The historic peace summit organized at the White House on August 8, 2025, by U.S. President Donald Trump – with the participation of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan – carries both symbolic and substantive importance, American political scientist, Doctor of Philosophy in Politics from Oxford University, Professor David Felsen said in an interview with APA.
He noted that the Washington summit was the highest-level meeting held in Washington with the participation of the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia since the ceasefire declaration in 1994. “In the context of long-standing tensions, especially after the Second Karabakh War of 2020 and Azerbaijan’s complete restoration of sovereignty over Karabakh in 2023, bringing these two countries together at the same table by the U.S. president is a great diplomatic achievement. As the main outcome of the summit, it is expected that an agreement will be signed that will end the war and ensure the establishment of peaceful relations between the two countries.”
According to the professor, this document will serve not only to further stabilize the South Caucasus region but also to the strategic interests of the United States: “The removal of the region from Russia’s sphere of influence and its integration with the West in economic and political terms—particularly the expansion of cooperation in the fields of energy, transportation, and security—are important geopolitical gains for Washington. One of the most difficult topics discussed at the summit—the corridor that will provide a land connection between Azerbaijan and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic—was successfully agreed upon. This corridor will not only ensure uninterrupted communication between Azerbaijan’s main territory and Nakhchivan but will also open a direct land route to Türkiye, thus shaping a new transportation map in the region. This means the realization of a provision envisaged in the trilateral statement of November 10, 2020, whose implementation had been delayed for years.”
Dr. Felsen believes that the success of the summit is not limited to the signing of the peace agreement.
“In the coming years, it will be important to take additional confidence-building measures to ensure the sustainability of the agreement. This includes the construction of new railways and highways along the Baku–Nakhchivan–Yerevan–Kars route, the expansion of energy-transport projects connecting the Caspian and Black Seas, and increasing investments in the region by SOCAR and international companies. This summit also marks the beginning of a new stage in Washington’s policy toward the South Caucasus. The peace agreement, which will be signed with the support of the United States, the European Union, and Türkiye, creates a real basis for consigning the more than 30-year-long Azerbaijan–Armenia conflict to history and for establishing sustainable peace in the region,” he concluded.
