Aliyev: Peace Treaty with Armenia Depends on Armenia's Constitutional Changes
Azerbaijan and Armenia are close to finalizing the text of a peace treaty, according to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. However, Aliyev has made it clear that the treaty will only be signed if Armenia amends its constitution.
Aliyev noted that there was an agreement on the main principles of the Madrid principles, the plan of the mediators of the OSCE Minsk Group.
"They had to be initiated, and then the text was to be drawn up. We believe it can be an option: to agree on the fundamental principles, initial them, and then work on the text [of the peace treaty]," Aliyev said.
However, the Azerbaijani president insisted that the peace treaty depends on Armenia changing its constitution. "This peace treaty can be signed only if Armenia changes its constitution," Aliyev insisted. He reiterated that without this constitutional amendment, the peace treaty would not be finalized.
Aliyev has previously discussed the potential for drafting a peace treaty, including just before Azerbaijan's military actions against Armenia in September 2022.
Meanwhile, Armenia and Azerbaijan are making headway in their negotiations on border delimitation. The Armenian government announced constructive progress on Monday, with Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian’s office releasing a brief statement about the ongoing talks. The statement mentioned that both governments' commissions have exchanged draft regulations and are working towards a common document soon.
Azerbaijan issued a similar statement, though both sides remained tight-lipped on specific details. The two commissions had pledged to agree on the regulations by July 1, following their April 19 announcement about starting the delimitation process. This process involved Armenian territorial concessions to Azerbaijan, allowing Baku to occupy Armenian border areas.
Despite these concessions, Azerbaijan has not withdrawn from lands occupied in Armenia's Tavush province. The Azerbaijani army also remains in control of territories seized during conflicts in 2021 and 2022.
The land transfers and territorial concessions have sparked significant controversy and protests in Armenia, particularly in the affected Tavush border villages. Archbishop Bagrat Galstanuyan, then head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, led the protests against these concessions. After failing to halt the handover preparations, Galstanyan organized rallies in Yerevan, aiming to oust Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
Prime Minister Pashinyan defended the concessions, arguing that they would pave the way for Azerbaijan to recognize Armenia’s territorial integrity. He suggested that this “positive experience” would guide the ongoing border delimitation and demarcation process, which is based on the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration signed by newly independent ex-Soviet republics.
