The talks were held at the U.S. city’s Turkish House on the sidelines of the ongoing session of the UN General Assembly.

In a statement, the Turkish presidency said that Erdogan voiced support for “the normalization process with Armenia in the areas of bilateral trade and transportation” and praised “growing cooperation with Armenia in international organizations.” He was also reported to hail “reciprocal steps” taken by Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Pashinian’s office reported, for its part, that the two leaders expressed readiness to “advance” that process and, in particular, commercial ties between their countries. It said they also “stressed the need” for the implementation of an agreement to open a U.S.-administered transit corridor for Azerbaijan through Armenia.

Turkey continues to make the opening of its border with Armenia conditional on an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal acceptable to Azerbaijan. That means accepting Baku’s demands for a change of Armenia’s constitution and the opening of the corridor that would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave and Turkey. There were no indications after Erdogan’s latest talks with Pashinian that Ankara will drop these preconditions.

Contrary to reports in the Turkish press, Ankara refrained from implementing ahead of Armenia’s recent parliamentary elections a 2022 agreement to open the border for Armenian and Turkish diplomatic passport holders as well as citizens of third countries. It took instead other, largely symbolic steps, including a permission of Turkish-Armenian cargo shipments through Georgia’s rail link with Turkey.

Pashinian telephoned Erdogan four days before the June 7 elections praised by the Turkish Foreign Ministry. The ministry afterwards expressed hope that Armenia’s leadership will take “bolder steps towards peace and normalization in the region” following its election victory denounced by the Armenian opposition as fraudulent.

The hearing initiated by Lilit Galtsian, the chairwoman of the Armenian parliament committee on human rights affiliated with the opposition Hayastan alliance, discussed socioeconomic and other problems facing Karabakh refugees in Armenia. Opening the meeting, Galstian listed “representatives of Artsakh’s parliament” among its participants.

Her colleagues representing the ruling Civil Contract party as well as several senior government officials staged the walkout about 30 minutes later. One of the pro-government lawmakers, Mariam Poghosian, told reporters that Galstian’s description of the Karabakh Armenians attending the discussion is at odds with the Armenian government’s policy articulated by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.

Echoing Pashinian’s recent statement, Poghosian said the government will not tolerate the existence of “a second state” in Armenia. Arega Hovsepian, a Karabakh-born opposition parliamentarian, denounced this stance.

“Just a few years ago, you visited Artsakh and held meetings at its National Assembly,” Hovsepian said, appealing to Pashinian’s political allies. “Some of you sat at dinner tables and raised toasts there. Do not forget the past … Some time later, you will not be in power. So make sure you won’t be too embarrassed to walk on the streets.”

Ara Ghazarian, an expert on international law also present at the hearing, likened the walkout to Azerbaijani officials’ behavior during international court cases related to the Karabakh conflict.

“I have been involved in legal proceedings against Azerbaijan for 16 years” said Ghazarian. “From the very first cases, Azerbaijan demanded that the European Court [of Human Rights] not use the Armenian names or documents from state and public bodies of Artsakh. From the outset, the European Court rejected these demands … The European Court has even recognized decisions of Artsakh courts as legitimate acts and issued rulings based on them.”

Ever since recognizing Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh in 2022, Pashinian has repeatedly lambasted Karabakh Armenian leaders for continuing to present themselves as a government in exile. He again lashed out at them in May this year while bitterly arguing with a Karabakh activist during an election campaign engagement in Yerevan.

“Don’t you dare to say that there is a Karabakh National Assembly or a government in Armenia. I’ll root out all of you,” Pashinian cried.

Later in May, a Yerevan court allowed the Armenian authorities to seize the building of the Karabakh Armenian leadership’s permanent representation in Armenia. Lawyers representing the Karabakh leaders appealed against the ruling. Speaking in the parliament earlier this month, Pashinian expressed confidence that the appeal will be rejected by higher courts.

Senior U.S. State Department officials told reporters on Tuesday that the New York event will focus on the institutional and financial mechanisms needed to move TRIPP from last year’s Armenia-Azerbaijan peace initiative toward implementation.

The event is expected to bring together the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, representatives of the five Central Asian states — with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan showing particular interest – U.S. Peace Envoy Steve Witkoff, Senator Steve Daines, and executives from more than 40 companies, many of them American. Officials said the event will highlight how TRIPP aims to “pop the cork” on the Middle Corridor, unlocking a westward trade route that connects Europe to Central Asia while reducing reliance on transit through Russia, China, and Iran.

The gathering will also feature the Trans-Caspian Enterprise Fund, which officials said will invest in opportunities arising from TRIPP and the wider Trans-Caspian trade route. The fund operates at arm’s length from the U.S. government under a White House-appointed board and receives grant funding from the State Department. It is distinct from the TRIPP Development Company, the joint U.S.-Armenian corporate entity being established to develop and oversee the corridor.

The senior State Department official said Washington has spent the past 13 months building the legal framework needed to invest in and manage infrastructure in Armenia, with the U.S. Congress allocating funding to support the peace process and the project’s development. TRIPP is intended to provide unimpeded access between Azerbaijan proper and its Nakhchivan exclave through Armenian territory while respecting Armenia’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security.

“This becomes a major security issue for us,” the official said, describing the removal of existing trade “choke points” as a central objective.

The Trump administration is portraying TRIPP as part of a broader change in Armenia-Azerbaijan relations since their August 8, 2025, summit. The officials said there have been no ceasefire violations since the summit and pointed to “meaningful integration” through limited trade in fuel and agricultural products. According to them, Azerbaijani fuel supplies have contributed to an estimated 20 to 30 percent decline in Armenian fuel costs. Officials also cited a broader expansion of U.S. ties with both countries, saying Washington had deliberately moved beyond a relationship focused almost exclusively on the conflict.

In Armenia, the briefers pointed to the opening of the Firebird AI Center in Yerevan, developed with U.S. technology including Nvidia and Dell. In Azerbaijan, officials cited expanded energy cooperation, defense discussions, and increased high-level US engagement. The officials noted there had been more interaction between Washington and Baku during the previous 13 to 14 months than during the preceding 13 to 14 years.

The U.S. administration’s approach is to pursue economic integration alongside the peace process. According to the senior State Department official, Yerevan and Baku were acting as though peace were “inevitable,” although a final peace agreement has yet to be completed.

Additional steps remain, including constitutional and other legal changes in Armenia and measures involving other participating countries. Washington nevertheless intends to proceed with TRIPP in parallel, arguing that building the corridor could itself remove obstacles to peace.

Despite the announcement, the Armenian section is not yet ready for construction. The section is a little under 43 kilometers long and is expected to include a railway, road, pipelines, electricity infrastructure, and digital data links.

The senior State Department official said Azerbaijan has already been building infrastructure toward the Armenian border at its own expense, while Turkey is similarly developing infrastructure up to the border. The remaining section through Armenia is still to be developed.

“We’re not there yet,” the official said when asked whether the first shovel of earth could be turned during Wednesday’s event. The administration hopes to begin looking for businesses and investment opportunities by the end of 2026 or in the first quarter of 2027.

The railway will take longer. A feasibility study is expected by the end of 2026 or early 2027, after which companies will be able to bid. The official said completing the railway would likely take at least 18 months, complicated by difficult topography.

“Nobody is going to ride on this train in ’27,” the official said.

Electricity connections could come sooner. Discussions are already underway, with officials expecting electricity operations to begin in 2027, potentially linking the Armenian and Azerbaijani grids with wider C5, Turkish, and European regional networks. Passenger rail is also planned.

The briefers provided more detail about the planned structure of the TRIPP Development Company but no names for its future leadership. The TDC is being established as a corporate joint venture between the US government and Armenia. The senior State Department official described it as a first-of-its-kind arrangement in which the US will hold a majority stake, complete with a board, voting procedures, oversight, and professional management. Several legal matters still need to be finalized before the company can formally be announced.

The company’s bylaws will establish how bidding and oversight work. Projects involving rail, roads, electricity, oil, gas, and data will go through regular tender processes for construction or concessions. The U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has been involved in the legal and institutional setup, but the TDC itself will operate as a separate U.S.-Armenian corporate entity.

The United States is prepared to invest once feasibility studies establish that individual projects are commercially viable. The State Department is financing part of the feasibility work, with engineering firm AECOM set to present investors with projects unlocked by TRIPP during Wednesday’s event.

Officials described TRIPP as an alternative to existing east-west routes. The senior State Department official said the US has held discussions with regional competitors but declined to characterize their private views.

“There have been numerous conversations with all of the competitors in the region,” the official said, adding that Washington was aware of the potential for “hard conversations” in what officials called a difficult neighborhood.

No separate security force or dedicated mechanism for TRIPP was announced. Instead, the briefers emphasized long-term US involvement and continued diplomatic engagement, citing Washington’s expanding economic and political relationships with Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The September 23 event is intended to mark a shift from the 2025 peace initiative toward implementation, with more than 40 companies attending. The project still requires completing feasibility studies, legal arrangements, financing, tendering, and ultimately construction.

While Washington says Armenia and Azerbaijan are on an “irreversible path to peace,” their final peace agreement has yet to be completed. The U.S. nevertheless intends to develop TRIPP alongside the peace process, arguing that greater economic integration could help remove remaining obstacles. As the senior State Department official put it, the focus is on “what happens the day after the piece of paper.”

Khalil Shirgholami noted that the Azerbaijani leadership continues to refer to the planned Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) as an extraterritorial “Zangezur corridor” that would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave and Turkey via Syunik, the only Armenian region bordering Iran.

“Azerbaijan’s leaders continue to speak very openly and directly about the ‘Zangezur corridor,’” Civilnet.am quoted Shirgholami as saying during a conference in Yerevan. “We, for our part, clearly state that any geopolitical change or any harm to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia is unacceptable. This is our first condition for the implementation of the TRIPP project.”

“Based on these two conditions — that Armenia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty remain unharmed and that there is no U.S. military or security presence near the borders — we have no reason to oppose this project, provided it contributes to the development and well-being of the Armenian people,” he added, according to News.am.

Shirgholami said in July that the Armenian government must address Tehran’s “very legitimate and logical” concerns over the TRIPP. The diplomat called for the creation of a “mechanism” to manage “potential risks of U.S. presence and threats to Iran” emanating from the transit arrangement. The U.S. and Israeli military campaign against the Islamic Republic underlined the perceived risks, he said.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian indicated the next day that he is undeterred by the Iranian warnings. Speaking in New York on Tuesday, he said the TRIPP “will open a new era for our country and economy.”

The agreement on the transit corridor was reached during an Armenian-Azerbaijani summit hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington in August 2025. Pashinian has since continued to assert that peace has been established between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Shirgholami sounded more cautious in that regard on Wednesday.

“If Armenia and Azerbaijan really want peace, a genuine balance of forces between them is necessary,” said the Iranian envoy. “Otherwise, the peace will be fragile.”