What do India, and Armenia have in common? First and foremost, they are civilizational states with thousands of years of recorded history. Second, Christianity reached these countries very early, several years before it reached Western Europe, when Saint Thomas preached the Gospel in India and Saints Bartholomew and Thaddeus in Armenia.

Third, centuries of migrations have allowed large diaspora communities hailing from these countries to develop in several parts of the world, especially in the United States. Chasing the American dream, Indian Americans and Armenian Americans have been contributing significantly to the U.S. economy. Fourth, both countries remember their respective, brave freedom fighters who fought against Turkic oppressors, such as Antranik Ozanian, and Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaja.

The fifth similarity between India and Armenia is their geopolitical challenges in the contemporary world, especially from the growing geostrategic bonhomie between Turkey, Azerbaijan and Pakistan. There are several other commonalities that have catalysed the process of the emerging geostrategic synergy between both these countries in 2024.

The growing synergy between both these countries was evident at the 2024 Raisina Dialogue, India’s premier conference on geopolitics and geo-economics held in Delhi. This year’s conference featured a first-ever India-Armenia dialogue, addressed by Minister of Labour and Social Affairs of Armenia Narek Mkrtchyan, who represented the Armenian government.

A research fellow from the Applied Policy Research Institute of Armenia, Nvard Challikyan, addressed attendees and explained the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict cartographically, even discussing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s mission to connect Turkey with Central Asian Turkic states. She also acknowledged the fact that Armenia is buying arms in huge quantities from India, and mentioned Azerbaijan and Turkey’s open support for Pakistan on the Kashmir issue.

More than 100,000 Armenians have been displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of the ethnic cleansing perpetrated by Azerbaijan, reminding Indians of the Kashmiri Pandit exodus and genocide. The slogans of “Qarabag Azerbaicandir” (Karabakh belongs to Azerbaijan) and “reliv, seliv ya geliv” (convert, leave or die) have a commonality — both are raised by people with genocidal intentions. In Britain, Member of Parliament Jonathan Lord said that just as we must never forget about the Holocaust, we must not forget about the Kashmiri Pandit Genocide. The plight of Armenians in Karabakh and Hindus in Kashmir valley is eerily similar.

Mkrtchyan in his remarks referred to “Integral Humanism” of contemporary Indian government, which is also the guiding ideology of the ruling Bhartiya Janta Party, as explained by Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya. In an interview with this author, Mkrtchyan mentioned that “Armenia wants peace, but statements coming from Azerbaijan against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Armenia now and then are impediments to that lasting peace.” He also touched on the ethnic cleansing of Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan, while highlighting the importance of the “Crossroads of Peace” initiative launched by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and welcomed India to invest in infrastructural development in Armenia, such as kindergartens, North-South roads, and tunnels.

India is selling high quality weapons to Armenia and strategic experts are aware of this. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has been critical of this development, which he called “unfriendly.” But, for Indians, it doesn’t make any difference, because his foreign policy is hurting Indian national interests in obvious ways. Anti-India sentiments are already widespread in Azerbaijan, and the ruling government is utilizing the anger of the common Azerbaijani citizen against Armenia to strengthen it’s political power.

Slogans of “İki devlet tek millet,” meaning “two states, one nation,” in reference to Turkey and Azerbaijan and “Qarabag Azerbaicandir,” meaning “Karabakh belongs to Azerbaijan,” can be found written in several parts of Azerbaijan. Along with such slogans, visitors can also see the flags of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Pakistan at different locations, along with photos of Azeri soldiers who died during the second Nagorno-Karabakh war.

The government of India does not intend to be a geopolitical ostrich and ignore the obvious strategic threats emerging from Azerbaijan and Pakistan to destabilize Armenia — a friendly country in the South Caucasus where thousands of Indian students study, especially medical student. Several Indian nationals work in the food and delivery industries in Armenia, which can be seen as India’s gateway to Europe via Georgia and Russia.

As per the office of Aliyev, during the visit of Chief of Pakistan’s Army Staff Asim Munir, he hailed the continuous support the government and people of Pakistan provided to Azerbaijan during its conflict with Armenia. The fact that Pakistan did not establish diplomatic relations with Armenia, because of Azerbaijan’s aggression, was described by Aliyev as demonstrating a brotherly attitude. He pointed out the importance of conducting joint military training between the two countries and reiterated that Azerbaijan has always supported Pakistan on the issues of Jammu and Kashmir.

Munir congratulated Azerbaijan on its victory in the Second Karabakh War and, once again, emphasized that Pakistan, remaining committed to fraternal relations with the people of Azerbaijan, had not recognized Armenia until today. The Azerbaijani-Pakistani nexus, against the national interests of civilizational states of India and Armenia, is for the world to see, in an India moving away from Nehruvian flawed idealism that caused the 1962 military disaster, increasing Indo-Armenian defense cooperation makes utmost geostrategic sense.

While India does not have boots on the ground in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, unlike Pakistan, as per several sources, it is helping its ally, Armenia, by providing high quality arms. We need to make it easier for Armenia to buy these arms and also train Armenian defense forces so that they can defend themselves from the genocidal intentions of their aggressive neighbors, Azerbaijan and Turkey.

From education to infrastructure, from space to pharmaceuticals, from artificial intelligence to robotics, and much more, the sky has no limit for the cooperation between India and Armenia. Both these civilizational states have survived several invasions and still exist on the face of the earth, continuing to manifest their strength, to tell the saga of the bravery of their ancestors.

Challenges remain, Erdogan has neo-Ottomanist and pan-Turkic aspirations, spreading Turkic influence from the Balkans to the borders of China, and Aliyev wants to occupy more Armenian lands to connect Azerbaijan with Turkey, and the Pakistani army has not given up on it’s belief in the success of “Ghazwa-e-Hind” one day, even after losing all wars against their Indian counterparts.

Once, a peace-loving Indian Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, visited Pakistan in a bus and even visited Minar-e-Pakistan, a symbolic icon of Pakistan’s creation. Vajpayee proclaimed that we will not let war happen again, but to his surprise the Pakistani army attacked India at Kargil. Although we won that war, it is something that Armenian friends can learn from, while formulating foreign policy with their neighbours so that they remain protected. The coming together of India and Armenia as strategic partners will increase their geostrategic strength and substantially, and it will help counteract the war mongering of our expansionist neighbours and ensure a more peaceful world.