YEREVAN, Armenia – President Trump met with key leaders of two countries on Friday to try to end one of the longest conflicts in the world. The president talked with leaders from Armenia and Azerbaijan in Washington before they all signed a peace agreement.
As Armenia struggles to recover from ethnic cleansing and pressure from hostile neighbors, President Trump pursued a peace deal that could reshape the region.
In the shadow of Mount Ararat, Armenia stands as the world’s first Christian nation – and today, one of the most threatened. In 2023, Azeri forces overran its region of Nagorno-Karabakh, forcing more than 120,000 ethnic Armenians to flee their homes.
Religious freedom advocates are calling for action. Suzanne Grisham, executive director for Mercury One Inc., said, “There’s still so much that needs to be done to advocate for all the Christians that were eradicated and ethnically cleansed from their heritage homeland back in 2023.”
CBN News recently visited Armenia, observing ancient monasteries surrounded by the echoes of a Christian heritage that dates back more than 1,700 years. For many Armenians, that heritage has been under siege from regional powers and from the silence of the international community.
Armenia is surrounded by Islamic countries, including Turkey to the west, Iran to the south, and an increasingly aggressive Azeri military to the east. The country has become isolated, vulnerable, and abandoned by longtime allies like Russia, which is focused on the war in Ukraine.
David Barton, founder of WallBuilders, told CBN News, “This is a Christian nation that’s surrounded by nations that hate it. And as a result, you have a massive ethnic cleansing that’s happened that just didn’t make news in the United States – 120,000 Christians moved out simply because of their faith. And so this is a, it’s a big political deal going on, but it just has not made any kind of news in America. And it should. We’ve got brothers and sisters over here we need to be defending. We’ve got free countries over here that love America. We need to be the friend defending. But we’ve also got a historical connection to this country that needs to be known by all Americans.”
Into this geopolitical vacuum stepped President Donald Trump. He invited both Azeri President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to Washington for a historic summit, with a peace agreement on the table.
Trump has made international peace efforts a priority in his second term, securing deals between Congo and Rwanda, and even between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan. He’s now setting his sights on the South Caucasus.
This week’s summit in Washington helped to make peace possible rather than another round of conflict.
Ahead of the summit, a delegation of American faith leaders and philanthropists traveled to Armenia for a closer look at the situation. They met with displaced families, local officials, and clergy – seeing both the pain of the past and the urgency of the present.
Nadine Maenza of the International Religious Freedom Roundtable said, “We’re here to hear the stories of the survivors… to see how we can pray with them, how we can stand with them, and how our different organizations could all play a role to help Armenia stand up against all the threats it faces.”
They see Armenia as not just a humanitarian cause, but a strategic one. The country is a pro-Western ally in a region dominated by authoritarian regimes. And with Russia stepping back, the U.S. has a narrow window to fill the gap.
“Now they’ve backed off… and (Armenia is) really an orphan out here waiting for somebody to pick them up. And America should be the one doing that,” Barton said.
Stakes are high, not just for Armenia’s sovereignty, but for preserving one of the last Christian havens in the region. Delegates call this a moment for America to act.
Grisham said, “We need to stand up for the nation. The first Christian nation in the world. And we need to make sure that the Christians’ heritage and their lands that go thousands of years back with cultural heritage sites. We need to make sure that this is preserved and that this stays the light in the region.”
For Armenians – many still displaced, grieving, and fearful – the new peace agreement is a glimmer of hope that the world might finally pay attention.
