Long-standing hostility between Armenia and Azerbaijan could be reduced by an initiative from the Trump administration, it was reported on Thursday, July 3rd. Critics of the proposal point to its potential to make an existing conflict even more complex, however.
Nakhchivan is a landlocked autonomous enclave of Azerbaijan. Baku is ambitious to develop a working physical connection to it, which would typically involve running a ‘corridor’ through Armenia, to which Yerevan is actively opposed—and has actively suppressed as part of previous conflicts between the two states.
Proposals for U.S. commercial control of the thoroughfare have now surfaced in a report from a prestigious, well-connected American think tank. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has asserted that the Trump administration now “appears to push forward” a plan developed in the European Union, where a foreign operator manages the route.
The now dropped EU model comes from its earlier advice to potential member state Georgia about conducting relations with the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In contrast, the rumoured Trump enthusiasm for American commercial management of the ‘corridor’ echoes his ‘Ukraine minerals deal,’ where the presence of U.S. enterprise promises to deter external military action.
Previously, presidents Biden and Trump indicated that a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan would boost trading opportunities from Central Asia to Europe, benefiting American companies. Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Ani Badalyan acknowledged that the proposal was in circulation and linked to discussions about normalising relations with Baku and one of its key allies, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Turkey.
