The US-brokered peace accord signed on August 8 in Washington by Azerbaijan and Armenia has triggered sharply contrasting reactions across Turkey’s political spectrum, from official endorsement to nationalist criticism and outright warnings of US encirclement. The deal includes exclusive American development rights to a planned Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) transit corridor.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry called the agreement “a rare historic opportunity” and “an extremely important development” for peace and stability in the South Caucasus. In an official statement, Ankara expressed satisfaction with the progress achieved and praised US contributions to the process, vowing to continue supporting Azerbaijan’s efforts to implement the deal. “Turkiye will contribute to the realisation of this opportunity and will stand by brotherly Azerbaijan’s devoted efforts,” the ministry said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan voiced support for the accord during a phone call with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, welcoming it and offering Ankara’s help in achieving a lasting peace.

Speaking in Egypt, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said the TRIPP corridor, which will connect mainland Azerbaijan with Turkey-bordering Azerbaijani exclave Nakhchivan through southern Armenia, taking a route running close to the Iranian border, could link Europe “with the depths of Asia via Turkiye” and would be “a very beneficial development.”

Nato member Turkey has long backed close ally Azerbaijan in its disputes with Armenia and has pledged to normalise relations with Yerevan once a final peace deal is concluded. That should mean the opening of the Turkey-Armenia border.

Nationalist voices within the ruling alliance of Turkey also welcomed the agreement but underlined its geopolitical implications. MHP MP Zuhal Karakoc Dora said the corridor, including road, rail, pipeline and fibre-optic cable infrastructure, would enhance the direct and flexible delivery of Caspian Sea energy to Turkey and Europe, bolster the Middle Corridor transit route, which runs from China and via Central Asia, and strengthen Turkey's position as a transit and data hub. However, she cautioned that US oversight of the project could shrink Russian and Iranian influence in the region, potentially raising tensions.

The main Turkish opposition party CHP struck a sharply different tone. Party leader Ozgur Ozel, speaking at a rally in Tokat, said the agreement should have been a showcase for Turkish “soft power” connecting Turkey to the South Caucasus via the Zangezur Corridor, but instead “Trump sat at the table and Turkiye was reduced to a spectator.” He accused Erdogan and Fidan of foreign policy failures, saying the country was “tired” of such diplomacy and that the government had surrendered a key role in a regional project to Washington.

Pro-Russian and pro-Chinese Turkish daily Aydinlik portrayed the accord as a US manoeuvre to re-establish its presence in the South Caucasus after years of marginalisation. The paper argued that Washington’s control over the Zangezur Corridor amounted to a security concession, drawing parallels with US corporate and military operations in Iraq and Africa. It warned that the project could be part of a broader American strategy to encircle Turkey, Russia and Iran, undermine China’s Belt and Road infrastructure-focused initiative, and tie Ankara into an “Atlantic package” that would require concessions in the Black Sea, Syria, the Eastern Mediterranean and potentially on Kurdish autonomy.

Zafer Party vice-chair Ozcan Pehlivanoglu used the occasion to deliver a wider critique of US influence in Turkey, alleging that all major political currents contained “America’s men” and claiming that the accord formed part of a long-standing US-UK-Israeli strategy to control “Northern Islam” by containing Turkey. He argued that US backing for the TRIPP project was consistent with a post-1945 arrangement that placed Turkey within Washington’s sphere of control and warned that participation in such initiatives risked further eroding national sovereignty.