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YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS. Peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan not only is possible, but is within reach, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said in his remarks at the 79th session of the UN General Assembly in New York City.
“This is my fourth speech at the UN General Assembly and this speech will be significantly different from the previous ones. The key messages of my previous speeches were about the deadlock in achieving peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but today I want to say that Peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan not only is possible, but is within reach. Why do I think so? For a few specific reasons. Quite recently, on August 30, Armenia and Azerbaijan signed the Regulation on the Joint Activity of the Commissions on Delimitation of the state border between the two countries. This is the first bilateral legal document signed between the parties. But what is more important with that document, Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to set the 1991 Alma Ata Declaration as the basic principle of border delimitation between the two countries and will be guided by it,” Pashinyan said, explaining that this means that both countries “de jure reconfirm the principle of recognizing each other's territorial integrity and inviolability of borders that existed during the Soviet Union, which is a fundamental factor for establishing peace.”
“Now it is de jure reconfirmed that the two countries have no territorial claims on each other,” the Armenian PM added.
Now, according to PM Pashinyan, the sides need to make the next step and sign the Agreement on Establishment of Peace and Inter-State Relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan.
“The President of Azerbaijan and I have stated many times that at least 80 percent of the mentioned Agreement has been agreed upon. Now, to seize this historic opportunity and to avoid the risk of reaching a deadlock, Armenia proposes to take what has already been agreed in the draft Agreement, sign it, have a peace Agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan and then go on with negotiations on pending issues. We are ready to do this right now. Why do we propose this? Because there is no precedent of a peace agreement or any agreement that would regulate and solve everything. It is practically not possible. After signing any agreement, two countries may always need to conclude new agreements and make new arrangements for this very reason. No matter how comprehensive any agreement, many important issues need to be further addressed.”
Pashinyan explained that signing the already agreed upon articles will significantly facilitate the resolution of outstanding issues.
“And in the case of Armenia and Azerbaijan, the agreed articles of the draft Peace Agreement actually contain provisions on peace, on not having territorial claims on each other and not putting forward such claims in the future, provisions on establishing diplomatic relations and a joint commission to oversee the implementation of the Peace Agreement, a provision on not interfering in each other's internal affairs, not using force and threat of force, and other important provisions.
"Signing the Peace Agreement with the already agreed articles, will significantly facilitate the resolution of the non-agreed issues. The already agreed parts of the draft Peace Agreement provide tools for that: one of them is the diplomatic relations to be established between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the second is the joint Armenia-Azerbaijan commission to oversee the implementation of the Peace Agreement. I mean, the existence of de jure peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan by signing the proposed Agreement, and the establishment of diplomatic relations, will result in changing the overall atmosphere and the perception of our Governments and Peoples, which will significantly facilitate the solution of the remaining issues.
"Azerbaijan, however, insists that the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia is an obstacle to the peace Agreement, because it allegedly contains territorial claims on Azerbaijan.
"Without going into details, let me say that there is nothing of this kind in our Constitution, there are no territorial claims on Azerbaijan, and we can provide detailed written proofs regarding this to all our international partners concerned.
"Moreover, it is the Constitution of Azerbaijan that contains territorial claims on the Republic of Armenia and we can present written argumentation on this as well to all our international partners concerned.
"But pay attention: we do not consider the Constitution of Azerbaijan as an obstacle to the Peace Agreement for the simple reason, that the agreed part of the draft Peace Agreement contains wording that solves the problem and that wording is as follows: “None of the Parties may invoke the provisions of its internal legislation as justification for its failure to perform the present Agreement”.
"Therefore, the signing of the Agreement will address the concerns of both Armenia and Azerbaijan and will create legal guarantees for addressing them fundamentally," PM Pashinyan said.