Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a landmark peace agreement at the White House on Friday, pledging to end decades of hostility. US President Donald Trump hailed the accord as “historic,” saying it would “forever” end fighting between the two South Caucasus nations.
The deal, reached after months of US mediation, includes reopening transport links, restoring diplomatic and trade relations, and creating a US-backed transit corridor connecting Azerbaijan with its Nakhchivan exclave through Armenian territory. The planned route, to be called the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, resolves a long-standing dispute that had stalled earlier peace talks.
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“We are today establishing peace in the Caucasus,” Aliyev said, calling the accord a long-overdue break from years of war and occupation. Pashinyan described it as “a significant milestone” in relations. Trump noted that “thirty-five years they fought, and now they’re going to be friends for a long time.”
The agreement follows decades of conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave inside Azerbaijan. Fighting erupted in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with intermittent clashes since.
Trump also announced bilateral agreements with both countries to expand energy and technology trade, framing the deal as part of a broader push to broker peace in global hotspots. The accord marks a shift in regional diplomacy, sidelining Russia, which has traditionally mediated between Baku and Yerevan. Moscow’s previous peace initiatives failed to secure lasting calm.
Trump is scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska next week.