Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev used his Thursday address at the United Nations General Assembly to celebrate his nation’s military victory over Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh and to praise President Donald Trump for brokering a peace deal between the two long-feuding neighbors.
Aliyev framed the bloody 2023 campaign in which Azerbaijan forced tens of thousands of ethnic Armenian Christians from Nagorno-Karabakh as a “patriotic war” and “liberation” of occupied territory. Human rights groups condemned the operation as ethnic cleansing, while the U.S. State Department criticized the mass displacement but stopped short of formally labeling it genocide.
Aliyev accused Armenia of war crimes dating back to the 1990s and said Azerbaijan had exercised its “legitimate right to self-defense under Article 51 of the UN charter.” He claimed his forces conducted the war “in strict compliance with international humanitarian law” and avoided civilian targets—a characterization rejected by international observers.
The Azeri leader spent much of his speech lashing out at the UN for decades of failed negotiations but pivoted to highlight improved relations with Armenia after Trump’s intervention. “On August 8 this year, the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Washington, in the White House, in the presence of the leaders of the United States, Azerbaijan and Armenia, initialed the text of a peace agreement,” Aliyev said. “The same day, the president of Azerbaijan and the prime minister of Armenia signed the joint declaration. The President of the United States, Donald Trump, also signed it as a witness.”
He hailed the trilateral arrangement, branded the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), as a breakthrough in “regional connectivity,” providing Azerbaijan with a secure economic corridor to its isolated western territory. Aliyev thanked Trump for waiving long-standing U.S. sanctions imposed in 1992, calling them based on “false allegations.” He urged Congress to permanently repeal them, denouncing them as a “legacy of double standards.”
“Overall, the agreements reached during my visit to the United States in August carry historic significance,” Aliyev said. “I want to express my gratitude to President Donald Trump for opening a new chapter in the U.S.-Azerbaijan relationship.”
Aliyev also stressed Azerbaijan’s role in global energy security, noting his country’s status as a major natural gas exporter. While pledging support for climate initiatives like the Paris Accords and COP29, he warned against “unrealistic targets,” insisting fossil fuels remain essential for the foreseeable future.
He concluded by calling for a world “without double standards, where justice is not selective, the rule of law is respected, and peace is achieved not through words alone, but through actions.”
