Rolling sluggishly from Guzdek station on January 8, 2025, the tank cars opened a new chapter in Azerbaijani-Armenian history. On the platform, a middle-aged man in a reflective jacket, half-jokingly, half-seriously whispered, “We have lived to see this day,” as the screeching wheels of the fuel-laden train echoed around him. Against this backdrop, it is impossible to reproach him: the two countries have been locked in war for three decades, and the history of their enmity stretches far beyond the dawn of their independence.

The Garabagh conflict, erupting in 1988 before either nation had gained independence, touched nearly every family—claiming some 30,000 lives, injuring or maiming over 100,000 people, and forcing more than one million into exile as refugees and internally displaced persons. Considering that the combined population of the two countries was around 10 million at the time, the scale of devastation can only be imagined. To claim that such hostility could be resolved in a single day is naïve; it remains one of the most difficult challenges both nations currently face.

Yet both nations have made efforts to move beyond enmity and heal the wounds inflicted by the war since 2025. Many believe that the tank cars........

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