ArmInfo. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan presents his solution for addressing Azerbaijan's concerns regarding territorial claims of the Republic of Armenia against the Republic of Azerbaijan, allegedly outlined in the Constitution of Armenia.
The Prime Minister shared it during a session in parliament on September 11, as part of the government's allotted time. In particular, when analyzing the events of the recent period, the Prime Minister considers it important to find an answer to the following question: <Does Azerbaijan want our Constitution to contain territorial claims against them? Or do they have sincere concerns, what is it?>. The first, according to him, is <another case>, but if we are talking about the second scenario, then, he reminds, international treaties that contradict the Constitution cannot be ratified.
<Let's imagine that we have signed a peace document, which, let's say, states that Armenia and Azerbaijan have no territorial claims against each other, we both recognize each other's territorial integrity and agree not to make any territorial claims against each other in the future. If the Constitutional Court decides that this provision does not comply with our Constitution, it will confirm our claims against Azerbaijan. But if the Constitutional Court deems it compliant with our Constitution and sends the document to the parliament for ratification, then the provision that the Republic of Armenia has no territorial claims against Azerbaijan will have the highest legal force>, he said. Moreover, Pashinyan pointed out that in cases where there is a conflict between the norms of international treaties ratified by the Republic of Armenia and the laws of the Republic of Armenia, the norms of the ratified international treaties take precedence.
<That is, if the document is signed and ratified, then Azerbaijan's concerns, if any, are dispelled. But if we are talking about territorial claims that may arise in the future, then this may happen regardless of the existence of a peace treaty, "the prime minister said. Meanwhile, Pashinyan noted that the Constitution of Azerbaijan contains territorial claims to the territory of Armenia, but Yerevan does not raise this issue because it believes that "the same processes that happen to us, will also happen to them, and this issue will be resolved." At the same time, the RA Prime Minister added, independent experts say that Azerbaijan is leading the peace treaty process to a dead end in order to keep open the territorial claims against Armenia outlined in the Constitution of Azerbaijan.
Regarding the inclusion of a reference to the Declaration of Independence of Armenia in the Constitution of Armenia, which includes a provision for the reunification of the Republic of Armenia and Nagorno- Karabakh, the head of the Cabinet pointed out that, as per the law on normative legal acts, the laws of Armenia should be interpreted and understood literally, "you cannot read one thing and understand another, that is, what is written, is what it means." "There are no territorial claims against Azerbaijan in the Constitution of Armenia," the RA prime minister concluded.