US President Donald Trump will welcome the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to the White House on Friday for a “Historic Peace Summit” to resolve their long-standing conflict.
In a Thursday post on Truth Social, Trump announced that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will attend a formal Peace Signing Ceremony.
Bringing two arch rivals together as they potentially seal a peace deal would be just the latest diplomatic push by a US leader convinced that his mediation efforts in various international conflicts deserve the Nobel Peace Prize.
Baku and Yerevan, sworn enemies for decades, went to war twice over the disputed Karabakh region, which Azerbaijan recaptured from Armenian forces in a lightning 2023 offensive, sparking the exodus of more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians.
The two countries have held talks aimed at securing a peaceful resolution, including last month in the United Arab Emirates, but a breakthrough has proved elusive.
“These two Nations have been at War for many years, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people,” Trump wrote.
“Many Leaders have tried to end the War, with no success, until now, thanks to ‘TRUMP.’ My Administration has been engaged with both sides for quite some time,” he added, saying he was “very proud of these courageous Leaders for doing the right thing.”
Friday “will be a Historic Day for Armenia, Azerbaijan, the United States, and THE WORLD,” Trump said. “See you then!”
Trump also said that Washington will sign bilateral deals with both countries “to pursue Economic opportunities together, so we can fully unlock the potential of the South Caucasus Region.”
One major agreement was already inked in Washington on Thursday, when Aliyev and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff were present for a memorandum of cooperation signed between ExxonMobil and Azerbaijan’s state energy company SOCAR.
The former Soviet republics had agreed on the text of a comprehensive peace deal in March. But Azerbaijan has since outlined a host of demands — including amendments to Armenia’s constitution to drop territorial claims for Karabakh — before signing the document.
It was not immediately clear on Thursday whether those demands had been met. And while Trump said his administration “has been engaged with both sides for quite some time,” he did not provide specifics on the document that will be signed by representatives of the two countries.
In early July, Pashinyan and Aliyev met for the latest round of peace talks in the United Arab Emirates, but they failed to yield a breakthrough.
The two foes had previously met on the sidelines of the European Political Community summit in Albania in May.
At the time, French President Emmanuel Macron and European Council President Antonio Costa called for a prompt signature of a peace agreement between the two countries.
Earlier Talks
Earlier in July, the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan met in Abu Dhabi for talks but failed to achieve a breakthrough in resolving their long-standing conflict.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held discussions, as confirmed by their offices. Although a draft peace agreement was agreed upon in March, Azerbaijan has since demanded changes, including amendments to Armenia’s constitution to remove territorial claims over Karabakh.
Separate statements from the foreign ministries of both countries showed no advancement. They noted that the leaders committed to ongoing bilateral negotiations and confidence-building measures, emphasizing that such talks remain the best approach for normalizing relations and addressing issues like border delimitation.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio voiced optimism for a quick resolution. The leaders last met in May at the European Political Community summit in Albania, where EU officials pressed for a rapid conclusion to the peace process.
Azerbaijan Rift Challenges Russia’s Influence
Azerbaijan and Russia are locked in an escalating diplomatic standoff that has underscored Moscow’s weakening supremacy in the Caucasus, a strategic region where major powers are vying for influence.
For Azerbaijan, once wary of estranging Moscow, the standoff has snowballed into one of the fiercest public rifts in years and a potential turning point in its balancing act between Russia and the West.
The downturn in relations started when an Azerbaijani Airlines passenger jet crash-landed near Aktau, Kazakhstan, killing 38 of the 67 people on board in December 2024.
The aircraft had been en route to the southern Russian city of Grozny when it was widely reported to have been hit by Russian anti-aircraft defences that were trying to thwart a Ukrainian drone attack.
In a rare public clash with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev demanded an apology, admission of guilt, and punishment for those found responsible for the “criminal” downing of the plane.
Further angering Azerbaijan, Putin acknowledged that Russian air defences were operational in the area at the time of the crash but did not admit Russia shot down the plane by mistake, instead only apologising for the fact that the “incident” occurred in Russian airspace.
The relationship deteriorated further after Russian police on June 27 targeted ethnic Azerbaijanis in Yekaterinburg in raids authorities said were related to a years-old criminal case.
Two people died, and six were arrested.
Baku has accused Russian police of “torture” and deliberately killing them, while Moscow said one man suffered a heart attack during the raid, and the second death was under investigation.
The incident unleashed a storm of public anger in Azerbaijan, with media and officials denouncing what they described as “systematic brutality” against Azerbaijanis in Russia.
Days later, Azerbaijani police raided the Baku office of Sputnik, Russia’s state-run news agency, detaining three Russian journalists with the footage broadcast on pro-state TV.
Bureau chief Igor Kartavykh and editor-in-chief Yevgeny Belousov were later ordered into four months of pre-trial detention on charges of fraud and money laundering.
Azerbaijan had officially banned the bureau from operating in February, but it had reportedly continued its operations.
Russian officials denounced the detentions as “unlawful” and politically motivated.
In a separate case, pro-Baku media outlets on Tuesday broadcast images of beaten-up Russians, with bloody and swollen faces, in a court hearing, where they were ordered into pre-trial detention on charges of drug trafficking.
Both Moscow and Baku have already summoned each other’s ambassador for dressing-downs.
Russia criticised Azerbaijan’s “highly emotional response”, accused it of “deliberately dismantling bilateral ties” and “growing hostility”.
Baku cancelled all Russian cultural events due to what it called “systematic acts of violence” against its citizens.
The state-run AzTV broadcaster aired a programme denouncing political repression in Russia and comparing Putin to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
High Stakes
Azerbaijan is testing its decades-old reliance on Russia with the most open criticism in years of Moscow, including personal attacks on Putin in state media — a sign of Baku’s increasing assertiveness and confidence on the world stage.
For Moscow, the row highlights its weakening grip on a region it ruled for decades, with its ongoing invasion of Ukraine having spooked its ex-Soviet partners across the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Russia’s previous attempts to maintain warm relations with Baku — by not supporting arch-rival Armenia in military conflicts over the disputed Karabakh region — had already dented ties with its formal ally, Yerevan.
It now faces the prospect of losing sway in gas-rich Azerbaijan, where the EU, Turkey, and China are also vying for influence.
Amid the escalating row, Aliyev held a pointed phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday — drawing ire from the Kremlin, which accused Kyiv of pouring fuel on the fire.
- Story By Agence France-Presse (AFP)
- Compiled & Edited by ET Desk
- Mail us at editor (at) eurasiantimes.com
