“L’obiettivo di Baku è di soggiogare l’Armenia in Azerbaigian”: Viste da Yerevan

In an interview with the German newspaper Berliner Zeitung, Hikmet Hajiyev, assistant to the president of Azerbaijan, reiterated Baku’s preconditions for signing a peace treaty: amending Armenia’s constitution and the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group. Hajiyev claimed that the Armenian constitution “contains territorial claims against Azerbaijan,” which “the Armenian people must put an end to.”

“It is important to remain extremely vigilant regarding a new wave of revanchism in Armenian society. Armenia must pay attention to its own public. I believe that changes to the country’s constitution will be an important step towards halting such processes,” said the Aliyev’s assistant.

Regarding the OSCE Minsk Group, which once oversaw the Karabakh peace process, Hajiyev stated that it should be “filed in the archives of history.”

In Yerevan, Aliyev’s assistant remarks were seen as clear evidence that Baku is not willing to reach agreements with Armenia on any issue. Armenian analysts viewed his statements as political pressure, an attempt to control Armenia’s domestic agenda and turn the peace treaty into an act of capitulation.

Speaking about the exodus of the entire Armenian population from Nagorno-Karabakh — the forced displacement of more than 120,000 people to Armenia — Hajiyev claimed that it was their own decision. However, international human rights organisations such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and others argue that they had no real alternative.

He also stated:

“Azerbaijan developed a comprehensive reintegration model. However, the Armenians refused to become part of it.”

Political analyst Suren Surenyants wrote on his Facebook page:

“The adviser to the President of Azerbaijan, Hikmet Hajiyev, is in fact being manipulative. Revanchism does not stem from Armenia’s constitution, but rather from the following:

The 2020 war, with thousands of deaths and prisoners of war,

The occupation of Armenian territory,

The de-Armenisation of Artsakh in 2023,

Constant threats and the use of force by Azerbaijan.

Hajiyev’s demand is simply political pressure, aimed at controlling Armenia’s internal agenda and turning the peace treaty into an act of capitulation.

It is no coincidence that in the same interview Hajiyev says: ‘We want to sign this peace treaty not only with the Armenian government but also with the Armenian people.

We want the Armenian people to put an end to all territorial claims against Azerbaijan by introducing relevant amendments to the constitution”.

[On Azerbaijan’s demand for the extra-territorial ‘Zangezur Corridor’]

“No special communication regime is being discussed with Iran, Russia or Georgia. So why does the issue only arise with Armenia? Why is Azerbaijan unwilling to come to an agreement with Armenia based on the same principles?

It doesn’t trust Armenia? Well, Azerbaijan can agree to the following arrangement: let the goods of other countries transit through both its territory and Armenia’s, while Azerbaijan continues to use the routes it considers reliable for its own shipments. What’s the problem?

The problem is that Azerbaijan has no intention of reaching an agreement with Armenia — neither on transport communication nor on any other matter.

For Azerbaijan, every such topic is subordinate to a single main goal: the complete subordination of Armenia to Azerbaijan’s strategic state interests and orientations. Everything else serves that goal.

This is for the attention of those in Armenia who still hold naïve beliefs that it is possible to build a ‘shared Caucasian home’ with Azerbaijan”.