Commentary by the Spokesperson of the Azerbaijani MFA

An attempt by N.Pashinyan, the Prime Minister of Armenia to justify the forceful and unilateral secession of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) from the Azerbaijan SSR by the process of Azerbaijan’s secession from the USSR is an indicator of his legal illiteracy or deliberate deceit. If the Armenian Prime Minister wants to constantly cheat his people, it is his business, but he will not succeed in deceiving the world community, especially when it comes to the legal side of the issue.

Firstly, the status of Nagorno-Karabakh as an autonomous region within the Azerbaijan SSR was enshrined in the USSR Constitutions of 1936 and 1977, and the territory of the Union Republic could not be changed without its consent. Regarding the unlawful actions of the Armenian nationalists aimed at unilateral secession of the NKAO from the Azerbaijan SSR, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in its decisions unequivocally recognized the impossibility of changing the existing borders. Thus, attempts over unilateral secession of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast from the Azerbaijan SSR were accompanied by an obvious violation of the USSR Constitution and, therefore, did not lead to any legal consequences.

Secondly, the USSR Law “On the Procedure for Solving Issues Related to the Exit of a Union Republic from the USSR” of April 3, 1990, which the Armenian side often refers to, aimed at regulating relations within the USSR by establishing a certain procedure that should be followed by the Republic in the case of its secession from the Union. The exit of a Union Republic from the USSR could be considered completed only after passing through a complex multi-stage procedure and, ultimately, the adoption of an appropriate decision by the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR. However, the mentioned Law was never applied, and not a single Union Republic, including Azerbaijan and Armenia, did not use the exit procedure provided for in it.

Thirdly, after the collapse of the USSR, Azerbaijan joined the UN, as well as other international organizations, within its administrative borders of the times of the USSR, which, accordingly, were recognized by the world community as the international borders of Azerbaijan. In contrast to what Armenia asserts, the states that signed the Almaty Declaration of December 21, 1991, on the goals and principles of the Commonwealth of Independent States, including Armenia, committed themselves to recognize and respect the territorial integrity of each other and the inviolability of existing borders.

The pretense of the Armenian Prime Minister, who promised the moon and the stars to his electorate, is collapsing more and more because of the lack of concrete ways out of the current situation, which cannot be improved without normalizing relations with neighboring Azerbaijan. Here, factors such as economics, demography, the military component, and others should be taken into account.

At the same time, we would like to note that regardless of the position of one or another Armenian leader, Azerbaijan will restore sovereignty over its internationally recognized and ancestral territories, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region, since justice and law are on the side of Azerbaijan. Once, this time will come, and taking into account the development of the situation in the region, it can happen at any time.