The leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia signed an agreement to put an end to long-standing conflict, while being hosted by US President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday. Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan shook hands, as the US president described the event as “historic.” The signed agreement will reopen key transport routes between the countries, while also increasing US influence in the region.
The conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia has been ongoing for many years over Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnically Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan. Violence over the enclave began as early as the 1980s and 1990s.
On Friday, Trump announced that both countries have promised to stop all fighting forever, as well as opening up travel, business, and diplomatic relations. “We are today establishing peace in the Caucasus,” Aliyev said. “We lost a lot of years being preoccupied with wars and occupation and bloodshed.”
Pashinyan also called the signing a “significant milestone” in relations between the two countries. Trump commented on the change in relations, saying, “Thirty-five years they fought, and now they’re friends and they’re going to be friends a long time.”
As part of the deal, the US intends to build a major transit corridor, which will be named the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity. The route will connect Azerbaijan and its autonomous Nakhchivan exclave, which are separated by Armenian territory.
This negotiation has been a long-standing issue for both countries, with Azerbaijan’s leader previously threatening to take the corridor by force.
Both leaders praised Trump and his team, with Aliyev saying, “President Trump in six months did a miracle.”
Trump also signed a bilateral agreement with both countries to expand energy and technology trade.
The White House noted that this deal serves to increase US influence in the region at the expense of Russia. Historically, the Kremlin has played a powerful role as a peace mediator, with Russian President Putin acting as a key mediator in recent negotiations and in crafting the last agreement between Aliyev and Pashinyan.
With the US now steps in, Moscow’s role in peace talks is largely diminished, and both countries have favored the American solution over Russian proposals. The announcement also comes soon before President Trump’s scheduled meeting with Putin for talks in Alaska.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c39dzl1lzrgo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss
