Azeri constitution’s territorial claims against Armenia “no obstacle” because peace treaty would overrule internal legislation, says PM Pashinyan
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YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, speaking at the General Debate of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly, once again denied Azerbaijani allegations that the Armenian constitution contains territorial claims against it.
He said there are no territorial claims on Azerbaijan in the constitution, and Armenia can provide detailed written proofs regarding this to all international partners concerned.
PM Pashinyan said it is the Constitution of Azerbaijan that contains territorial claims on the Republic of Armenia and Armenia can present written argumentation on this as well to all international partners concerned. However, he noted that this is not an obstacle because the peace agreement would resolve the issue.
Pashinyan said that after signing the peace treaty with Azerbaijan the document will be submitted to the Constitutional Court to check its constitutionality, as in case of any international treaty. And in case of the high court determining that it contradicts with the constitution “then we will face a specific situation where constitutional changes will be needed for the sake of achieving peace.”
The Armenian Prime Minister said that Armenia is ready to sign a peace agreement with Azerbaijan on the already agreed upon articles, a move that would “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. When we examine the agreed text of the Peace Agreement in terms of compliance with the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, we see the following picture: Under the Constitution of Armenia, agreements that contradict the Constitution may not be ratified. And as in other cases, after signing the Peace Agreement with Azerbaijan, we must submit it to the Constitutional Court to verify the compliance of the Agreement with the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia. If our Constitutional Court decides that the Peace Agreement with Azerbaijan is in contradiction with the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia (even though our experts assure that it is not likely to happen), then we will face a specific situation where constitutional changes will be needed for the sake of achieving peace. And if our Constitutional Court decides that the Agreement complies with the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, then there will be no barriers for ratification in the Parliament of Armenia, and here an extremely important circumstance comes in. Under Paragraph 3 of Article 5 of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, ratified international agreements have precedence over the domestic legislation of the Republic of Armenia, and therefore, after the signing and ratification of the Peace Agreement with Azerbaijan, theoretically, even if there were laws that could be interpreted as containing territorial claims, these documents would be subordinate to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Agreement and would automatically have no legal force. The same logic would apply to Azerbaijan of course,” Pashinyan said.
The Armenian Prime Minister said peace is very close and they need to “reach out and take it.”
“As you can see, here is peace so close to us and all we need to do, is reach out and take it. It is not easy for either Armenia or Azerbaijan, because each of us has our own truth and the debate over those truths has led to enmity, casualties, and wars. The pain is very deep and intense. But we must now focus on peace, because peace is the only truth understandable to the people of Armenia and Azerbaijan. And this truth will open our eyes and shut down the sources of enmity, and we will all look to the future,” he said.