The Floridian: Ilham Aliyev highly praised Donald Trump's role in achieving peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia

The speech of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the IV Shusha Global Media Forum on the topic "The Mission of Media in Promoting Peace: Restoring Truth and Reviving Trust," as well as the head of state's answers to journalists' questions, are at the center of attention of the world press.

The Floridian, whose representative was also among those invited to the forum, paid attention to President Ilham Aliyev's views on the efforts of U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration to facilitate the achievement of peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The Floridian writes that Ilham Aliyev highly praised Donald Trump's role in achieving peace.

The publication quotes the response of the head of the Azerbaijani state to a question from journalist Joshua Klein of Breitbart News about how President Trump's actions differed from those of previous U.S. administrations and what made peace possible.

The Azerbaijani leader noted that U.S. administrations, along with other co-chairs of the then OSCE Minsk Group, mainly pursued a policy of freezing the conflict: "President Trump's approach was completely different. He is a peace-loving man who establishes peace in many parts of the world. As he himself says, he has achieved peace by resolving eight conflicts. This is the essence of his character. Such is his vision and such is his policy."

President Ilham Aliyev further added that Trump played a key role at the final stage of negotiations on the peace agreement: "President Trump and his team joined the process, creating conditions under which peace became possible. They fully understood our concerns regarding the peace process."

Ilham Aliyev then mentioned the historic meeting at the White House, "during which the Prime Minister of Armenia, President Trump, and I signed a Joint Declaration, and in the presence of President Trump the foreign ministers of both countries initialed the peace agreement."

Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs Brian told The Floridian: "The President brings to foreign policy something that the previous administration did not have. It is all very simple: if he says 'yes,' it means 'yes'; if he says 'no,' it means 'no.' Leaders around the world know this, understand this, and their intelligence services warn them: they may try to test President Trump, but they are taking a really big risk."

During the presidency of Bill Clinton, as well as during the period when Joe Biden was a U.S. senator from the Democratic Party, Congress passed the U.S. Freedom Support Act, which included Amendment 907 prohibiting the provision of direct U.S. assistance to Azerbaijan.

This ban remained in effect for many years until President Trump lifted the amendment in August 2025, the publication recalls.