The foreign ministers of the two states signed a relevant communique at the weekend on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in the Chinese city of Tianjin. The Pakistani Foreign Ministry described the development as a “historic step forward.”
“The two leaders reaffirmed their desire to work closely with each other at bilateral and multilateral fora, to achieve their shared objectives of peace, progress, and prosperity for the peoples of their two countries,” it said in a statement.
Pakistan had for decades refused to not only establish diplomatic relations but also formally recognize Armenia, accusing it of military aggression against Azerbaijan. Islamabad underscored its strong support for Baku during the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani war. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said in October 2020 that Pakistani special forces are taking part in fighting in and around Karabakh on the Azerbaijani side. Pakistani officials denied that.
Military ties between the two Muslim nations continued to deepen after the six-week war. Pakistani troops regularly take part in joint military exercises held by Azerbaijan and Turkey. The Azerbaijani military is due receive dozens of Pakistani-manufactured warplanes in the coming years.
For its part, Armenia has stepped up military cooperation with Pakistan’s arch-foe, India. Yerevan and New Delhi have signed a series of multimillion-dollar contracts reportedly calling for the delivery of Indian artillery systems, anti-tank rockets and anti-drone equipment to the Armenian army.
The Pakistani-Armenian communique was signed less than a month after Armenia and Azerbaijan initialed a bilateral peace treaty during talks between their leaders hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House.
“It’s pretty obvious that … this wouldn't have happened if there weren't agreements between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” said Leonid Nersisian, an analyst with the APRI Armenia think-tank. “It’s also clear that Azerbaijan probably didn’t try hard to block Pakistan’s decision.”
Meanwhile, a senior representative of former President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party (HHK), Eduard Sharmazanov, poured scorn on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government, saying that Pakistan has “always had an anti-Armenian position.” In a Facebook post, Sharmazanov pointed out that in 2016 Yerevan vetoed Islamabad’s request for an observer status in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)
“The ‘diplomacy’ of Pashinian’s Civil Contract party is clear: they kiss and place on the head of our nation the hand they cannot cut,” he wrote.