Azerbaijani ambassador hails US president as “true peacemaker” in historic Caucasus deal

The US-based The Washington Examiner has featured an interview with Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to the United States, Khazar Ibrahim. Caliber.Az is pleased to share selected excerpts from the piece with its readers.

President Donald Trump surprised the world this month after announcing that two longtime enemies, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, would be meeting in the Oval Office to sign a historic peace agreement.

The diplomatic coup gives the United States its most significant position of influence in the Caucasus, an area historically out of its purview. In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Azerbaijani Ambassador Khazar Ibrahim praised Trump’s leadership as essential in securing the deal. He claimed Baku was confident that Trump would bring about positive developments in the Caucasus from day one of his second term, after enjoying favorable relations during his first term.

“We saw a strategic vision. And of course, President Trump is a true leader, a true peacemaker. So that’s why we knew from the very beginning, after he was elected, that there will be more efforts, not only in our region, but all around the world, for peace, prosperity, and development,” Ibrahim said. “So, therefore, it came very naturally that the new administration was interested in bringing peace and development to the region, and we worked together, and here we are.”

The August 8 agreement constitutes several documents, and isn’t exactly a peace treaty per se. The documents largely amount to a memorandum of understanding, with the two countries’ foreign ministers initialling a peace agreement, and Aliyev and Pashinyan signing a joint declaration to pursue a lasting peace.

“We acknowledged the need to continue further actions to achieve the signing and ultimate ratification of the Agreement, and emphasized the importance of maintaining and strengthening peace between our two countries,” the declaration read.

As Ibrahim explained, the initialling by the foreign ministers fixes the current agreement in place, “which literally means, when you initial it, that it is there, you cannot change it. It is fixed, and the only thing that is needed is just to sign it at some point.”

The concrete proposal outlined in the documents resolves one of the longest-lasting barriers to peace, establishing a corridor linking Azerbaijan with its Nakchivan exclave. To overcome the disagreements between the two, the corridor will be put under American management, named the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity,” or TRIPP.

The Oval Office meeting that oversaw the signing of the documents showcased a beaming Aliyev and Pashinyan shaking hands over Trump, a marked turnaround from the hostility that has marked

Ibrahim argued that the biggest impediment to peace was psychological.

“It was about trust, I believe, because since regaining our independence, Azerbaijan and Armenia, we never had a time when we had a real peace. The occupation was there. We were trying to solve these issues for quite a long time. There were mediators. Nothing was happening. And of course, there was no trust. I think this trust has started to be built. So that was the biggest impediment: trust. I wouldn’t say that today we have full trust – it’s literally impossible. I would be dishonest to say that, but we now have the growing, developing trust between Azerbaijan and Armenia,” he said.

Though not personally present for most negotiations, Ibrahim argued that Trump was the decisive factor in finally progressing a peace agreement.

“I think both sides, both sides worked very effectively and very honestly,” he said, referring to Azerbaijan and Armenia. “But in order to have peace deals to finalize, you need a global leader who can step up, who can help. And then, literally, six months ago, after the election of President Trump, there was a global leader who wanted to bring peace.”

The White House and State Department were “directly” involved in negotiations, Ibrahim said, but Trump’s true effect didn’t require him to be personally present during every stage of negotiations.

“He’s president of the United States. He has a global agenda. He cannot spend every minute on one single issue. He was the driving force, and he made it happen,” he said.

The right of return of Armenian refugees is a complicated subject, as Baku insists such a right already exists. Ibrahim said that in international relations, there must always be reciprocity, and Armenia doesn’t allow any Azerbaijani refugees expelled in the 1980s and 1990s to return.

“We do believe that every person has a right to go back wherever they want, but everything should be legal. And actually, for those Armenians who left Azerbaijan, the government of Azerbaijan immediately, immediately created the avenue, a special portal through which they can legally request coming back. But the same conditions do not exist for Azerbaijanis who left Armenia, where they had property and many other things,” he said.

“As far as the Armenians on trial in Azerbaijan are concerned, it’s not just that we want to have a trial for somebody. It’s the … obligation of every state, if there are claims of some wrongdoings, and especially their grave things which one side believes has happened,” Ibrahim said. “There should be a legal process, and the process is legal, it’s not political, it’s not anything else. So everybody has the right to defend himself or herself. But at the end of the day, law is law. It should be equal to everybody; Azerbaijanis, Armenians, domestically, internally, or internationally.”

Though viewed as a positive development, Azerbaijan has one major issue left to resolve, which is arguably the most difficult to overcome. Armenia’s constitution references Karabakh, something Baku views as intolerable.

“We have always been very straightforward and open with our Armenian counterparts. We all understand in the relations between two countries, if one has territorial claims against another, you can have a million agreements, you can have 10,000 treaties, that will not work. So the only impediment remaining is the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, which has territorial claims against Azerbaijan,” Ibrahim said.

“So we hope that in a very short period of time, that provision is changed in Armenia, then we can happily sign the final peace agreement,” he added.

While relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan have been characterized by extreme vitriol for over 30 years, Ibrahim expressed optimism that relations post-Washington could turn a new leaf. He pointed to the example of Germany and France after World War II.

“Who could have been in a much more difficult situation than Germany and France? What they managed to do through cooperation … to start European integration, first between these two countries. Tell me where the European Union is today, where Germany is today, where France is today. So why not have the same in the Caucasus?”

He noted that the “work has already started,” noting the first direct phone call between Armenia and Azerbaijan’s foreign ministers.

By Vafa Guliyeva