With aspirations for the Nobel Peace Prize, US President Donald Trump is welcoming the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to Washington DC on Thursday and Friday, aiming to negotiate a peace agreement between the two nations.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been embroiled in a prolonged conflict regarding the contested region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is officially part of Azerbaijan but is predominantly inhabited by ethnic Armenians who declared independence from Azerbaijani control in the 1990s. In 2020, a war erupted over this territory, resulting in a victory for Azerbaijan.
On Friday, Trump is set to host Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the White House, as reported by the Washington Post.
The publication cited a White House official indicating that a peace agreement might be announced during the discussions between Trump, Azerbaijan, and Armenia.
Trump’s supporters are expected to leverage any peace agreement reached between Armenia and Azerbaijan to bolster the argument for awarding him the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 2020, Azerbaijan and Armenia engaged in a 44-day conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, which Azerbaijan decisively won, gaining control over most of the territory. In 2023, Azerbaijan initiated a renewed offensive, widely condemned as ethnic cleansing, capturing the entire region and displacing nearly the entire ethnic Armenian population of approximately 100,000.
As the 2024 presidential election approaches, Trump has pledged to “protect persecuted Christians,” noting that the ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh are predominantly Christian, while Azerbaijanis are primarily Muslim and of Turkic descent.
Trump criticized his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, for her inaction during the persecution and forced displacement of 120,000 Armenian Christians, asserting that he would “work to stop the violence and ethnic cleansing, and we will restore peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan.”
Trump anticipates enhancing his role as a peacemaker.
With a favorable agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Trump is eager to take credit for yet another peace accord, thereby reinforcing his self-proclaimed credentials as a global peacemaker.
Despite his self-identification as a peacemaker, Trump has not succeeded in resolving the war in Ukraine, which he pledged to conclude within 24 hours of taking office. Additionally, he has not managed to facilitate an end to the conflict in the Gaza Strip.
Rather than resolving these disputes, Trump has instead embroiled the United States in a new conflict with Iran as of June.
Nonetheless, Trump has successfully brokered a deal between the conflicting parties of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He also played a role in the Cambodia-Thailand War. Furthermore, Trump has inaccurately claimed credit for the India-Pakistan conflict that occurred in May.
Trump and his supporters have referenced these events as justification for their call for a Nobel Peace Prize.
