President Donald Trump mentioned he would host the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan for a peace summit with expectation that the pair will signal an settlement in search of to finish a long time of battle between the South Caucasus nations.
Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan and each Azerbaijani Prime Minister Ali Asadov and President Ilham Aliyev are scheduled to fulfill with Trump on the White Home on Friday.
“The USA may also signal Bilateral Agreements with each International locations to pursue Financial alternatives collectively, so we are able to totally unlock the potential of the South Caucasus Area,” Trump mentioned in a social media submit. “I’m very pleased with these brave Leaders for doing the precise factor for the Nice Individuals of Armenia and Azerbaijan.”
The US, Russia and France have lengthy sought to barter a settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan to finish the battle over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. The nations have clashed repeatedly. Greater than 30,000 individuals have been killed in a conflict within the early Nineties after the collapse of the Soviet Union, whereas roughly 6,000 have been killed in a 44-day conflict in 2020 and dozens died in border clashes in September 2022.
The territory is populated by Armenians however internationally acknowledged as a part of Azerbaijan. Russian President Vladimir Putin brokered a truce to halt the 2020 conflict, however the sides didn’t attain a last peace settlement. The State Division underneath former President Joe Biden mediated peace talks however these stumbled over Azerbaijani calls for that the Armenian structure be modified to exclude claims on Nagorno-Karabakh.
Trump, who has lengthy desired a Nobel Peace Prize, has sought to be acknowledged as a peacemaker in his second time period, together with by utilizing commerce and the specter of tariffs as a instrument for resolving geopolitical disputes.
Trump has touted his position in serving to dealer a peace treaty between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, a ceasefire between Iran and Israel in addition to one between India and Pakistan. India, although, has bristled at Trump’s claims that his menace to chop off entry to US markets introduced an finish to the conflict with fellow nuclear energy Pakistan earlier this yr.
“Many Leaders have tried to finish the Struggle, with no success, till now, due to ‘“TRUMP,”’ the US president wrote in his announcement of the Friday occasion.
Azerbaijan can also be an energy-rich nation, and the area is essential to grease and gasoline provides. Azerbaijan exports oil via a pipeline connecting its Caspian Sea output with Turkey’s Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. It additionally provides pure gasoline to a number of European nations, together with Greece and Italy, through the US-backed Southern Gasoline Hall. In 2022, it signed a take care of the European Union to double gasoline exports to the bloc by 2027.
Armenia hosts Russia’s sole navy base within the southern Caucasus area. Relations between Armenia and Moscow, nonetheless, have deteriorated since 2022 when Armenians accused Russia of failing to offer navy assist underneath a mutual-defense pact throughout border clashes with Azerbaijan.
Russia despatched 2,000 troops as peacekeepers to Nagorno-Karabakh as a part of the 2020 truce, however the troops didn’t intervene when Azerbaijan took full management of the territory in 2022 and have been withdrawn final yr after the Armenian inhabitants had fled.
–With help from Meghashyam Mali.
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