Armenia will arm itself and will not change its Constitution – Pashinyan (updated)

During a press conference on January 31, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made several key statements regarding the resolution of relations with Azerbaijan. In particular, he said that Yerevan agrees to the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group if Baku genuinely desires peace. "We want to ensure that the dissolution of the Minsk Group means the same for Azerbaijan and is not a green light for starting a new conflict with territorial claims against Armenia," he stated.

Yerevan has grounds to believe that Azerbaijan has such intentions, and the basis for this is the rhetoric of "Western Azerbaijan." "This is a direct threat to Armenia's territorial integrity," he continued. Regarding Baku’s demand to change Armenia’s constitution, Pashinyan made it clear that nothing will change. "The Constitutional Court of Armenia has confirmed that our Constitution does not contain territorial claims against Azerbaijan," the prime minister said.

In the agreed-upon sections of the peace treaty, there are articles that address all these issues. Therefore, Baku’s concerns regarding the Armenian constitution will be resolved upon the signing of a peace agreement, according to Pashinyan.

Armenia, like any sovereign country, will have a military. Its task is the defense and security of Armenia. There are territories of Armenia that are not controlled by Armenia, but we will not try to reclaim them by military means. These territories should be returned based on the delimitation of the border in accordance with the Alma-Ata Declaration, said the prime minister.

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Yerevan offers Baku the same regime for both sides on the road through Zangezur

"We are not against unimpeded communication, but this does not mean unimpeded bypassing of Armenia’s jurisdiction," said Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at a press conference on Friday. He confirmed that two points of the peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan remain unresolved. However, he added, Yerevan has proposed solutions for both issues.

"We propose that there be rail freight communication from the western regions of Azerbaijan to the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and vice versa, but under the same principle as from Yeraskh to Meghri" (from Armenia through Nakhchivan to Armenia).

It is worth recalling that Baku insists that goods and people from the main part of Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan and back should travel through Armenia's Syunik region (Zangezur) without any checks or stops.

Apparently, Yerevan is willing to accept this on the condition that its citizens and goods will travel from one part of Armenia to another through Nakhchivan under the same regime.