Situation in the South Caucasus to be among key topics of Trump-Erdogan meeting

The situation in the South Caucasus will be among the main topics to be discussed during the upcoming meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz made the remarks in an interview with the Azerbaijani news agency APA.

According to Yilmaz, developments in the South Caucasus are among the issues on the agenda of the two leaders’ meeting.

“The South Caucasus is of great importance. The existing issues between Armenia and Azerbaijan have largely been overcome. We are now very close to signing a peace agreement,” Yilmaz said.

The Turkish vice president also said that one of the key agenda items would be the TRIPP project, while using the term “Zangezur corridor,” which is rejected by the Armenian side. He said opening the transport route would strengthen links between Türkiye and Central Asia and contribute to the development of the Middle Corridor.

“We all want this transport route stretching from China to Europe to become even stronger,” he said.

Yilmaz added that Türkiye is making active efforts both to help establish lasting peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan and to achieve the full normalisation of relations between Türkiye and Armenia. 

“We have similar approaches with the United States on this issue. Therefore, it is natural that the South Caucasus will be discussed during the meeting between Erdogan and Trump,” the Turkish vice president said. 

It was reported earlier that the U.S. and Turkish presidents would hold a bilateral meeting in Ankara on the sidelines of the NATO summit. The U.S. president has already arrived in Ankara to attend the summit. 

TRIPP is a joint Armenian-U.S. project. Armenia and the United States signed a framework agreement on the project on June 4.