Trump set to host Armenia, Azerbaijan leaders for ‘historic peace summit’ at White House

“My Administration has been engaged with both sides for quite some time,” he wrote. “Tomorrow, President Aliyev AND Prime Minister Pashinyan will join me at the White House for an official Peace Signing Ceremony. The United States will also sign Bilateral Agreements with both Countries to pursue Economic opportunities together, so we can fully unlock the potential of the South Caucasus Region.”

Calling it “a Historic Day for Armenia, Azerbaijan, the United States, and, THE WORLD,” Trump praised the leaders for “doing the right thing for the Great People of Armenia and Azerbaijan.”

US-brokered deal to reopen key transit corridor

According to US officials cited by the Associated Press, the peace deal includes a breakthrough on establishing a transit route linking Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave, separated from the rest of the country by a narrow strip of Armenian territory.

The US would have leasing rights to develop the corridor, to be named the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity,” with potential infrastructure such as rail, oil and gas pipelines, and fiber-optic cables. While Washington will not directly fund the project, US corporations are expected to invest.

The provision resolves a long-standing dispute in peace talks, where Azerbaijan had demanded a secure land bridge and Armenia had resisted ceding control to a third party.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two major wars over Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave inside Azerbaijan, since the late 1980s. The first, from 1988 to 1994, killed about 30,000 people and displaced a million. The second, in 2020, saw Azerbaijan, backed by Turkey, reclaim large areas of territory.

A Russian-brokered truce in 2020 deployed peacekeepers, but in September 2023 Azerbaijan regained full control of Karabakh in a rapid offensive, prompting over 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.

Armenia’s growing frustration with Moscow’s inaction during the 2023 conflict, coupled with Russia’s focus on its war in Ukraine, has pushed Yerevan closer to the West.

“Russia has been left on the sidelines, because the Kremlin has nothing to offer to Armenia and Azerbaijan,” said South Caucasus expert Olesya Vartanyan, quoted by the AP. “Russia now lacks resources to deal with Armenia and Azerbaijan.”

The peace agreement could also reopen the border between Armenia and Turkey, closed for nearly 40 years, creating new trade opportunities for the landlocked nation. “For Armenia, it would guarantee stability and allow access to the Turkish market, ports and investments, as well as its inclusion into key regional transport corridors,” Vartanyan told AP.

(With inputs from AP)