During Thursday’s government session, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that he intends to sign a peace agreement with Azerbaijan by 2031, which also marks the end of his current term and when the next parliamentary elections are set to take place in Armenia.

The Armenia–Azerbaijan peace process entered a new stage after the 2025 US-mediated Washington summit, which brought together Pashinyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and US President Donald Trump, and resulted in the initialling — but not the signing — of a peace treaty. Pashinyan has been talking about the importance of signing the peace agreement every day this week and noted during the government session that signing and ratification of a peace agreement was his ‘most important task’.

‘But I have also set myself the goal of achieving a resolution of this issue by 2031. Naturally, this is also a task for the government and the political team, but as Armenia’s prime minister, I consider it very important in terms of my personal agenda as well that we resolve this issue by 2031. I see that this possibility exists; otherwise, I would not have spoken about it, and in the near future we must be focused on this agenda’, said Pashinyan.

During the press briefing, Pashinyan was asked whether the 2031 deadline had been chosen so that he could complete it before the next elections and demonstrate results.

‘I have just been elected prime minister and have to plan my future actions. My term ends in 2031. What other dates can I give you? The term of this government and parliament is five years, isn’t it? 2026 plus five equals 2031. What other number do you expect from me?’, he said.

Although Armenian-Azerbaijani talks continue at various levels and in different formats, there are still unresolved issues between the two countries that prevent a peace agreement from being signed. One of the most important of these is border delimitation, and the issue of enclaves and exclaves. Armenia and Azerbaijan have four enclave and exclave clusters that have become the subject of political controversy in the process of demarcation and delimitation between the two countries.

Karki, Barkhudarlyu, and Yukhari Askipara — Yukhari and Askipara are two separate villages that form a single cluster — are located in Armenia but are part of Azerbaijan according to the Almaty Declaration of 1991. Artsvashen, which is currently under Azerbaijani control, is considered to be part of Armenia.

On Wednesday, explaining how he imagines the peace agreement with Azerbaijan, Pashinyan said that he believes there should be ‘no enclaves or exclaves on either side of the border’ as part of the peace agreement and that the two countries should exchange territories of corresponding sizes.

Although Azerbaijan did not yet respond to Pashinyan’s recent announcements, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has previously demanded the return of Armenian exclaves that were Azerbaijani territory during the Soviet Union.

In answer to a question about the importance of the enclave and exclave issue in the signing of the peace agreement, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said on Thursday that, in contrast to the Armenian Constitution, the issue of enclaves and exclaves does not pose an obstacle to the peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijani officials, including Aliyev, have repeatedly stated that Armenia’s constitution contains territorial claims against Azerbaijan and demanded that it be changed, making it one of the biggest roadblocks to the signing of the peace treaty initialled in Washington in August 2025.

The  UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who is in Yerevan for the UN Leaders’ Summit, urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to implement the provisions of the peace agreement during the press conference in Yerevan. He added that this naturally included the issue of detained persons. He was asked by reporters why the UN is not putting more pressure on Azerbaijan to release Armenian prisoners of war.

‘I am a strong supporter of the peace agreement. I hope all the provisions set out in it will be implemented. I regret the problems concerning the captives and the other issues. I hope all these matters will be resolved quickly’, said Guterres.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said he believes that the next meeting of foreign ministers within the ‘3+3’ regional format — Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, Turkey, and Iran — could be held in Azerbaijan, followed by a meeting in Yerevan.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include a public apology from Turkish columnist Celal Çiftçi.

Azerbaijan has launched a criminal case over alleged calls to seize power by force and incite religious hatred, declaring Turkish columnist Celal Çiftçi internationally wanted.

The video comes amid rising tensions between Azerbaijan and Turkey, following a public exchange of criticism between officials and political figures in both countries. The dispute has also spilled onto social media, with comments on Azerbaijan’s domestic policies, including restrictions on hijab-wearing in schools, becoming part of the broader debate.

The Prosecutor General’s Office said on 16 October that the case followed the circulation of social media posts allegedly promoting religious radicalism, a coup, and the forcible alteration of Azerbaijan’s constitutional order. Çiftçi, a columnist for the Turkish newspaper Şanlıurfa Olay, has been charged in the case, according to the office.

According to a statement issued by the office’s press service, the investigation followed reports concerning material shared on social media by various individuals, including Çiftçi, a Turkish citizen born in 1975 who writes for the Şanlıurfa Olay newspaper. The material allegedly called for the forcible seizure of power in Azerbaijan and incited religious hatred and enmity through violence.

While it was not specified what he said, it apparently is in response to an AI-generated video of soldiers knocking down a photo of President Ilham Aliyev.

OC Media could not find any posts matching this description still live on his X or Facebook posts.

Çiftçi has previously criticised Aliyev over the ban on hijabs in schools.

The Prosecutor General’s Office said its investigation had identified the repeated dissemination of content promoting religious radicalism following a 21 September 2026 decision by Azerbaijan’s Cabinet of Ministers, including material generated using artificial intelligence. It also reported repeated calls published under various headings that allegedly encouraged a coup, the forcible seizure of power, changes to the constitutional order, and the incitement of religious hatred and enmity through violence.

Based on the collected evidence, the Prosecutor General opened a criminal case on 16 October under provisions of Azerbaijan’s criminal code relating to repeated public calls for the forcible seizure of power or the violent alteration of the constitutional order, as well as the preparation, possession, and dissemination of material calling for, justifying, or advocating religious extremist activity and the incitement of religious hatred and enmity through violence on the grounds of religious hostility, radicalism, and fanaticism.

The investigation has been assigned to the Investigative Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office.

The office said Çiftçi had been charged as a suspect in the case and declared internationally wanted. Requests for international legal assistance have been sent to the competent authorities in Turkey to facilitate investigative procedures concerning Çiftçi and other individuals. Further measures are also being taken through international cooperation mechanisms, the statement added.

The Prosecutor General’s Office said investigative measures were continuing to establish the content of the material, the circumstances in which it was produced and distributed, and other relevant facts before determining the legal implications and making decisions in accordance with the law.

The office also called on the public to refrain from sharing content that promotes religious hatred and enmity, use social media responsibly, and comply with the law, citing the need to protect religious tolerance, mutual respect, and social solidarity.

On Friday evening, Çiftçi issued a public apology, saying he had ‘no intention of creating religious hatred, hostility, or discrimination’, and did not mean for his post to be construed as calling for a coup.

‘I do not accept the accusations leveled against me in this regard’, he said, adding, ‘Azerbaijan is a brotherly state; the Azerbaijani people are our brothers. I have full respect for the independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and constitutional order of the Republic of Azerbaijan’.

Çiftçi nonetheless reiterated his belief that ‘people should not be excluded because of their beliefs or clothing choices’, referring to the hijab ban.