Azerbaijan has put forward a proposal to sign a document with Armenia outlining the basic principles of a future peace treaty. This document is intended to serve as an interim measure while the two countries work towards a broader agreement. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan have consistently expressed their desire to sign a peace treaty to resolve the long-standing conflict over the former breakaway Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev recently stated that a draft peace treaty is 80%-90% complete. However, he has emphasized that it cannot be signed until Armenia amends its constitution to remove an indirect reference to Karabakh independence, a demand that Armenia has rejected. The ethnic Armenian inhabitants of Karabakh enjoyed de facto independence from Azerbaijan for over three decades until September 2023. A swift Azerbaijani offensive retook the territory, forcing approximately 100,000 Armenians to flee.
In recent months, both countries have made strides towards a peace treaty, including discussions on border demarcation. Armenia has agreed to hand over four contested border villages to Azerbaijan. According to Hikmet Hajiyev, foreign policy advisor to the president, the document on basic principles could be considered a temporary measure that establishes the foundation for bilateral relations and ensures neighborly interactions between the two countries. He added that it could be signed before Azerbaijan hosts the COP29 climate summit in November.
Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced in June that a peace treaty with Azerbaijan was close to finalization. However, he clarified that his country would not accept Azerbaijan’s demand for constitutional changes. Following these comments, clashes erupted between police and protesters, marking the latest in a series of demonstrations against Pashinyan’s policies, including the return of ruined villages to Azerbaijan. The protesters are calling for his resignation.
On July 5, Armenia’s Constitution Day, Pashinyan stated that the country needs a new constitution that “the people will consider to be what they created, what they accepted, what is written in it is their idea of the state they created and the relations between people and citizens in that state.”
