Baku Continues to Insist on Changes to Armenian Constitution, and now Coat of Arms

Despite assertions by European Union leaders that Armenia and Azerbaijan are close to signing a peace deal, official Baku insisted again on Friday that it considers changes to the Armenian Constitution as a “key condition for establishing peace.”

In a statement, Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry also said that Armenia’s Coat of Arms represents territorial claims from its neighbors.

Azerbaijan does not intend to give up its ever-increasing demands to Armenia. This was evident from the tone of the Baku’s statement, which was made in response to remarks made by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in an interview with Azerbaijan’s ITV channel on Thursday.

Pashinyan insisted in the interview the Armenia’s Constitution did not contain territorial claims from Azerbaijan.

“Amendments to the Armenian Constitution, which contains direct threats to the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, are a key condition for establishing peace, and it is Azerbaijan’s legitimate right to demand it,” Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said in its statement.

The ministry said that Pashinyan was “trying once again to mislead the international community on the issue of the Azerbaijani-Armenian peace process.”

“The Prime Minister’s attempts to justify his statements by referring to the constitutional provision on the priority of international treaties ratified by Armenia over local laws are completely groundless. It is enough to look at Article 5 of the Armenian constitution. It is according to this provision that the Armenian constitution has supreme legal force, and the provision on the priority of international treaty, which the Prime Minister refers to, has nothing to do with the constitution,” Baku said.

“The Armenian Prime Minister’s logic that the problems can be ignored shows that this country is not interested in a sustainable peace and is trying to keep a backup for renewed aggression against Azerbaijan in the future. In addition, Armenia’s attempts to oppose the official abolition of the Minsk Group, which is a relic of the past conflict, and the desire to link the process to a peace agreement demonstrate the existence of a hidden agenda of this country against Azerbaijan,” the Azerbaijani added.

“Even the coat of arms, which is mentioned in Article 21 of the Constitution of Armenia, reflects Armenia’s territorial claims towards its neighbors,” Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said.