The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed on a major deal aimed at ending decades of conflict -- including two full-scale wars -- potentially opening up new trade opportunities in a region long hampered by historic grievances.
At a White House ceremony hosted by US President Donald Trump, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev also signed agreements with the United States to pursue economic opportunities together.
The proposed deal includes a 43-kilometer transit corridor connecting Azerbaijan to Nakhichevan, an exclave that is separated from Azerbaijan by Armenian territory. The corridor will be named the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity.
“We will turn the page of standoff, confrontation, and bloodshed and provide a bright and safe future for our children," Aliyev said at the August 8 signing ceremony.
Added Pashinian: “Today we have reached a significant milestone in Armenia and Azerbaijani relations by laying the foundation to write a better story than the one we had in the past."
Trump also said he was lifting restrictions on military cooperation with Azerbaijan, restrictions imposed on Azerbaijan in 1992 amid the first full-scale war between Yerevan and Baku.
"Armenia and Azerbaijan are committing to stop all fighting forever, open up commerce, travel and diplomatic relations, and respect each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity," he said.
Unanswered Questions
Armenia and Azerbaijan's decades-old animosity erupted into all-out conflict amid the collapse of the Soviet Union. The two sides went to war in the early 1990s over a disputed mountainous enclave called Nagorno-Karabakh. The fighting ended with the region under control of ethnic Armenians.
Despite years of international mediation, mainly by Russia, the United States, and France -- under the so-called Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) -- the two sides remained openly hostile.
In 2023, Azerbaijan launched a military offensive and seized full authority over Nagorno-Karabakh.
That event, plus Russia's unwillingness to intervene on behalf of Armenia, scrambled politics in the region, paving the way for the US-brokered agreement.
A statement by the European Union's High Representative called the deal a "significant breakthrough to end decades of conflict."
"It will now be important to ensure the timely implementation of the agreed steps, notably the signing and ratification of the peace treaty," the statement added.
Still, more information is needed before the agreement can really be hailed as an actual breakthrough, said Laurence Broers, an associate fellow at Chatham House, a think tank in London.
"Overall, we still have a lot of unanswered questions," he said in an e-mail to RFE/RL.
"Despite the optics, let’s be clear that no peace deal has been signed: only a commitment to sign one that has already been completed," said Broers, who specializes in South Caucasus politics.
"So we aren't 'there' yet even if gathering momentum and renewed commitment towards peace, of course, is welcome," he said.
The OSCE encouraged Armenia and Azerbaijan "to do everything possible to establish peace."
The Vienna-based organization said it "remains committed to all efforts aimed at bringing lasting peace and stability to both countries."
“In the coming days, we will have more information about that road or corridor," said Konul de Moor, a South Caucasus consultant at the International Crisis Group. "Is it still the corridor that Azerbaijan has been insisting on? What will the rules and regulations be? How will the borders be opened? Have these issues been resolved?"
Another potential obstacle is Azerbaijan’s demand for changes to the Armenian Constitution, she added.
Promoting Peace And Prosperity
The economic agreements could set the stage for a reopening of trade routes across the South Caucasus that have been dormant since the early 1990s.
The agreements give the US leasing rights to develop the transit corridor -- which would run through southern Armenian territory along the border with Iran.
The corridor would eventually include a rail line, oil and gas lines, and fiber optic lines, allowing for the movement of goods and eventually people.
Post-War Fence-Mending
In Armenia, people said they were upbeat about the agreement.
"I feel optimistic and have positive expectations. I’ve watched the news several times, got emotional, and cried," one woman in Armenia told RFE/RL.
"I feel sorry for all the lives we lost. [Still,] I feel positive."
In another diplomatic breakthrough, Armenia and Azerbaijan finalized a 13-kilometer section of their northern border.
As a result, the Armenian military withdrew from four uninhabited villages that were part of Soviet Azerbaijan before the first war in the early 1990s.
Other sections of their shared border remain in dispute, however, including more than 200 square kilometers of territory that Armenia claims Azerbaijan continues to occupy.
The Armenian opposition has denounced the controversial border demarcation and further diplomatic moves by Yerevan as "capitulation," calling for Pashinian's resignation.
However, sustained opposition street protests and rallies that drew thousands last year eventually fizzled out, with Pashinian claiming that his government's pursuit of sustainable peace enjoys broad public support.
Transport Corridor
The issue of linking Azerbaijan to Nakhichevan has been one of the most vexing obstacles to peace.
Landlocked by Azerbaijan and Turkey, Armenia had insisted any transit route must be part of a broader regional process. Officials in Yerevan had previously rejected the idea of an extraterritorial corridor, calling it a veiled territorial claim by Azerbaijan.
According to a 2020 cease-fire agreement, control over transport links between Armenia and Azerbaijan would be overseen by Russia.
However, after Russian peacekeepers failed to intervene to protect ethnic Armenian population in 2023, Armenia started distancing itself from Moscow.
Giving Washington oversight of the transit corridor is a positive outcome, Broers said.
"If there is one issue that Baku and Yerevan have agreed on over the years, it is that they do not want a Russian monopoly on managing the conflict between them," Broers said.
'A Positive Assessment'
Turkey, a historic adversary of Armenia and close ally of Azerbaijan, welcomed the agreement.
This development is "an extremely important development in terms of ensuring regional peace and stability," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Russia and Iran, meanwhile, were less positive on the deal because a trade route through Armenia has the potential to link the oil- and gas-rich Caucasus and Central Asia to Europe, bypassing them.
Moscow, which has also accused Washington of trying to hijack the peace process and sideline regional powers, called the draft deal "positive."
"The meeting of the leaders of the South Caucasus republics in Washington, mediated by the American side, deserves a positive assessment," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement. "We hope that this step will help advance the peace agenda."
Iran's Foreign Ministry said it welcomed the agreement, calling it "an important step toward achieving lasting peace in the region."
"At the same time, the Islamic Republic expresses concern over the negative consequences of any form of foreign intervention, especially near its shared borders, that could undermine the security and lasting stability of the region," the ministry said in a post to X.
However, Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Iran's supreme leader, warned that "with or without Russia, Iran will block a Trump-brokered corridor in the Caucasus.
Both Russia and Iran are "embedded in the Caucasus and have numerous levers that they can use," Broers said. "Russia has already criticized this deal, and we can expect more and sustained Russian hostility to the" proposed transit corridor.
