365 days after Washington: How Azerbaijan cemented its victory

Exactly one year ago, on August 8, 2025, an event took place in Washington, at the world’s most prominent office, that without exaggeration marked a turning point in the modern history of the South Caucasus. On that day, in the presence of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and US President Donald Trump, the “Agreement on the Establishment of Peace and Inter-State Relations between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia” was initialled.

The leaders of the three countries cemented this achievement by signing a joint Washington Declaration, which specifically highlights the importance of opening communications between the two countries for domestic, bilateral, and international transportation, with the aim of promoting peace, stability, and prosperity in the region and beyond, based on respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and jurisdiction of states.

At the same time, Paragraph 4 of the document explicitly states: “The Republic of Armenia will work with the United States of America and mutually determined third parties, to set forth a framework for the ‘Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity’ (TRIPP) connectivity project in the territory of the Republic of Armenia.”

It was a success, but the path to it began not at the negotiating table, but on the battlefield — on September 27, 2020, when the Azerbaijani Army, in response to large-scale provocations by the Armenian armed forces along the line of contact, launched a counteroffensive operation that subsequently became known as the “Iron Fist.”

For 44 days, step by step, inch by inch, our brave soldiers liberated their homeland from occupation. Then, on November 8, the Azerbaijani people heard the long-awaited words from the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev: “Dear fellow countrymen, dear sisters and brothers! It is with great pride that I declare that the city of Shusha has been liberated from occupation! Shusha is ours! Karabakh is ours!”

The one-day anti-terrorist operation carried out in September 2023 in Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region put a final end to a decades-long conflict that many had hoped would remain “frozen” forever, bringing an end to separatism in Azerbaijan’s sovereign territories.

These victories gave Baku the moral and political standing to shape the logic of the peace process and set its terms.

The seven points of the Washington Declaration, despite the diplomatic restraint of their wording, were not difficult to interpret in August 2025 for those who had closely followed the twists and turns of the negotiations. Behind the carefully worded phrases was a clear message: there could be no return to the past. The signature of the US president further cemented this axiom.

Particular attention in the context of the Washington summit should be paid to the signing by the foreign ministers of the two countries of a joint appeal to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) calling for the closure of the OSCE Minsk Process and related structures. This formally confirmed the achievement of peace at the international level as well.

The year that has passed since that historic meeting has seen the Washington agreements confirmed on the ground. Baku lifted restrictions on the transit of goods to Armenia through Azerbaijani territory, tankers carrying Azerbaijani fuel began arriving in the neighboring country, and a series of meetings between the civil societies of the two states was held as part of the “Bridge of Peace” initiative.

Today, the South Caucasus region is de facto living in conditions of peace. This is an undeniable achievement of the Azerbaijani state — the victorious country that has demonstrated to the world that true sovereignty and genuine peace are born where the strength of a people’s spirit is combined with the wisdom of its leader.

Long live Azerbaijan!