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On August 8, in Washington, Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, and US President Donald Trump signed a joint declaration, and on the same day, the Agreement on Establishment of Peace and Inter-State Relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan was initialed.
Since then, Aliyev has made a number of statements in his communications with the media and at interstate and local events that contradict the provisions and spirit of the aforementioned document.
A month after the signing of the documents, the Fact Investigation Platform has compiled these statements.
Aliyev’s interference in Armenia’s domestic affairs and the precondition to amend the Constitution
On August 29, Ilham Aliyev, in an interview with the Arab media outlet Al Arabiya, once again raised the issue of amending the Armenian Constitution as a precondition for the final signing of the initialed Agreement on the Establishment of Peace and Interstate Relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan.
“Formally the peace agreement was not signed for one reason: there is still a provision in the Armenian Constitution puts under doubt the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, so they will make an amendment as far as we understand. And as soon as this constitutional amendment is made, as soon as territorial claims to Azerbaijan are deducted from the Constitution, the formal peace agreement will be signed,” the Azerbaijani president noted.
Azerbaijan has been officially demanding an amendment to the Constitution of Armenia since 2024. Official Baku believes that the Declaration of Independence contains territorial claims to Azerbaijan.
Thus, under Article 2 of the initialed agreement, “The Parties confirm that they do not have any territorial claims to each other and shall not raise any such claims in the future.”
And Article 12 stipulates: “The Parties in their bilateral relations shall be guided by international law and this Agreement. None of the Parties may invoke the provisions of its internal legislation as justification for its failure to perform the present Agreement.”
In other words, both Armenia and Azerbaijan undertake by this agreement to respect each other’s territorial integrity and cannot violate or challenge it by referring to their domestic legislation, including the Constitution.
In fact, the agreement dispels such concerns, but Aliyev continues to advance this precondition, contradicting the spirit of Article 12.
At the same time, Aliyev, by making the precondition to amend the Armenian constitution, violates Article 4 of the agreement, which states that “the Parties shall refrain from intervening with the internal affairs of each other.”
The initialed agreement did not hold back Aliyev’s hate speech against Armenians
On August 25, during a meeting with Azerbaijanis living in Karvachar, Aliyev called Armenian society “sick.”
“This [Armenian] society is sick, and I say this openly,” he said.
By doing so, Aliyev conflicted another provision of the initialed agreement: “The Parties condemn and shall combat intolerance, racial hatred and discrimination, separatism, violent extremism and terrorism in all their manifestations within their respective jurisdictions, and shall uphold their applicable international obligations.”
Trump route as “Zangezur Corridor”
On September 1, at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, Aliyev presented to international partners a project to be implemented on the sovereign territory of Armenia, renaming the communication route through Armenia the so-called “Zangezur Corridor.”
“The latest agreements connecting Azerbaijan with the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic will further expand the transit opportunities for international transportation. I am confident that the “Zangezur Corridor” will soon become another important section of the Middle Corridor, as well as the North-South Corridor, which will contribute to the strengthening of peace, multilateral partnership and will benefit all of Azerbaijan’s near and far neighbors: to the east, west, north and south of our borders,” Aliyev noted.
In fact, Aliyev contradicts both the spirit of Article 2 of the initialed agreement, by introducing the project to be implemented through Armenia to international partners as an Azerbaijani project, and also clauses 3 and 4 of the joint declaration signed by the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia, and the United States on August 8:
“Unimpeded communication between the main part of Azerbaijan and the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic through the territory of the Republic of Armenia will operate on the principles of territorial integrity, sovereignty, and jurisdiction of the Republic of Armenia, as well as the reciprocal benefits for international and intra-state connectivity for the Republic of Armenia.”
At the same time, the section of the Middle Corridor passing through Armenia is not called the “Zangezur Corridor,” but the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP).” And the execution of the connectivity project is in a bilateral, Armenia-USA format.
It should also be noted that at the SCO summit, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan responded to Aliyev, emphasizing that certain terminology was also agreed upon in the Declaration adopted by the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan.
“The use of this specified, agreed terminology will contribute to a constructive atmosphere and further work. I also wish to inform our partners that, in particular, the vernacular used by the President of Azerbaijan is not perceived by us within the logic that we agreed upon in Washington, especially since within the framework of these agreements, the Republic of Armenia and the United States of America will implement a connectivity investment project called “The Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity.” This project stems from the Crossroads of Peace project by the Republic of Armenia on which the Republic of Armenia and the United States signed a bilateral memorandum for development and investment,” he noted.
Thus, since August 8, in one month, Aliyev has managed to repeatedly violate both the provisions of the Armenia-US-Azerbaijan declaration in his public speeches and make statements that are in conflict with the spirit of the initialed agreement.
Nane Manasyan
