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On Friday, Armenia and Azerbaijan inked a peace accord brokered by the United States during a meeting with US President Donald Trump. This agreement aims to enhance economic relations between the two nations after years of hostilities.
The accord between these South Caucasus adversaries — if it stands — marks a notable success for the Trump administration, potentially unsettling Moscow, which considers the area within its sphere of influence.
“Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed to cease all hostilities permanently, initiate commercial and diplomatic relations, and honor each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Trump announced at the White House signing ceremony, alongside Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
“It’s been 35 years of conflict, but now they are allies, and they intend to remain so for the foreseeable future.”
What’s in the peace deal?
Trump said the two countries had committed to stop fighting, open up diplomatic relations and respect each other’s territorial integrity.
The agreement grants the US exclusive development rights to a pivotal transit route through the South Caucasus, which the White House claims will enhance the export of energy and other resources.
Trump said the United States signed separate deals with each country to expand cooperation on energy, trade and technology, including artificial intelligence.
He said restrictions had also been lifted on defence cooperation between Azerbaijan and the United States.
‘Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize’
Both leaders praised Trump for helping to end the conflict and said they would nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize. “So who if not President Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize?” Aliyev said.
Trump has tried to present himself as a global peacemaker in the first months of his second term. The White House credits him with brokering a ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand and sealing peace deals between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Pakistan and India.
However, he has not managed to end Russia’s war in Ukraine or Israel’s conflict with Hamas in Gaza.
US officials stated that the agreement was achieved through multiple visits to the area and would lay the groundwork for achieving a complete normalization between the two countries.
The peace deal could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighbouring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran that is criss-crossed by oil and gas pipelines but riven by closed borders and longstanding ethnic conflicts.
Armenia plans to award the US exclusive special development rights for an extended period on the transit corridor, administration officials told the Reuters news agency this week. The so-called Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity has already drawn interest from nine companies, including three US firms, one official said on condition of anonymity.
Daphne Panayotatos, with the Washington-based rights group Freedom Now, said it has urged the Trump administration to use the meeting with Aliyev to demand the release of some 375 political prisoners held in the country.
Azerbaijan, an oil-producing country that hosted the United Nations climate summit last November, has rejected Western criticism of its human rights record, describing it as unacceptable interference.
