US-brokered Armenia-Azerbaijan deal hands Turkey South Caucasus opening
The agreement could pave the way for normalizing Turkey-Armenia relations and establishing a long-sought transport link unsettling to Iran.
A US-brokered peace deal between Azerbaijan and Armenia has opened the door for Turkey to establish relations with Yerevan after more than three decades without diplomatic ties, and potentially reshape the balance of power in the South Caucasus.
On Aug. 8, US President Donald Trump hosted President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia at the White House, where they signed a joint declaration laying out the terms of a future peace deal between Baku and Yerevan and for the Zangezur Corridor. This route will connect Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan, its exclave landlocked between Armenia, Iran and Turkey.
Aliyev and Pashinyan also signed separate deals with Trump in which Armenia agreed to a 99-year lease for a US company to operate the portion of Zangezur Corridor that will go through the Syunik region. Trump told the Armenian prime minister that he hoped the US partnership will remain even after the lease expires.
The Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders announced that they will nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.
