BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 1. The main condition of the peace agreement is the amendment of the Armenian Constitution, said President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev while receiving credentials of the newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Canada to the country Kevin Hamilton, Trend reports.
Saying that we are diversifying our diplomatic activities at the global level, the head of state underlined that there is a declaration on strategic partnership between Azerbaijan and 10 countries of the European Union, and emphasized that “most of these documents were signed during the occupation of our lands at a time when there was no peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia.” “In this regard, the absence of a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan cannot be a factor in determining the level of activity of any country in the region.”
The head of state emphasized that for 28 years, Armenia refused to comply with the fundamental principles of international law. They violated all humanitarian laws and ignored the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council demanding the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. No one held them accountable in the slightest. A number of countries discussing the conflict did not declare loyalty to the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.
“Now, after we have defeated Armenia’s occupying forces on the battlefield and expelled them from our lands, we hear statements supporting our territorial integrity. But we have already secured it ourselves. Whether someone recognizes our territorial integrity or not is irrelevant.
“It is known that pro-Armenian sentiments and the role of the Armenian diaspora exist in some Western countries. However, when it comes to international law, these emotions should be set aside. It is important to understand that issues unresolved for 28 years are difficult to solve in 1-2 years. Moreover, substantive negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia only began in December. Before that, Armenia wanted to include the so-called "Nagorno-Karabakh" issue in the peace agreement, which was unacceptable,” the President of Azerbaijan said.
President Ilham Aliyev emphasized that this is Azerbaijan’s internal matter. “Thus, after the dissolution of the separatist regime, negotiations have been ongoing for only six months since December. The head of state stated that this requires time, and, of course, the main condition for the peace agreement is the amendment of Armenia's constitution. Because it contains territorial claims against Azerbaijan, and until this is addressed, a peace agreement will not be signed. This is a known fact.”
The President of Azerbaijan also noted that, despite this, he believes that “we are making considerable progress in the negotiation process.” The head of state said, “I believe we can finalize the text of the peace agreement, or at least its main principles, within a few months. During the occupation period, the mediators' plan was to agree on the basic principles known as the Madrid Principles. These principles should have been initialed with the text to be drafted later. We believe this could be an option—reaching an agreement on the basic principles, initializing them, and then working on the text.” President Ilham Aliyev noted that this will happen if Armenia amends its constitution.
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