Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include reports that India and Pakistan have respectively blocked Azerbaijan and Armenia’s bids to join the SCO.
Armenia and Pakistan have established diplomatic relations after over 30 years of non-recognition by Pakistan.
Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and his Pakistani counterpart Mohammad Ishaq Dar signed a Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic relations between Armenia and Pakistan on Sunday. The signing took place on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin, China.
Pakistan was the last country in the world to not recognise Armenia, having long been an ally of Azerbaijan. Indeed, Pakistan was the second country to recognise Azerbaijan, following Turkey, and has consistently supported Azerbaijan’s military endeavours against Armenia in regards to Nagorno-Karabakh.
By signing the communiqué, the Armenian and Pakistani governments ‘have agreed to exchange representatives and to provide each other all the necessary assistance for the performance of diplomatic relations on reciprocal basis in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 and international customary practices’, the Armenian Foreign Ministry wrote in a press release.
In addition to establishing diplomatic relations, Mirzoyan and Dar ‘discussed prospects for developing bilateral cooperation’ and ‘exchanged views on engagement on multilateral platforms, including the UN and the SCO’.
The news that Armenia and Pakistan might finally establish diplomatic ties came on Friday, when Dar posted that he and Mirzoyan had agreed to consider such during a phone conversation.
Xandie (Alexandra) Kuenning
That same day, political commentator Hakob Badalyan argued on Telegram that an ‘imminent discussion’ related to this topic was to be expected following Yerevan’s announcement it would seek membership within the SCO.
‘Pakistan is a member of the SCO and it is clear that Armenia's application cannot proceed if one of the SCO members does not have diplomatic relations with Armenia’, Badalyan wrote.
During Sunday’s SCO summit, Armenia and China announced the establishment of a strategic partnership. Pashinyan also reaffirmed Armenia’s desire to join the SCO, with an agreement reached to deepen cooperation within the SCO framework.
Yerevan’s longstanding tension with Islamabad saw a corresponding increase in relations with Pakistan’s archenemy India.
Armenia and India have broadened their ties in recent years, with Armenia even supporting India’s claims to the contested Kashmir region. In May, during the brief, but violent, conflict that erupted between India and Pakistan, a simultaneous proxy information war emerged between Armenia and Azerbaijan as both Yerevan and Baku used the outbreak of violence as an opportunity to explicitly take sides.
Despite the change in status in Armenia–Pakistan relations, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan appeared to have a successful interaction with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday.
In a post on X, Modi emphasised that ‘India and Armenia share warm and growing ties, rooted in friendship and mutual cooperation’.
On Monday, there were unconfirmed reports that India had blocked Azerbaijan’s bid to join the bloc and Pakistan had simultaneously blocked Armenia’s application.
Following the reports, Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ani Badalyan issued a vague statement on relations with the SCO, saying, ‘We will not go into the details of the process at this time, but with this understanding, we will continue working with interested SCO member states’.
At the same time, Azerbaijani media escalated their criticism of India, with Caliber publishing a rebuke of New Delhi on Monday under the title ‘Bollywood grudge: Revenge instead of a future strategy’.
Nate Ostiller
