Armenia, Azerbaijan signal historic US-brokered peace deal – DW

[ad_1] Armenia 's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev signed a historic peace deal on Friday on the White Home in entrance of US President Donald Trump .

The deal, if it holds, would finish virtually 4 a long time of tensions and battle between the 2 nations over management of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan.

"Immediately we're writing an incredible new historical past," Azerbaijani President Aliyev stated as he addressed journalists on the White Home along with Trump and Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan.

Aliyev thanked Trump for bringing "peace" to the Caucasus area.

Armenia's Pashinyan stated the deal represented "opening a chapter of peace," calling it successful "for our nations and for our area."

He additionally recommended Trump for his "legacy as a statesman and the peacemaker."

Trump stated all three of them had an "in depth" dialog and had signed "voluminous paperwork" associated to a peace deal.

"It is a very long time, 35 years, they fought, and now they're pals, and they are going to be pals for a very long time," Trump stated.

Armenia, Azerbaijan battle over Nagorno-Karabakh

Tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan emerged within the late Eighties when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani area principally populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with help from Armenia.

Azerbaijan took again full management of the area in 2023 in a navy offensive, prompting virtually all the territory's remaining 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.

Talking on Friday, Trump stated the 2 nations had dedicated to cease preventing, open up diplomatic relations and respect one another's territorial integrity.

The US president additionally stated he was lifting restrictions on US navy cooperation with Azerbaijan.

Transit hall at heart of Armenia-Azerbaijan deal

The wording of the settlement hasn't but been launched.

However on the heart of the deal is the institution of a commerce and transit hall by the South Caucasus, which is to be named after Trump.

That route will join Azerbaijan and its autonomous Nakhchivan exclave, that are separated by a 32-kilometer-wide (20-mile-wide) strip of Armenian territory.

The deal grants the United States unique growth rights to the transit hall, which the White Home stated would facilitate larger exports of power and different sources within the area.

The demand from Azerbaijan for a transit path to Nakhchivan had beforehand hindered peace talks.

The 2 nations had been additionally because of signal a letter formally requesting the dissolution of the Minsk Group, a now-defunct mediation physique underneath the Group for Safety and Cooperation in Europe.

Russia's affect wanes in South Caucasus

The deal between the 2 former Soviet republics strikes a geopolitical blow to Russia.

Lengthy after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia has performed the function of a de facto regional chief within the South Caucasus.

However Russian affect within the area has drastically weakened prior to now a number of years, particularly as it's slowed down in its war against Ukraine .

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Armenia, Azerbaijan leaders say Trump deserves Nobel Peace Prize

Each leaders praised Trump for serving to to finish the battle and stated they'd nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize .

On Thursday, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet introduced that he had nominated Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize for de-escalating a border battle between Cambodia and Thailand.