Yerevan /Mediamax/. Assistant to the Azerbaijani president Hikmet Hajiyev said that the people of Armenia “should demand a referendum on amending the constitution, renouncing claims toward Azerbaijani territories.”

TASS reports that Hajiyev said about it in an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

“We are closer to peace than ever before, but some obstacles do not allow us to move forward. And the first one is the Armenian Constitution, which refers to the reunification of Armenia with the Azerbaijani territories in Karabakh. We want to achieve peace not only with the Armenian government, but also with the people of the country, who should demand a referendum to amend the constitution, renouncing claims toward Azerbaijani territories.

“A referendum is needed in which Armenians will demonstrate that they do not support claims toward Karabakh,” the Azerbaijani official added.

Hikmet Hajiyev noted that the ancestors of many Azerbaijanis come from the present-day lands of Armenia, including Yerevan, which “historically was an Azerbaijani city.”

“Azerbaijanis with roots in these territories should be able to go back to their origins. But this does not mean having territorial claims or violating Armenia’s sovereignty,” Aliyev’s assistant added.