Washington — The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan shook arms as they joined President Trump on the White Home on Friday for a peace summit the place they signed an settlement aimed toward ending a long time of battle.
The 2 international locations within the South Caucasus signed agreements with one another and the U.S. that can reopen key transportation routes whereas permitting the U.S. to grab on Russia’s declining affect within the area. The deal contains an settlement that can create a significant transit hall to be named the Trump Route for Worldwide Peace and Prosperity, the White Home mentioned.
Mr. Trump mentioned on the White Home on Friday that naming the route after him was “an excellent honor for me” however “I did not ask for this.”
A senior administration official, on a name earlier than the occasion with reporters, mentioned it was the Armenians who prompt the identify.
On the peace summit on Friday, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev mentioned the transit hall will “create connectivity alternatives for thus many international locations.”
“We’re beginning the trail towards strategic partnership,” he mentioned.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan referred to as the settlement a “important milestone.”
“We’re laying a basis to jot down a greater story than the one we had up to now,” Pashinyan mentioned.
Andrew Harnik / Getty Photographs
Each leaders mentioned the breakthrough was made attainable by Mr. Trump and his workforce and joined a rising listing of overseas leaders and different officers who’ve mentioned the U.S. chief ought to obtain a Nobel Peace Prize —one thing he has coveted.
“President Trump in six months did a miracle,” Aliyev mentioned.
Mr. Trump remarked on how lengthy the battle went on between the 2 international locations and mentioned of the settlement, “Thirty-five years they fought and now they’re buddies and they are going to be buddies a very long time.”
That route will join Azerbaijan and its autonomous Nakhchivan exclave, that are separated by a 20-mile-wide patch of Armenian territory. The demand from Azerbaijan had held up peace talks up to now.
Mr. Trump indicated he’d like to go to the route sooner or later, saying, “We will must recover from there.”
“The roadmap they’re agreeing to will construct a cooperative future that advantages each international locations, their area of the South Caucasus and past,” White Home spokeswoman Anna Kelly mentioned Friday. She added that the brand new transit hall will “permit unimpeded connectivity between the 2 international locations whereas respecting Armenia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and its folks.”
Requested how he feels about lasting peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Mr. Trump mentioned “very assured” as he welcomed each leaders to the White Home on Friday afternoon.
Friday’s signing provides to the handful of peace and financial agreements brokered this 12 months by the U.S., whereas Mr. Trump has made no secret of his want to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his function in serving to to ease long-running conflicts throughout the globe.
The peace deal between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda helped finish the decadeslong battle in japanese Congo, and the U.S. mediated a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, whereas Trump intervened in clashes between Cambodia and Thailand by threatening to withhold commerce agreements with each international locations if their combating continued. But peace offers in Gaza and Ukraine have been elusive.
The signing of a deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan, each former Soviet republics, additionally strikes a geopolitical blow to their former imperial grasp, Russia. All through the practically four-decade battle, Moscow performed mediator to broaden its clout within the strategic South Caucasus area, however its affect waned shortly after it launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The Trump-brokered deal would permit the U.S. to deepen its attain within the area as Moscow retreats, senior U.S. administration officers mentioned.
The Trump administration started partaking with Armenia and Azerbaijan in earnest earlier this 12 months, when Mr. Trump’s key diplomatic envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with Aliyev in Baku and began to debate what a senior administration official referred to as a “regional reset.”
Negotiations over who will develop the Trump Route — which can ultimately embody a rail line, oil and gasoline strains, and fiber optic strains — will possible start subsequent week, and at the least 9 builders have expressed curiosity already, based on the senior administration official, who briefed reporters on situation of anonymity.
Separate from the joint settlement, each Armenia and Azerbaijan signed offers with the USA meant to bolster cooperation in power, know-how and the financial system, the White Home mentioned.
Mr. Trump previewed a lot of Friday’s plan in a social media put up Thursday night, wherein he mentioned the agreements would “totally unlock the potential” of the South Caucasus area.
“Many Leaders have tried to finish the Conflict, with no success, till now, because of ‘TRUMP,'” the president mentioned on his Fact Social website.
Mr. Trump, Pashinyan and Aliyev gathered for the signing ceremony within the State Eating Room. That peace declaration was the primary signed by each Armenia and Azerbaijan because the finish of the Chilly Conflict, based on the administration.
Among the many paperwork that that was set to be signed was a letter that asks the Group for Safety and Cooperation in Europe to dissolve its Minsk Group, established within the Nineteen Nineties and co-chaired by Russia, France and the U.S. to mediate the Armenia-Azerbaijan battle. The White Home mentioned Friday that the group is now not related.
The 2 nations have been locked in battle for practically 4 a long time as they fought for management of the Karabakh area, identified internationally as Nagorno-Karabakh.
The realm was largely populated by Armenians in the course of the Soviet period however is positioned inside Azerbaijan. The 2 nations battled for management of the area by way of a number of violent clashes that left tens of 1000’s of individuals useless over the a long time, all whereas worldwide mediation efforts failed.
Most lately, Azerbaijan reclaimed all of Karabakh in 2023 and had been in talks with Armenia to normalize ties. Azerbaijan’s insistence on a land bridge to Nakhchivan had been a significant sticking level, as a result of whereas Azerbaijan didn’t belief Armenia to regulate the so-called Zangezur hall, Armenia resisted management by a 3rd get together as a result of it considered it as a breach of sovereignty.
However the prospect of nearer ties with the USA, in addition to having the ability to transfer out and in of the landlocked nation extra freely with out having to entry Georgia or Iran, helped entice Armenia on the broader settlement, based on U.S. officers.
In the meantime, Russia stood again when Azerbaijan reclaimed management of Karabakh within the September 2023 offensive, angering Armenia, which has moved to shed Russian affect and switch westward. Azerbaijan, emboldened by its victory in Karabakh, additionally has develop into more and more defiant in its relations with Moscow.
