By Anjali Sharma
WASHINGTON – Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a historic peace agreement facilitated by the US President Donald Trump during a White House meeting, according to the officials and media reports.
The deal aims to strengthen economic ties between the long-time rivals and move their relationship toward full normalization after decades of conflict.
The deal grant the US exclusive development access to a critical transit corridor in the South Caucasus, which will be named after Trump.
If the agreement works, it would be a big win for the Trump administration and could upset Moscow, which sees the South Caucasus as part of its area of control.
Trump, joined by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, highlighted the historic nature of the accord, noted that “They fought for 35 years, and now they’re going to be friends for a long time.”
The tensions dated back to the late 1980s over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous region within Azerbaijan primarily inhabited by ethnic Armenians.
Armenia supported the region’s bid to break away, but Azerbaijan regained full control in 2023, leading to the mass exodus of all of Nagorno-Karabakh’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians to Armenia.
Under the new agreement, both countries have pledged to cease hostilities, establish diplomatic relations, and respect each other’s territorial sovereignty.
A key component includes granting the U.S. exclusive development rights over a strategic transit corridor in the South Caucasus, designed to boost exports of energy and other resources from the region.
U.S. signed separate cooperation agreements with Azerbaijan and Armenia focused on expanding partnerships in energy, trade, and technology sectors, including artificial intelligence, though specific details were not disclosed.
U.S. also lifted restrictions on defense cooperation with Azerbaijan, a move likely to raise concerns in Moscow.
Aliyev and Pashinyan praised Trump for facilitating the peace deal and announced plans to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Trump is positioning as a global peacemaker, with the White House crediting him for brokering a ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand and helping broker peace agreements between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as Pakistan and India.
Trump has to resolve major conflicts such as Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine or the Israel-Hamas crisis in Gaza.
He announced plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on August 15 in hopes of advancing peace talks.
