Azerbaijan says it is already living in a state of “real peace” with Armenia following decades of conflict, but insists that Yerevan must amend its constitution before the two countries can sign a final peace treaty.
The comments highlight the remaining political hurdles despite significant progress since the neighbors reached a preliminary U.S. brokered peace agreement in August 2025. A lasting settlement would reopen regional trade routes and reshape the geopolitical balance in the South Caucasus, a region strategically positioned between Europe and Asia.
Azerbaijan calls constitutional reform key to peace
Speaking to Reuters, Hikmet Hajiyev, foreign policy adviser to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, said relations between the two countries had improved considerably, with direct contacts increasing and trade beginning to recover.
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He pointed to growing supplies of Azerbaijani oil products to Armenia as evidence that peace is already producing tangible economic benefits.
However, Baku maintains that Armenia’s constitution still contains language it considers a territorial claim against Azerbaijan.
The dispute centers on the preamble of Armenia’s constitution, which references an earlier declaration supporting the reunification of Armenia with Nagorno Karabakh, a region internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.
According to Hajiyev, Azerbaijan is not prescribing how Armenia should address the issue, but insists that any language viewed as questioning Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity must be formally removed before a comprehensive peace agreement can be signed.
Legacy of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought multiple wars over Nagorno Karabakh following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Although the region was internationally recognized as Azerbaijani territory, it was governed for decades by an ethnic Armenian administration after the first war in the early 1990s.
The conflict effectively ended in 2023 when Azerbaijan regained full control of the territory during a rapid military operation that prompted the departure of nearly all of the region’s estimated 100,000 ethnic Armenian residents.
Since then, both governments have worked toward normalizing relations, culminating in a U.S. mediated framework agreement reached last year.
Armenia weighing constitutional referendum
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has expressed support for adopting a new constitution and said a draft is expected before the end of the year.
However, changing the constitution remains politically difficult.
His governing Civil Contract party lacks the parliamentary majority required to initiate a constitutional referendum, while opposition parties, many of which maintain closer ties with Russia, have yet to indicate whether they would support such reforms.
Azerbaijan has made clear that publishing a draft constitution alone would not be sufficient and that formal legal changes are necessary before a final treaty is signed.
Transit corridor gains momentum
Another important element of the peace process is the proposed transport corridor connecting Azerbaijan with its exclave of Nakhchivan through Armenian territory.
The planned route, backed by Washington and referred to as the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), would provide Azerbaijan with direct land access to Turkey while strengthening trade links between Asia and Europe.
Hajiyev said Azerbaijan has received encouraging signals from the United States that construction could begin as early as this autumn.
He added that infrastructure on Azerbaijan’s side of the border is expected to be largely completed by the end of 2026, allowing future connections with transport networks in Armenia and Turkey.
Why it matters
A permanent peace agreement would represent one of the most significant geopolitical developments in the South Caucasus in decades.
Normalizing relations could reopen closed borders, revive regional trade, improve energy and transport connectivity, and reduce the influence of longstanding regional rivalries involving Russia, Turkey, and Iran.
For the United States and the European Union, the agreement also aligns with broader efforts to develop alternative trade and energy corridors that bypass Russia.
Analysis
The remaining dispute illustrates that the Armenia Azerbaijan peace process has shifted from military confrontation to legal and political negotiation. While fighting has largely ceased and economic cooperation is slowly emerging, constitutional recognition has become the final symbolic and diplomatic obstacle to a comprehensive settlement.
A successful agreement would not only stabilize one of Eurasia’s most volatile regions but also strengthen emerging transport corridors linking Europe with Central Asia. However, domestic political constraints inside Armenia remain a significant challenge, meaning the pace of peace will likely depend as much on internal consensus in Yerevan as on diplomacy between the two neighbors.
With information from Reuters.
