Russian news agency: Azerbaijan-Armenia peace deal impossible without constitutional change

First Deputy Director-General of Russia's TASS news agency Mikhail Gusman has said that a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia will remain unfeasible as long as Armenia's constitution contains territorial claims against Azerbaijan.

Gusman shared this view with journalists on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, Caliber.Az reports via local media. 

While acknowledging that the recent agreement on the peace treaty text is a "positive step," Gusman emphasized the need for caution in considering it the final stage of the peace process.

"On the one hand, we should be optimistic about the fact that the text of the agreement has been agreed upon. It may appear from the outside that only the signing of the document remains. However, as Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev recently pointed out at the ADA University Forum, there are still crucial issues to resolve," Gusman noted.

He specifically referenced the fact that Armenia's constitution continues to feature clauses that essentially lay the groundwork for territorial claims against Azerbaijan.

"Therefore, it is impossible to sign a peace agreement while such provisions remain entrenched in the fundamental law of another country," Gusman emphasised. 

Gusman also warned that moving forward with the peace agreement in its current form—without addressing these constitutional issues—could pose significant risks in the future. "If the issue with Armenia's Constitution is not resolved—particularly the territorial claims against Azerbaijan—it would be akin to setting a ticking time bomb beneath such an important agreement," he stated. 

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry announced on March 13 that negotiations on the text of the peace agreement with Armenia had been concluded, with the document consisting of 17 articles.

By Naila Huseynova