why is Azerbaijan making those points you emphasized in your question? Is it preparing for aggression against the Republic of Armenia? I believe it is important to get an answer to this question, as it would also help evaluate the opinions that Azerbaijan is planning to use the upcoming COP-29 conference in Baku as a smokescreen for launching a new military aggression against the Republic of Armenia, and to shift the political responsibility for it onto the foreign leaders attending COP-29 in Baku.
The recent statements from official Baku raise at least several other important questions, and I would like to mention here the two of them.
a) Does Azerbaijan refrain from the agreements to recognize the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Armenia based on the Alma-Ata Declaration? I would like to emphasize once again that the Republic of Armenia reaffirms its commitment to the agreement reached with Azerbaijan on the basis of the Alma-Ata Declaration, i.e. to recognize each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty within the administrative borders of the former Soviet Republics.
b) Does Azerbaijan refrain from the Peace Agenda? The Republic of Armenia reaffirms its commitment to the Peace Agenda and its readiness to sign the already agreed content with Azerbaijan as a peace treaty, as the Prime Minister of Armenia announced in his remarks at the 79th session of the UN General Assembly.
We assume that instead of aggressive rhetoric, we should focus on resolving the issue of signing the Peace Treaty in the shortest period and on negotiating on other issues not only in de facto, but also in de jure peace conditions.
