Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev approved amendments to the Constitution of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.
References to the Moscow and Kars Treaties of 1921 are being removed from the preamble of the Constitution.
Previously, the text of the Nakhchivan Constitution stated that the foundations of its autonomy were laid by the current Moscow and Kars Treaties, signed on March 16 and October 13, 1921, respectively.
According to the Azerbaijani news agency APA, the amended Constitution is now based on documents related to the state independence of Azerbaijan: the Declaration “On the Restoration of the State Independence of Azerbaijan” of August 30, 1991, the Constitutional Act “On the State Independence of Azerbaijan” of October 18, 1991, and the current Constitution of Azerbaijan, adopted by referendum on November 12, 1995.
The 1921 Treaty of Moscow, signed between Soviet Russia and Turkey, effectively laid the foundation for the current borders of the Caucasus. This treaty established Nakhichevan as an autonomous region under the auspices of Azerbaijan, with no right to transfer it to a third party.
The Treaty of Kars of the same year legally enshrined Nakhichevan’s status. It was signed between Turkey and the Soviet Caucasian republics of Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia, with the participation of Russia. This treaty also finally formalized Nakhichevan’s borders, which largely remain in place to this day.