Vance Praises Aliyev’s Ties to Turkey and Israel as U.S. Signs Strategic Partnership With Azerbaijan

After departing Yerevan, U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrived in Baku and delivered what has become a familiar script: a joint press conference with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, followed by the signing of a sweeping Charter on Strategic Partnership between the United States and Azerbaijan.

The document, dense with diplomatic language and expansive ambitions, reaffirms mutual support for sovereignty and territorial integrity, expands cooperation in energy, security, artificial intelligence, and regional connectivity, and elevates Azerbaijan’s role as a central transit and energy hub in the South Caucasus. It also reads, in many places, like a greatest-hits compilation of Washington’s long-standing priorities in the region — with notably selective memory about recent history.

The charter emphasizes regional connectivity projects such as the Trans-Caspian “Middle Corridor” and the so-called Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, or TRIPP, which would provide “unimpeded connectivity” between mainland Azerbaijan and its Nakhijevan exclave. For Armenia, which has repeatedly warned that such language masks pressure for extraterritorial corridors, the wording was familiar — and telling.

But it was Vance’s closing remarks, rather than the fine print of the charter, that drew the most attention.

“I was telling my staff before we landed that, other than President Trump, the only leader in the world who has really good relations with both the Turks and the Israelis is President Aliyev,” Vance said, offering what sounded less like an offhand observation and more like a carefully chosen endorsement.

The comment was striking not because it was new, but because it was said out loud. In a single sentence, the U.S. vice president elevated Aliyev as a rare diplomatic bridge between Turkey and Israel — two regional powers whose interests increasingly align with Azerbaijan’s own, particularly in military cooperation, arms sales, and energy transit.

For Armenians, the remark landed with bitter irony. Turkey remains Armenia’s closed-border neighbor and Azerbaijan’s chief political and military patron. Israel, meanwhile, has supplied Azerbaijan with advanced weaponry used in multiple conflicts against Armenians, including the 2020 war and the 2023 military operation that led to the forced displacement of Artsakh’s Armenian population. To hear Washington praise Aliyev’s unique standing with both capitals, without a single reference to the human cost borne by Christian Armenians, shows the imbalance that has come to define Western engagement in the region.

Vance leaned into the theme, presenting Azerbaijan as a stabilizing force and a reliable partner. The charter itself praises Baku’s “strategic importance as a reliable partner in energy security,” commits to expanding cooperation in oil, gas, electricity, and even civil nuclear projects, and outlines plans for deeper defense cooperation, including defense sales and counterterrorism efforts.

Absent from the public remarks, however, was any mention of political prisoners, press freedom, or accountability for the destruction of Armenian cultural heritage. Peace was framed as a shared interest, security as a mutual benefit, and Azerbaijan’s military contributions abroad were highlighted — while the unresolved consequences of its actions at home and in neighboring territories went unaddressed.

The press conference also included a moment of levity that did little to disguise the dynastic reality of Azerbaijani politics. Vance pointed out that Azerbaijan’s vice president is Aliyev’s wife, Mehriban Aliyeva, before joking that he hoped the arrangement would not give his own wife, Second Lady Usha Vance, “any ideas” about taking over his position.

The joke landed easily in the room. For observers familiar with Azerbaijan’s tightly controlled political regime, it landed differently — a reminder that what Washington calls “strategic partnership” often coexists comfortably with entrenched family rule.

The charter lays out an ambitious institutional framework, including new working groups on energy, trade, digital development, AI, and security, with project roadmaps to be finalized within three months. Annual meetings and additional dialogue platforms are planned, reinforcing the message that the U.S.-Azerbaijan relationship is not only intact but expanding.

The message was clear, even if unspoken: in Washington’s current calculus, Azerbaijan is a strategic asset, Turkey and Israel are indispensable partners, and Armenia is expected to adapt accordingly.

Whether that approach produces lasting peace in the South Caucasus remains an open question. What is not in doubt is that, in Baku, the United States signaled exactly where it believes regional influence resides — and it did so with a smile, a joke about political spouses, and a compliment that Armenians have heard before, always at their own expense.

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