The text of the question and answer session with Ararat Mirzoyan during the panel and answer session with Ararat Mirzoyan was published in Antalya.
"Question: Mr. Mirzoyan, during the previous month, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement after successfully completing peace talks, noting that the peace agreement is ready for signing. You have just heard the concerns of your Azerbaijani counterpart that Baku has before this agreement will be signed. Will Yerevan be ready to respond to those concerns? And do you have any problems with that agreement?
Ararat Mirzoyan. Thank you very much for the invitation. I also join my colleague and thank the organizers of this wonderful diplomatic forum.
As for your question, you know, this is a matter of approach. I don't think it will be constructive at this time in the past and will help us all achieve constructive and useful solutions for everyone.
I would prefer to focus on the present and the future, because if we focus on history, we also have to discuss who killed more than the other nation, I think we will jointly face a new conflict. Meanwhile, the wish of the Government of the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian people, at least on our part, is taking place in our region, including we are discussing the normalization of relations with Azerbaijan.
You are completely right. After long talks, we managed to agree on the text of the draft peace agreement, and we also offered to start the consultations immediately to determine the place of signing a peace agreement, time and day.
Is this peace agreement, the agreed text answers all possible questions? Of course, no. And I think there is no agreement in the world that answers all possible issues and covers all possible problems. This is the basis, this is the beginning of a relationship. And of course, there are many issues that remain open, and we can continue our discussions on all issues, we can continue to study new opportunities for cooperation, as this is just the beginning. And it should be noted that there is a provision in the agreed text of this agreement, according to which a bilateral commission is established to discuss all the remaining issues, including the issues related to the interpretation of this or that provision of this provision.
And again, this is a matter of approach. What are we, as foreign ministers, offers our societies during this discussion? What are we, as states, offers the region to the world? Return to the past again, both to build a common future and provide prosperity for our citizens. We are confident that all the prerequisites have already existed, positive preconditions, to start a new round of dialogue, or if you want to open a new age of relations, prosperity, prosperity in the South Caucasus, and the broader region. This is our approach.
Minister Bayramov spoke about very specific conditions or preconditions. You know, we are talking about the Minsk format. We have repeatedly expressed our readiness to start and initiate the process of liquidation of Minsk structures. These structures may be liquidated if there is no conflict. So this is a very interesting question. Do we have a conflict today or not? There is no conflict on the ground, but there is no agreement on peace and interstate relations at the level of documents.
Thus, we can continue to philosophize this issue, but the solution is for us, at least for us, obvious. We need to sign the agreement, institutionally end this conflict, liquidate these structures on the same day, if you want at the same time, or I don't know ten minutes later, or after one document. I don't even say which document should be first signed. Let's sign the Peace Agreement. Let's sign a joint application to the OSCE member states or the Secretariat on liquidation. Let's create a bilateral commission that I was talking about, and let's start discussing all possible issues.
Minister Bayramov also spoke about the Constitution of Armenia. Well, if you want, I will also say. We also have a concern about the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan. And we are not telling this directly to express concern or condition on a mirror principle. I can explain. The Constitution of the Republic of Armenia references to the Declaration of Independence, the document that declares the Republic of Azerbaijan as the legal successor of the First (Democratic) republic of Azerbaijan. And we all know that the first republic of Azerbaijan has declared its sovereignty over much larger areas than today's Azerbaijani Republic, including about 60% of Armenia's sovereign territories.
So this is a matter of approach. Which side do we start? Should we first have any answers to all the questions, let's only build relationships? Or should we be based on the achievements that we already have? Now we have an unprecedented situation. Armenia and Azerbaijan, please, please focus on this fact: Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed on the text of the agreement, recognizing each other's territorial integrity from the collapse of the Soviet Union. This sentence gives many questions and concerns. Are we going to build on this basis that we are going to undermine this very tangible, historical achievement, and then bring another issue to the negotiating table, and then another issue? This can be turned into an endless process. Do we focus on the future or the past? This is the question.
Question: Mr. Mirzoyan, so it sounds like you want the agreement to be signed, and the issues are resolved later. However, we heard Minister Bayramov's statement on constitutional change, according to him, according to him, the Constitution of Armenia now states that Karabakh is part of Armenia. Do you accept that this can be worrying for Baku?
Ararat Mirzoyan. Thank you for this question. I officially declare that our Constitution, which is a public document, can check me if I am wrong, but I assure you, I do not mistake, there is no wording in the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia that Karabakh is part of Armenia. There is no. On the contrary, I have mentioned that we have our concerns about the Constitution of Azerbaijan. But the question is why we do not continue to raise this issue. Because there are a number of provisions in the text of that agreement. One of them recognizes each other's territorial integrity with such a word that is fully acceptable to both you and us, as we have already agreed to that provision. In addition, there is a provision that the parties to the Agreement cannot refer to their domestic legislation in order to make justification for the non-fulfillment of the provisions of the agreement. In other words, all this has already been addressed. And the shortest way to solve this is a comprehensive and clear solution to this agreement is the signing and ratification of this agreement.
Question: Is your government ready to consider possible changes to the Constitution, even if it can be unacceptable at the domestic level?
Ararat Mirzoyan. Thank you once again for this opportunity to respond to my colleague's observation. So, if we move on to legal or legal nuances, I will give a short explanation. You know, in legal terms, yes, the preface to our Constitution has a link to our declaration of independence, but only the provisions of the declaration, which are literally quoted in the majority of the Constitution.
The sentence around which our Azerbaijani counterparts express concerns are not quoted in the text of our Constitution. There is only a general link to the Declaration of Independence, which states that the people of Armenia declare this, and then the main text of the Constitution begins. Therefore, again, from a legal point of view, there is only one body in the world, which is authorized to comment on and analyze our Constitution. It is the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia.
Last September, our Constitutional Court concluded on another document, which was signed between Armenia and Azerbaijan on the normal work of the Ministry of Deliberation. This regulations states that the delimitry is carried out based on the Alma-Ata Declaration, which is more or less, the same thing that our borders are the borders that existed as the moment of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Thus, last September, our Constitutional Court has established, which is a public document that the principle of borders, which means that we have territorial ambitions outside those borders, which is in line with our Constitution. And the end.
Thus, if we now sign this agreement, it will be sent to the Constitutional Court again during the ratification process. If our Constitutional Court announces once again that this document meets our Constitution, it will be another proof that this issue is closed, and there is no obstacles. If, in theory, our Constitutional Court will say something else, it will be a different situation. In that case, we will return to you and discuss other opportunities. That's all.
But again, you know, this is a matter of political will. This is a matter of orientation. This is about the question of what we focus on. We build peace, we will use the opportunities to close the process, having concerns. If we have the will to use the opportunities, we will find the way.
Question: Taking into account how fragile is the means of which the Armenian leadership can assure its Baku's partners that Armenia's current path is irreversible, even if political winds change in the country or region.
Ararat Mirzoyan. It was quite an interesting observation, thank you. Of course, I can agree with some approaches and considerations, but do not agree with others, but one specific episode. The citizen of the Republic of Armenia may listen to the Government of the Republic of Armenia on the same day, assurances and proposals to build peace with its neighbors, to open the borders, to turn the enemy's page in the region.
At the same time, we all remember that there are still extremely sensitive questions. The wounds are very fresh, and it is difficult to talk about possible cooperation, but the usual citizen of the Republic of Armenia can listen to or see in his daily lives. And at the same day, the same citizen can hear several threats from Azerbaijan, including threats to use force, including non-recognition of territorial integrity, including threats to international recognized territorial integrity of the Republic of Armenia. This can be performed at the level of the National Assembly deputy, from the government's level of media platforms, at the level of high-ranking officials. So that threat depends on the air.
There is a choice. For us, our Azeri, Georgian, Turkish friends. There is a choice. Wait for a hundred or two hundred years to make sure that the changes are irreversible or start a process, putting one brick, then another brick, then another building in a peaceful region, to establish cooperation, energy projects, transit programs. You touched upon the topic of the air, I can also detail about it a little more about it, Internet cables, tourism. There are so many ways to cooperate, and I believe that Georgia can lead in the region. We can connect societies not only to the societies of Armenia and Azerbaijan, but also to Georgia and Turkey.
We live in the 21st century. Again, this is a matter of choice. You can wait for another two hundred years or you can start putting bricks and build a solid wall. We choose cooperation, but we cannot cooperate with ourselves. There should also be our neighbor, on the other side, which will be ready for cooperation.
For example, not to be extremely idealistic and do not avoid concrete details, I will bring an example. We have recently made a proposal to Azerbaijan on approving communications, according to which they will have access to our railway infrastructure, and we will access their regional railway infrastructure. We understand that there are 45 kilometers in the south of Armenia, which is probably clearly the shortest way to connect the two parts of Azerbaijan, and we have proposed modern technologies. There are e-scanners that will allow us to avoid physical examination of goods, cargo, apply electronic declarations that can be exchanged between the relevant structures.
This will allow the transition to maximum speed and so on. We did a very specific offer, but there is no positive answer. They may have reasonable concerns, I don't know, but I repeat, this is a matter of choice. "
