US President Donald Trump has hailed Washington’s efforts to negotiate peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Addressing Republican senators at the White House on 19 July, Trump said the his administration “worked magic” as the peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan is “pretty close if it’s not already done”. Trump did not offer additional details. There have not been official statements from Armenia and Azerbaijan over his remarks.
However, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, speaking at Shusha Media Forum held in Nagorno-Karabakh on July 19
credited Donald Trump for the progress in peace talks with Armenia. Aliyev said Armenia dragged the peace process until Donald Trump’s inauguration to the second term in office in January.
“I told my colleague, [Armenian Prime Minister] Mr. Pashinyan [during meeting in Abu Dhabi on 10 July], that probably you were hoping Madam Harris would win - and again, you would be on the white horse - but it didn’t happen. So personally, I am absolutely sure that if Trump hadn’t won, they [Armenian authorities] would not have agreed [to peace negotiations],” Aliyev said.
Answering the question about US companies’ involvement in overseeing the so-called Zangezur corridor – a transport corridor projected to link Azerbaijan proper to its Nakhchivan exclave - Aliyev said the question should be directed at the Armenian leadership, but added that “no operator, no trader, no lessee can be on our territory”.
“Our cargo and citizens should not see the face of an Armenian border guard there every time. This is our demand. This is a legitimate demand, a fair demand. Otherwise, our citizens will be in danger’, Aliyev said.
The idea of US companies’ overseeing traffic on the transit corridor between Armenia and Azerbaijan started floating after US Ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack made relevant remarks on 12 July. ‘So what happens is America comes in and says: “Okay, we’ll take it over. Give us the 32 kilometres of road on a hundred-year lease, and you can all share it” ’, Barrack said in a vague tone, perhaps as a hypothetical example for a potential solution to an issue that remains a key roadblock in the peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Later on 16 July, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan confirmed that Yerevan received a US offer for unblocking regional transit links through Armenia. Pashinyan has not specified what routes would be unblocked, but said that Armenia had received various proposals and that ‘any issue is discussed based on the principles of territorial integrity, sovereignty, and jurisdiction of Armenia’.
