By Azeri Times
August 11, 2025

Azerbaijan and Armenia have published the text of a preliminary U.S.-brokered peace agreement that pledges to formally end nearly four decades of hostility, but key hurdles remain before the deal can be signed.

The agreement, initialled by the countries’ foreign ministers in Washington on August 8, was unveiled on Monday and commits both sides to recognize each other’s territorial integrity, renounce any claims on the other’s land, and refrain from the use of force. The text was reached in a trilateral meeting hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at the White House.

“This agreement is a solid foundation for establishing a reliable and lasting peace… that reflects the balanced interests of the two countries,” Pashinyan wrote on Facebook.

The deal marks the most significant diplomatic breakthrough in the South Caucasus since Azerbaijan regained full control over Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023 — a move that prompted almost the entire ethnic Armenian population of the enclave to flee to Armenia. The decades-long conflict over the mountainous region has defined relations between the two former Soviet republics since the late 1980s, with wars in the 1990s, 2020, and 2023 leaving tens of thousands dead.

Foreign Forces and Border Security

One of the most striking clauses in the agreement is a ban on the deployment of third-party forces along the shared border, a provision widely seen as targeting Russia, which has maintained peacekeepers in the region since 2020. Moscow — traditionally a key broker and Armenia’s ally — was excluded from the U.S.-led negotiations and has warned against “foreign meddling.”
The European Union, Turkey, and NATO welcomed the accord. The EU has a monitoring mission on Armenia’s border, which Baku has repeatedly demanded be withdrawn.

The Constitutional Roadblock

Despite the breakthrough, the peace deal remains unsigned. Baku insists that Armenia must amend its constitution, which Azerbaijan says contains implicit territorial claims against it. “Yerevan has some homework to do,” Aliyev told reporters in Washington. “After those changes are made, the peace agreement can be signed at any time.”

Pashinyan has called for a referendum on constitutional changes but has yet to set a date. The issue could prove politically explosive in Armenia, where nationalist factions strongly oppose any revisions they see as capitulating to Baku’s demands.

Geopolitical Stakes

If signed, the deal could reshape the South Caucasus, an energy-rich region bordering Russia, Iran, Turkey, and the EU. The agreement would reopen closed borders, ease transit, and unlock trade routes criss-crossed by oil and gas pipelines.
Notably, the White House secured exclusive U.S. development rights to a new strategic transit corridor through southern Armenia linking mainland Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave. The corridor would provide direct overland access to Turkey, a key Azerbaijani ally, and has long been a sticking point in peace talks.

For now, the peace remains tantalizingly close but still out of reach — hostage to constitutional reform in Armenia and deep-seated mistrust on both sides.

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