Peace with conditions: Baku issues a new draft law for Armenia On October 26, two statements were made from Baku at once, raising again the question under what conditions Armenia and Azerbaijan are going to make peace.
The aide of the president of Azerbaijan, Hikmet Hajiyev, said that Armenia and the Armenian society should apologize to the Azerbaijanis, who, according to him, have not been able to return to their former places of residence for 30 years. At the same time, Hajeev stressed that Azerbaijan is not looking for revenge, but sees additional steps as necessary for the establishment of long-term peace. On the same day, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, Jihun Bayramov, again raised the issue of changing the Armenian constitution, and made it clear that Baku tied the final signing of the peace agreement to this. Let us recall that on August 8, 2025, the agreed text of the peace agreement was signed with initials in Washington. However, more than a year later, the document has not been finally signed. Azerbaijan continues to insist on changing the Armenian constitution, citing the Declaration of Independence in its preamble. The Armenian side rejects the claims of territorial claims in the constitution and states that constitutional changes are solely an internal matter of the state. It is particularly interesting that just a few days ago, on October 21, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoan stated that Azerbaijan does not demand changes to the constitution, but only presents it as a precondition for signing a peace agreement. However, from a practical point of view, a logical question arises: if Azerbaijan refuses to sign the agreement without changing the constitution, how fundamental is the difference between a requirement and a precondition?
The issue of apology is no less important. In 2023, more than 100 thousand Armenians were forced to leave Nagorno-Karabakh. How, then, should there be mutual recognition of the suffering and rights of displaced persons?