Turkey Plays for Time, Trump Pushes Back

In my previous piece, I pointed out that Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s remarks about a possible peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan “sometime in the first half of 2026” looked less like a serious forecast and more like a delaying tactic. This is straight out of the classic Turkish playbook: hold off, wait for the global weather to change, and never lock yourself into an outcome too early.

Now comes the response — and it’s loud. Former U.S. President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform, calling it a personal honor to help resolve the Armenia–Azerbaijan war and praising his “eternal friendship” with both leaders. On the surface, it reads like one of Trump’s trademark flourishes. But the subtext is clear: Washington is not going to sit quietly while Ankara and Baku drag their feet.

Why Ankara and Baku stall

Neither Turkey nor Azerbaijan is thrilled that the United States muscled its way into the driver’s seat of this peace process. For years, they imagined shaping the outcome on their own terms. Now, with the Washington memorandum already signed and the full 17-point treaty text initialed, they know they’re losing control of the narrative.

By floating “2026” as a date, Fidan achieves two things:

• Buys time in the hope that international events — from Middle East flare-ups to U.S. political turbulence — will shift the balance.

• Shields domestic politics, letting both Erdoğan and Aliyev present the eventual signing as a sovereign decision, not something done under U.S. pressure.

Why Washington wants it now

For Trump, time is the enemy. The treaty text is finalized. There are no more conditions to haggle over, no constitutional edits hanging in the balance. What remains are logistics: picking a date, a venue, the protocol details. That doesn’t take six to twelve months.

The longer it drags, the greater the risk that a new crisis derails the fragile consensus. That’s why Trump went public: to signal that the United States expects signatures sooner, not later.

The bigger picture

What we’re seeing here is a diplomatic tug-of-war in plain sight. Turkey plays for time, hoping to keep its options open. Trump pushes back, reminding everyone that the U.S. intends to lock this deal in while the window is open.

And that contrast — Ankara’s wait-and-see versus Washington’s hurry-up — will define the next phase of this peace process.