ANCA Warns that White House-Backed Deal Rewards Azerbaijan’s Ethnic Cleansing, Undermines Armenia’s Sovereignty

ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian comments on White House-backed Azerbaijan-Armenia "agreement" which rewards genocide and undermines Armenia's sovereignty

Armenian Americans Call for a Real Peace Centered on Returning Armenians to Nagorno-Karabakh, Releasing Hostages, and Delivering Justice for Baku’s War Crimes

WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, August 7, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) issued a strong warning today against a proposed White House-brokered peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan that, according to Reuters reports and internal documents leaked to reporters, would reward Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh’s (Artsakh) 150,000 indigenous Armenians while compromising Armenia’s sovereignty and long-term security.

“The same Donald Trump that failed to stop Azerbaijan's 2020 attack on Nagorno Karabakh is now rewarding this very aggression – further compromising Armenia's security and sovereignty and, in the process, abetting Azerbaijan’s normalization and formalization of its ethnic cleansing, its genocide, of more than 150,000 indigenous Armenian Christians,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian

According to leaked documents and news accounts, the agreement set to be signed tomorrow would establish a new U.S.-branded “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP),” granting exclusive U.S. development rights to a transit corridor through Armenia’s Syunik province. The project would provide unimpeded access for Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave and be operated by a U.S.-subleased commercial consortium under Armenian law.

The reported plan includes no provisions for the safe and dignified return of forcibly displaced Armenians to Artsakh, the release of Armenian prisoners and hostages illegally held by Azerbaijan, or any meaningful rollback of Azerbaijani military presence inside sovereign Armenian territory.

According to the same reports, the summit will also feature the signing of a joint declaration, a preliminary peace agreement between foreign ministers, and a joint letter requesting withdrawal from the OSCE Minsk Group — all presented as part of a U.S.-led pivot from international mediation to regional “stability through commercial infrastructure.”

“Real peace cannot be built on the forced displacement of a people, the abandonment of hostages, or the roll-back of sovereignty,” added Hamparian. “You can’t declare peace while ignoring the ethnic cleansing of 150,000 Armenians and the illegal imprisonment of their democratically elected leaders. That’s not peace — it’s impunity, an invitation to renewed aggression.”

The ANCA further emphasized its longstanding opposition to any corridor—whether labeled “Zangezur” or “TRIPP”—that bypasses Armenian control or emboldens Turkish-Azerbaijani extraterritorial claims. As documented in a recent ANCA policy memo shared with Capitol Hill, such a corridor would permanently compromise Armenia’s borders, laws, and self-determination.

“Armenian land is not a bargaining chip. Armenian sovereignty is not for lease,” said Hamparian. “Any project that prioritizes pipelines over people or transit over justice does not advance peace, it threatens it.”

Armenian American voters – across party lines – remain deeply skeptical of any U.S.-backed arrangement that ignores fundamental human rights, international legal rulings, and U.S. Congressional calls for a protected right of return. A bipartisan group of 87 U.S. Representatives recently urged the State Department to ensure the “collective, protected, and dignified return” of Armenians to Nagorno-Karabakh.

“This deal may offer headlines in Washington, but not hope for Armenians displaced from their homes, no justice for hostages held in Azerbaijani prisons, no security for the people of Armenia,” stated Hamparian. “We urge the U.S. government to stop substituting economic expediency for ethical leadership.”

Hamparian reiterated, “Armenians want real peace,” stated ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “Erasing Nagorno-Karabakh is not peace. Normalizing ethnic cleansing is not peace. Abandoning Christian holy sites is not peace. Forsaking hostages is not peace. Accepting Azerbaijani occupation of Armenia is not peace. Peace reached at gunpoint is not peace.”

According to a Reuters article published August 7, U.S. President Donald Trump will host Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the White House for a signing ceremony that will “culminate in the signing of a peace framework that includes exclusive U.S. development rights to a strategic transit corridor through the South Caucasus.” The route — referred to as the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) — will give U.S.-backed companies special long-term control over a passage that links Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave through Armenia’s Syunik province.

Reuters also reports that “the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders will sign documents requesting the dissolution of the Minsk Group,” and that the plan “does not include military oversight but is framed as a commercial transit deal managed by a U.S. consortium.”

These revelations match details found in internal briefing documents about the TRIPP plan, first posted by Washington-based journalist Alex Raufoglu on social media. According to those internal documents, the agreement will include:

-- A joint declaration to create an “irreversible pathway to peace”

-- The initialing of a bilateral peace agreement between the two foreign ministers

-- A joint letter requesting exit from the OSCE Minsk Group

-- Two bilateral MOUs between the U.S. and Armenia, and the U.S. and Azerbaijan, focused on trade and development

Notably, neither the leaked documents nor the public reporting reference the return of displaced Armenians to Artsakh, the release of Armenian hostages, or accountability for war crimes committed by Azerbaijan during and after the 2020 and 2023 attacks.

Elizabeth S. Chouldjian
Armenian National Committee of America
+1 703-585-8254
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