8/14/2025 Armenia (International Christian Concern) — Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met last Friday at the White House to sign a joint declaration that may pave the way for increased stability in the region.

The agreement lays the groundwork for economic investment in Armenia and Azerbaijan. It signals a shift away from Russia, which has historically served as a mediator between the two countries, in favor of the United States. 

Despite media reports to the contrary, the document signed was not a peace agreement. Rather, it was a joint declaration affirming the importance of working together toward a final peace agreement and emphasizing the importance of forging a peace between the fractious countries. 

On Monday, Armenia and Azerbaijan published the text of the draft peace agreement referenced in Friday’s declaration. 

Global leaders were quick to hail the declaration as a historic step, with Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, praising it as “welcome news on the road to lasting peace” and U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy calling it a “bold step.” 

Despite widespread praise for the declaration among world leaders, analysts — particularly those with knowledge of the religious freedom issue — have expressed concern about how the deal sidestepped important issues like Christian heritage sites annexed by Azerbaijan and Armenian hostages captured during the recent Azerbaijani military operation that captured the culturally and religiously significant Armenian territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. 

Additionally, the road to an actual peace agreement is long and uncertain. In statements coinciding with the release of the draft agreement on Monday, Azerbaijan demanded that Armenia amend its constitution to eliminate what it says are implicit claims on Azerbaijani territory. Much of the conflict between the two countries centers on disputed border territories and controversial enclaves surrounded by the other country. 

What the Joint Declaration Says 

Friday’s declaration commits both sides to proceed toward the formal signing and ratification of a separate peace agreement and affirms, in vague terms, the right of each country to its sovereign territory. 

The document also calls for the closure of the OSCE Minsk Process and related bodies. Created in 1992 to negotiate a peaceful settlement of the conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, the Minsk Group’s mission was rendered obsolete when Azerbaijan launched an overwhelming military offensive in September 2023, forcing the displacement of 100,000 people and successfully capturing dozens of Armenian Christian religious heritage sites.  

By far the most substantive element of the declaration was the opening of a transportation and communication corridor for Azerbaijan through Armenian territory to its Nakhchivan enclave. Ultimately, the corridor provides Azerbaijan with a direct land route to its ally Turkey, now called Türkiye, via Nakhchivan’s western border with that country. 

Conspicuously absent are guarantees for the protection of Armenian cultural and religious sites in territories now under Azerbaijani control, including centuries-old churches and monasteries that have already faced documented cases of vandalism, alteration, or destruction. Nor does the agreement address the preservation of Christian heritage as a binding obligation — a striking omission given the systematic erasure concerns raised by international cultural organizations. 

Equally troubling is the lack of concrete provisions for the release and safe return of Armenian prisoners of war and civilian detainees, despite repeated calls from the U.N., the European Parliament, and human rights groups. The agreement’s silence on this humanitarian issue leaves dozens — possibly hundreds — of individuals in indefinite captivity, prolonging the suffering of their families. 

What the Draft Peace Agreement Says 

The draft peace agreement published on Monday follows, in large part, the declaration of a few days earlier, with a focus on enhancing bilateral relations between the two countries and creating a process for resolving border disputes. 

While the language of the draft agreement is general in nature, it mentions combating intolerance, racism, and violent extremism. Absent from the list of vices to be countered was religious persecution and ethnic cleansing — longstanding practices of the totalitarian Azerbaijan regime. 

Also absent from the draft agreement is any commitment to protecting the centuries-old Christian heritage sites captured by Azerbaijan in 2023. Many have experienced significant damage and even been destroyed, according to analysis of satellite imagery and other research done by rights groups. 

While the agreement would commit the countries to “addressing” cases of missing persons and enforced disappearances — possibly a reference to the many Armenian hostages still held by Azerbaijan — the agreement falls short of a commitment to their full return, which rights activists have long demanded. 

Ongoing Concerns  

Armenia is sandwiched between Azerbaijan to the east and Türkiye to the west. The two countries have long maintained close ties, brought together by a shared Turkic ethnicity, a strong predominance of Islam among their populations, and economic interests. Several major pipelines carry significant amounts of oil and natural gas to and through Türkiye, bypassing Russia and making Azerbaijan a critical economic partner for Europe, especially in light of tensions over Russia’s war in Ukraine. 

These economic ties have enabled Azerbaijan to aggress against Armenia in ways that could not have been imagined earlier. From 2000 to 2014, Azerbaijan boasted the fastest-growing economy in the world year after year, allowing it to acquire advanced weapons systems and eclipse Armenia militarily. 

The pipelines also seem to have emboldened it geopolitically — just months after the decades-long project to build a gas corridor out of Azerbaijan to Europe was completed in 2020, it launched an attack on Armenia to seize Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding territories. While that attack was unsuccessful, Azerbaijan was able to complete the task in its September 2023 blitz. 

Speaking to International Christian Concern (ICC), one expert on Armenia decried the joint declaration as paving over genocide and expressed disappointment at how a pan-Turkic corridor connecting Türkiye and Azerbaijan — an unrealized goal of the 1915 Armenian genocide — is being cast as a step toward resolution. 

Another analyst expressed concern that the agreement could serve to undermine efforts to rescue Armenian hostages held by Azerbaijan and protect vulnerable Christian heritage sites. “Azerbaijan received a major concession in the corridor to Nakhchivan,” he said, “and in return only had to extend the vaguest of assurances regarding Armenia’s territorial sovereignty. What does Armenia have left on the bargaining table to ensure that its citizens are returned and its heritage sites are preserved?” 

The declaration’s emphasis on dismantling the OSCE Minsk Process and connecting Azerbaijan directly with Türkiye underscores a pivot toward infrastructure diplomacy. Yet, without robust mechanisms for accountability, human rights protections, religious freedom guarantees, and cultural preservation remain unaddressed, risking the cementing of a peace that is transactional rather than just, fragile rather than durable. 

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