In an interview with Armenpress, the spokesperson for the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ani Badalyan, responded to the statements of the spokesperson for the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Aykhan Hajizade, who made false allegations about ceasefire violations by Armenia and Armenia's alleged failure to fulfill its obligations.

Question—Ms. Badalyan, the spokesperson for the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responded to the statement of the RA Prime Minister's Office on March 18, 2018, by once again accusing the Republic of Armenia of violating the ceasefire regime. The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense also made a similar statement today. What are the grounds for making such accusations?

Answer – The Government of the Republic of Armenia has stated at the highest level that it has no problem or goal to escalate the situation and continues to act by the principles of the peace agenda. The RA Army is a body subordinate to the government and operates according to this logic. The RA Ministry of Defense has stated that it is ready to investigate the facts substantiating the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense reports about ceasefire violations in case they are transferred to Armenia. I must state that until now, Azerbaijan has not provided Armenia with any factual information on the ceasefire violations by the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia. Azerbaijan has also not responded to the proposal made by the Republic of Armenia on June 22, 2024, to establish a joint mechanism for investigating cases of ceasefire violations and/or similar information.

Question—Commenting on the statement of the RA Prime Minister's Office, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Spokesperson accused Armenia of pursuing complex and practically unfeasible initiatives.

Answer—Armenia and Azerbaijan have officially announced the Agreement on the draft of the Agreement "On the Establishment of Peace and Interstate Relations" and the completion of negotiations on the draft. Logically, the agreed document should be signed, and the Republic of Armenia proposes to begin consultations on the place and timing of its signing. The proposed process is neither complex nor impracticable.

Question—The spokesperson for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry discussed the need to dissolve the OSCE MG and amend the RA Constitution. What is the Republic of Armenia's position on this issue?

Answer—The Republic of Armenia has stated at the highest level its readiness to consider dissolving the OSCE MG. Armenia wants to be sure that this means a de facto and de jure end to the conflict and not its transfer to its territory under the so-called "Western Azerbaijan" discourse.

As for the RA Constitution, the decision of the RA Constitutional Court of September 26, 2024, made it clear that it does not contain any territorial claims to any country. On the contrary, the Republic of Armenia believes that the Azerbaijani Constitution contains territorial claims to Armenia. However, the agreed text of the Peace Agreement resolves this issue. Why? The agreed text states that Armenia and Azerbaijan recognize each other's territorial integrity along the borders of the USSR republics, have no territorial claims against each other, and undertake not to make such claims in the future. In addition, the text of the Agreement emphasizes that the parties cannot invoke their domestic legislation for failure to fulfill the agreement's provisions. Also, according to Article 5 of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, in case of a conflict between ratified international treaties and the legislation of the Republic of Armenia, the provisions of the international treaty shall prevail. The Constitution of the Republic of Armenia cannot be invoked as an obstacle to not signing the Peace Agreement. On the contrary, the most effective way to address even the concerns related to the Constitution is to sign the Peace Agreement.

Question: Azerbaijan also accuses Armenia of failing to fulfill its obligations to reopen regional communications and propose complex and lengthy transport routes between the Western regions of Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan.

Answer – Armenia has no unilateral obligations to open regional economic and transport communications. The separate agenda of transport communication between the western regions of Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan is part of the larger agenda of de-blockade of regional transport and economic communications, including the de-blockade of the Republic of Armenia. Secondly, Armenia has proposed to launch the Zangelan-Meghri-Ordubad-Yeraskh railway freight transportation in the first stage. This is the shortest possible railway between Zangelan and Ordubad. As for the highways, we have the roads that we have and the relief that we have, and to accuse us of being a mountainous country is at least not severe.

Question: Azerbaijan continues to accuse Armenia of militarization and border areas in deploying strike weapons, considering it as justification that Armenia is preparing for a force scenario.

Answer – A force scenario for the solution of which issue? The solution to which issue is on the agenda of the Republic of Armenia can imply a forced scenario. Such an interpretation could only be given by the issue of more than 200 square kilometers of occupied territories of the Republic of Armenia, about which the Republic of Armenia has clearly stated that it does not pose a problem of resolving this issue by force because the demarcation process and now the agreed text of the Peace Agreement have created all the opportunities to resolve this issue peacefully. Armenia can prepare for a force scenario to resist possible aggression, which is the legitimate right of any country, and all of Armenia's steps in the border areas fit exclusively into the defensive logic.

It is also worth remembering that back in 2021, Armenia proposed a mirror withdrawal of troops from the border areas, to which Azerbaijan disagreed. In this context, the militarization of the region may be a concern, and it is to solve this problem that Armenia has proposed to Azerbaijan to create a bilateral mechanism for mutual arms control, to which, however, Azerbaijan has not yet given a positive response. The Republic of Armenia is not militarizing but is implementing the army transformation strategy, a public document. Once again, I reaffirm the commitment of the Republic of Armenia to the peace agenda and call on Azerbaijan to begin consultations on the place and timing of signing the agreed text of the Agreement "On Peace and the Establishment of Interstate Relations."