Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed on a peace treaty that would end the nearly four decades of conflict between the two post-Soviet countries, officials from both countries announced Thursday.
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said Armenia accepted Azerbaijan’s final proposals, though details were not disclosed. Armenia’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that the draft agreement is complete and ready for signing, but both countries have yet to agree on a date and location for the signing.
“At the next stage, Baku’s expectations are clear – Armenia must amend its constitution, which still contains territorial claims to Azerbaijan,” Bayramov said on the sidelines of the XII Global Baku Forum.
His government is pushing for Armenia to remove a reference in its constitution to its declaration of independence, which asserts territorial claims over Nagorno-Karabakh. Any amendments to the constitution would require a referendum.
The two countries have fought over Nagorno-Karabakh since the late 1980s. The region, internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, was under Armenian-backed separatist control for decades. Azerbaijan regained much of it in the 2020 war and took full control in 2023, causing nearly all 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee.
Both countries had repeatedly expressed optimism about finalizing a comprehensive peace deal to end their longstanding animosity, but officials were unable to agree on a draft agreement. In 2024, Armenia has agreed to hand over four villages to Azerbaijan, marking a significant moment in the longstanding conflict between the two nations.
According to the Middle East Eye, while the two countries reached an agreement, issues remain unresolved.
A regional official told the news outlet that officials have yet to fully resolve their dispute over the European Union Monitoring Mission in Armenia, which monitors ceasefire violations along the front line.
The report also highlighted two other major unresolved issues: the dissolution of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Minsk Group, established in 1992 to facilitate a peaceful resolution of the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as the proposed amendments to the Armenian constitution.
