Edward ByrdA year after Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a provisional peace declaration in Washington, the armenia azerbaijan peace deal remains more aspiration than finished product. Officials in Washington, Yerevan and Baku still speak hopefully about the accord, but the corridor project meant to anchor it has yet to break ground, and the underlying treaty itself remains unsigned.
The declaration, signed August 8 last year by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, formally ended decades of conflict in the South Caucasus and set in motion what the Trump administration branded the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, or TRIPP. On the anniversary of that signing, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a statement saying the United States had worked alongside both countries over the past twelve months to convert the declaration's promise into tangible progress.
What Rubio Says Has Actually Been Built
Rubio pointed to concrete steps: surveying work has begun on a rail line that would run through Armenian territory, linking freight traffic from Azerbaijan toward Turkey and points beyond. He also cited the creation of a Trans-Caspian Enterprise Fund, capitalized initially at $201 million. In his statement, Rubio called TRIPP
James Stephens
