Initialed agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan has no relation to real peace – opposition
YEREVAN, August 12. /ARKA/. The Hayastan (Armenia) opposition parliamentary alliance said in a statement that the initialed agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan has no relation to real peace. The alliance added that the agreement contains new existential threats to Armenia and the Armenian people.
The statement claims that there is an attempt to legitimize Azerbaijan's ethnic cleansing and genocidal policies against Armenians in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), including hostage-taking, staged trials, destruction of Armenian heritage sites, removal of the Artsakh issue from the international agenda, and violent seizure of Armenian sovereign territories.
The alliance says, “This agreement fails to eliminate the Turkish-Azerbaijani blockade and hostile actions against Armenia that have been ongoing for more than three decades. It also provides Azerbaijan with an unimpeded communication corridor through Armenia's sovereign territory, creating additional conditions that limit Armenia’s sovereignty and encourage aggression. The signed documents lack the standards of justice necessary for resolving international conflicts and fail to ensure and protect human rights and freedoms,” the alliance said.
The initialed agreement, particularly Articles 8-9 and 15, contains formulations that will be used against all participants in the liberation struggle of Artsakh. These formulations will mask the crimes of Azerbaijan and prevent the Armenian side from using international instruments to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Even the provisions formally proclaimed in the signed documents regarding respect for the principle of territorial integrity, the mutual will to establish peace, and non-interference in each other's internal affairs do not provide any international guarantees. Given the current situation, these provisions are based solely on Azerbaijan's desires. The preconditions currently put forward by Azerbaijan (rejection of the Declaration of Independence, constitutional amendments, etc.) clearly indicate the latter's exact opposite intentions," the statement says.
The statement notes that real peace and long-term stability based on the right of peoples to self-determination require a multilateral comparison of interests, a real balance of power, and international guarantees.
"On our part, it is necessary to strengthen Armenia's internal and external security systems, establish intra-national harmony, strengthen national-state institutions, and involve external allies. Without resolving these issues, the presented documents only record the serious damage inflicted on the Armenian side," the statement says.
The Alliance emphasizes that, once again, Pashinyan is abusing his powers established by the Constitution and laws and violating the public-legal responsibility imposed on the government. He is trying to mislead the Armenian people with false peace propaganda to ensure the continuation of his regime.
We reject this style of behavior and consider the concessions imposed on Armenia to be unacceptable and deserving of condemnation. We reiterate that it is possible to break the cycle of defeats imposed on our people, restore national dignity, and build a strong state. This can be achieved by preventing the continuation of the current regime, which has caused a national tragedy," the statement says.
The seven-point declaration signed following the trilateral meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, U.S. President Donald Trump, and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on August 8 in Washington includes the initialing of the “Agreement on Peace and Interstate Relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan”, the joint application to the OSCE on the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group mechanisms, the unblocking of regional communications within the framework of the principles of territorial integrity, sovereignty, and jurisdiction of countries and on the basis of reciprocity, as well as the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” project-0-
