ISTANBUL

US President Donald Trump this week will host peace talks in Washington between Ilham Aliyev, the Azerbaijani president, and Nikol Pashinyan, the Armenian prime minister.

The talks were confirmed on Wednesday by Pashinyan’s press secretary Nazeli Baghdasaryan on Facebook, noting that the Armenian premier will pay a visit to the US on Thursday and Friday and will also have a bilateral meeting with the US president while in Washington.

Baghdasaryan wrote that the trilateral talks will seek to “promote peace, prosperity, and economic cooperation in the region.”

Her statement follows an earlier Washington Post report saying that Trump will host the two leaders at the White House on Friday, citing two senior White House officials.

The report also highlighted the possibility of a peace agreement being announced as a result of the talks between the southern Caucasus neighbors.

The Azerbaijani side has not immediately confirmed Armenia's statement or commented on the report.

Aliyev and Pashinyan last met in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, last month, during which they discussed effort to normalize their countries’ relations and agreed to continue negotiations and confidence-building measures.

In the same month, Trump said at a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office that efforts to reach a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan appear to be moving towards a “successful conclusion.”

Relations between the two former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Karabakh – a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan – and seven adjacent regions.

Most of the territory was liberated by Azerbaijan during a 44-day war in the fall of 2020, which ended after a Russian-brokered peace agreement that opened the door to normalization and demarcation talks.

In September 2023, Azerbaijan established full sovereignty in Karabakh after separatist forces in the region surrendered.

This March, the two countries declared that they had reached a consensus on all 17 articles of a peace deal, though the deal has yet to be signed.