Leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a US-brokered peace declaration on Friday ending over three decades of conflict in the South Caucasus region at a “Historic Peace Summit” in Washington.
Signing the agreement during the meeting with US President Donald Trump, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stressed that the deal would end hostilities between the two nations that waged two wars in the early 1990s and in 2020 over the Nagorno-Karabakh – a majority Armenian breakaway region inside Azerbaijan.
“The countries of Armenia and Azerbaijan are committing to stop all fighting forever; open up commerce, travel and diplomatic relations; and respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Trump said as he congratulated Pashinyan and Aliyev for signing the deal. “Many Leaders have tried to end the War, with no success, until now, thanks to ‘TRUMP.’ My Administration has been engaged with both sides for quite some time,” Trump added.
Aliyev confirmed Trump’s words that the joint declaration would bring “long-lasting peace, eternal peace in the Caucasus”. Pashinyan reiterated Aliyev’s and Trump’s statements, saying “we are laying a foundation to write a better story than the one we had in the past. This breakthrough would simply not have been possible without President Trump’s personal engagement and his resolute commitment to peace.”
The major part of the joint declaration is the opening of communications in the region, namely, the corridor that is officially named Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity. The corridor will link Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave via southern Armenia and will be developed by the US that has been given the leasing rights under the agreement.
“We anticipate significant infrastructure development by American companies. They’re very anxious to go into these two countries,” Trump said. The corridor is believed to eventually include oil and gas lines, a rail line, fibre optic lines, allowing for the movement of goods and people. The deal over the corridor was reached during the visit by Trump’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to Azerbaijan earlier this year.
In Washington, Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders also signed separate agreements about deepening ties with the United States. Under the deal, the US will lift previous restrictions on security coordination with Azerbaijan. “I’m very grateful to the president that he lifted the restrictions that had been imposed on Azerbaijan back in 1992,” said Aliyev. Trump made social media posts about the meetings in Washington, stressing that the reached agreements would “fully unlock the potential” of the South Caucasus region.
