Bright Armenia party leader Edmon Marukyan said the current draft peace agreement with Azerbaijan should not be signed in its present form.
“We will not sign the pre-initialed peace document between Armenia and Azerbaijan without a map,” he said during the election campaign.
“As far as I know, we are the only force insisting that the current pre-initialed draft peace agreement cannot be signed in this form and brought for ratification, because there are provisions there that would turn our country into a disabled state,” he said, according to Pastinfo.
He added that those provisions must be changed and renegotiated.
“I know where the issue lies, I know the method, and I have competence in this matter. Other forces have expertise in other areas and they will contribute their part as well. I do not want to personally predict everything now, but I have no doubt that we could negotiate a much better version. That possibility existed before, it still exists now, and even Nikol Pashinyan himself did not rule it out during one of his live broadcasts. In one live session he said they wanted to change the negotiated content, and that there was one option that could be good, but two other options that could be bad. Both he and I know that this one better option exists, but he did not pursue it,” Marukyan explained.
The Bright Armenia leader again stressed that the pre-initialed peace agreement contains clauses that should be removed.
“First, the principle of excluding third forces from adjacent border areas between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Second, the issue of missing persons. Armenia should not undertake obligations under which, at Azerbaijan’s request, criminal cases would be initiated in Armenia concerning people involved in the wars over the past 38 years, followed by investigations.
Third, I would never sign that document if there were no map attached under which Azerbaijan recognizes us. This government signed it without a map. Opposition forces currently participating in the process say they would sign it too. We say we will not sign such a document without a map,” Marukyan said.
The election campaign launched on May 8 will continue until June 5. June 6 will be a day of silence, while elections will be held on June 7.
