Hikmet Hajiyev: Azerbaijan–Armenia Leaders’ Meeting Held in a Constructive Atmosphere

 Hikmet Hajiyev: Azerbaijan–Armenia Leaders’ Meeting Held in a Constructive Atmosphere

A Year Into Peace: What Hikmet Hajiyev's Latest Remarks Tell Us About Azerbaijan-Armenia Relations

Every so often, a diplomatic soundbite lands that's worth slowing down on — not because it's dramatic, but because of what it represents after years of conflict. That's exactly the case with the latest comments from Hikmet Hajiyev, Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan and Head of the Foreign Policy Affairs Department, who this week described the most recent meeting between Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders as having taken place in "a very constructive atmosphere."

He made the remarks while addressing the diplomatic corps during a visit to the Cultural Center in Khankendi, in Karabakh — a setting that, on its own, says a lot about how far things have come.

"Living in Peace Is Such a Great Feeling"

Hajiyev's tone wasn't the usual dry diplomatic language. It leaned personal.

"We are learning to live in peace and are moving forward in this direction," he said. "We have realized that living in peace is such a great feeling that it cannot be expressed in words."

He was careful to point out that peace isn't just the absence of fighting — it's an active, ongoing process. "Peace also begins with reconstruction and restoration work carried out on the ground," he explained. "Peace does not only mean the absence of confrontation. Peace also means peacebuilding, reconstruction and building confidence and trust in the restoration process."

As for the meeting itself between the two countries' leaders, Hajiyev said both sides "agreed to begin bilateral engagement with the aim of further advancing our peace agenda and strengthening trust between the two countries, as well as developing trade relations, including connectivity and transport links between the two countries and across the broader region."

Marking a Milestone

The timing of these remarks isn't accidental. Azerbaijan is currently marking the first anniversary of its initial peace agreement and the establishment of interstate relations with Armenia. Hajiyev didn't hold back on how significant that milestone feels from Baku's perspective, stating plainly that, for Azerbaijan, the conflict with Armenia is now considered over.

It's worth remembering that this kind of optimistic framing hasn't come out of nowhere — it builds on a string of similarly upbeat readouts from Baku over the past year or so, including earlier meetings between the two countries' leaders in Abu Dhabi, which Hajiyev also described at the time as constructive and businesslike, conducted directly and without third-party mediation.

Beyond the Headlines: Civil Society Is Talking Too

What's especially encouraging is that this spirit of dialogue isn't limited to presidents and prime ministers. Under the "Bridge of Peace" initiative, Armenian and Azerbaijani civil society representatives — NGO workers, journalists, researchers — have been holding their own bilateral roundtables, with Hajiyev personally receiving participants during one such gathering earlier this year. Those discussions were also described as taking place in "a constructive and frank atmosphere," with participants reaffirming that there's simply no alternative to the peace agenda.

That kind of layered engagement — leaders talking to leaders, and everyday civil society voices talking to each other — tends to be a much better sign for lasting peace than headlines alone.

Cautious Optimism, One Year In

None of this means every difficult question has been resolved. Complex issues around border delimitation, the text of a formal peace treaty, and legal and constitutional matters on both sides remain part of the ongoing conversation. But the overall direction — more dialogue, more trade talk, more reconstruction, and repeated language about "constructive" meetings — points to a relationship that's genuinely trying to move forward rather than stay frozen.

A year after the first peace agreement, it's not every day that officials in a historically tense region get to talk about connectivity, trust-building, and trade links instead of confrontation. If Hajiyev's comments are any indication, that shift feels like it's here to stay.