RA MFA Press Spokesperson Ani Badalyan's response to the inquiry received from the media
- During his speech in Jabrayl, the President of Azerbaijan, I. Aliyev, once again referred to Armenia's achievements in weaponry and issued threats. Moreover, threatening and aggressive statements on one or another level have recently been heard more often in Azerbaijan. How would you interpret these statements?
- Official Yerevan has already stated many times and at the highest level that it has no aggressive intentions towards any neighbor, recognizes the territorial integrity of all of them, and has no territorial claims. It should be emphasized that the latest decision of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia, by which the High Court verified and confirmed the compliance of the regulation of the joint activity of the Armenian and Azerbaijani border demarcation commissions with the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia and denied all claims that the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia contains territorial claims against any of its neighbors. The Republic of Armenia has also stated that although certain of its territories are occupied, it has no problem and agenda to return these territories by military means because the regulation mentioned above of the joint activities of the Border Liberation Commissions provides all the opportunities to address and solve these problems peacefully and through negotiations.
As for weapons, the UN Charter reserves the right of self-defense to every state. Moreover, international law gives every state the obligation to protect its citizens. Armenia acquires weapons and equipment only to realize the right of self-defense and the responsibility to protect its citizens. Parallel to this, the volume of armaments of Azerbaijan with offensive weapons is many times higher, as the president of Azerbaijan often announces.
Now, considering all this, a question arises. Why does Azerbaijan make the emphasis mentioned in your question? Is it preparing aggression against the Republic of Armenia? I think it is essential to get the answer to this question because it will also help to evaluate the views expressed that Azerbaijan is going to use the upcoming COP-29 conference in Baku as a smokescreen to launch a new military aggression against the Republic of Armenia, and its political responsibility at COP-29 for distribution among foreign leaders who traveled to Baku to participate.
The recent statements of the official Baku raise at least several important questions, and I want to raise two more.
a) Does Azerbaijan refuse the agreements to recognize the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Armenia based on the Alma-Ata Declaration? I want to emphasize once again that the Republic of Armenia reaffirms its loyalty to the agreement reached with Azerbaijan based on the Alma-Ata Declaration, that is, to recognize each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty along the administrative borders of the Soviet Republics.
b) Has Azerbaijan abandoned the Peace Agenda? Let me say that the Republic of Armenia reaffirms its commitment to the Peace Agenda and its readiness to sign the content of the already agreed peace with Azerbaijan as a peace treaty, as the Prime Minister of Armenia announced in his speech at the 79th session of the UN General Assembly.
We think that instead of aggressive rhetoric, we should focus on resolving the issue of signing the Peace Treaty as soon as possible and negotiating on other matters not only de facto but also in de jure peace conditions.
