On November 8, Azerbaijan celebrates the 5th anniversary of the Victory Day in the Second Karabakh War, also known as the 44-day Patriotic War.
It was a historic day for the people of Azerbaijan – a country that for nearly three decades had been suffering from a foreign military aggression by neighboring Armenia and the occupation of one-fifth of its internationally recognized territories, accompanied by mass atrocities, grave war crimes, ethnic cleansing, terrorism and attacks against civilians.
On September 27, 2020, in response to continuous military provocations and exercising its right to self-defense under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan, led by the Commander-in-Chief President Ilham Aliyev, swiftly launched a counter-offensive. Within only 44 days of military operations, more than 300 settlements were liberated, including the city of Shusha – known as the cultural cradle of Azerbaijan and the “conservatory of the Caucasus” for its rich history in music and poetry – on November 8. As the outcome of the Trilateral statement signed on November 10, 2020 other occupied regions were returned to Azerbaijan.
Immediately after the war, Azerbaijan launched a large-scale demining and restoration works in the liberated territories focusing on destroyed infrastructure, housing, and cultural sites, and enabling safe conditions for the return of hundreds of thousands of displaced people through its “Great Return” program.
On September 19-20, 2023, Azerbaijan carried out local anti-terror measures and in less than 24 hours disarmed the remnants of the Armenian armed forces illegally stationed in Azerbaijan’s Karabakh Economic Region and completely dismantled the criminal regime that had been created in the early 90th with the aim of perpetuating the occupation. This operation ensured Azerbaijan’s complete sovereignty and constitutional order over its entire territory. For the country, the full restoration of its territorial integrity and sovereignty has become a glorious page in its history, and a triumph of international law and justice.
Despite being a winner on the battlefield, immediately after the end of the war in November 2020, Azerbaijan proposed a peace initiative in the region, declaring that its regional vision and approach are based on sustainable peacebuilding. Azerbaijan was first to come up with a proposal containing basic principles for the establishment of mutual relations with Armenia.
It was an unprecedented move, since it was Azerbaijan that had suffered from the grave economic, social, and humanitarian consequences of a 30-year-long military occupation, and the blatant violation of its territorial integrity and sovereignty. This move was vividly demonstrated in the country’s forward-looking policy of peace and development in the South Caucasus.
Ensuring intensive negotiations led to the historic meeting of August 8, 2025 in Washington DC, where the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a Joint Declaration witnessed by the President of the United States. The sides, among others, emphasized the importance of maintaining and strengthening peace, reaffirmed their intention of opening communications between the two countries for intra-state, bilateral, and international transportation, including between the main part of Azerbaijan and its Nakhchivan exclave through the territory of Armenia, and resolved to build good neighborly relations on the basis of the inviolability of international borders and the inadmissibility of the use of force. Armenia undertook to work with the United States and mutually determined third parties, to set forth a framework for the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” (TRIPP) connectivity project in its territory.
Furthermore, the Foreign Ministers of both countries initiated the Draft Agreement on Establishment of Peace and Inter State Relations.
The Washington meeting has served as yet another testament to Azerbaijan’s unwavering commitment to achieving the long-overdue peace in the South Caucasus. It has marked an important step toward normalization, offering a potential pathway to sustainable peace, stability, development and prosperity for the region. For that to become a reality, it is imperative that all existing legal grounds enabling territorial claims against Azerbaijan be eliminated, thus paving the way for the signing of the peace agreement in the coming year.
The agreement on the TRIPP, aka the Zangezur Corridor, is among the most welcomed highlights of the Declaration. Being a critical confidence-building measure to cement the peace agreement, the opening of communication and transportation routes will undoubtedly unlock the full economic potential of the South Caucasus, promote economic integration, and boost intra-regional and cross-regional trade and commercial activities. As a sign of goodwill and commitment to peace, Azerbaijan has recently authorized the transit shipment of grain by railway from Russia and Kazakhstan to Armenia. This was the first such passage through Azerbaijan’s territory to Armenia in 35 years.
The new geopolitical reality created by Azerbaijan in the South Caucasus, which lies at the heart of several strategic connectivity routes between Europe and Asia, such as the Middle Corridor and the International North-South Transport Corridor, gives impetus and opens new possibilities for broader economic cooperation with South Asian countries, including Nepal.
Being the leading political and economic powerhouse in the region, Azerbaijan has recently stepped up its bilateral relations with Nepal. The two countries have been successfully interacting within multilateral formats, such as the UN and the Non-Aligned Movement for years. Upon the invitation of the President of Azerbaijan, the President of Nepal attended the global Climate Change Summit in November 2024 organized in Baku. At the meeting held on November 14, 2024 they noted the historic significance of this first meeting between the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Nepal and emphasized the importance of enhancing economic and trade ties. The same was expressed in their reciprocal congratulatory letters on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations celebrated on February 28, 2025.
As a follow-up to the Presidents’ agreement to develop bilateral relations, Azerbaijan sent three high-level government delegations to Nepal in April and May 2025 led respectively by Ms Leyla Aliyeva, Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation – a leading global humanitarian organization of Azerbaijan, Mr Elnur Mammadov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Mr Mukhtar Babayev, President of COP29 and Representative of the President of Azerbaijan on Climate Issues. During their meetings, which also included courtesy calls on Nepal’s leadership, productive discussions were held on many areas of mutual interest, including political, economic, tourism, environment and humanitarian cooperation.
Nepal was among the countries that officially welcomed the outcomes of the August 8, 2025 Washington agreements.
There is also a growing interest among Nepali private sector entities to promote business contacts and pursue joint projects with their Azerbaijani peers. A number of visits to Baku and discussions have taken place recently.
Academic collaboration has been carried out successfully owing to the partnership of the Asian Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs (AIDIA) in Nepal and the ADA University in Azerbaijan.
On this historic day – the 5th anniversary of the Victory in the Second Karabakh War that marked the beginning of a new era of peace and prosperity, Azerbaijan remains determined and is more than ever well positioned to expand pragmatic cooperation and partner with Nepal, including in experience sharing in governance, infrastructure development, institutional modernization, digital innovation, energy transition, education and other areas.
(Mr Elchin Huseynli is the non-resident Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Nepal.)
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