Armenia–United Arab Emirates relations
Armenia–United Arab Emirates relations refer to the official relations between Armenia and the United Arab Emirates. Armenia has an official embassy in Abu Dhabi, while the United Arab Emirates embassy is located in Yerevan.
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Political history
Karabakh conflict and establishment of relations
When Armenia first regained independence in 1991, nonetheless Armenia was involved in the bloody First Nagorno-Karabakh War, thus the two countries had no formal relations, as the United Arab Emirates was leaned to Azerbaijan at the time, a stance which was confirmed in 2018 by the United Arab Emirates on its discussion with Azerbaijani government that Karabakh is an integral part of Azerbaijan.[1] Nonetheless, the United Arab Emirates and Armenia still managed to establish official diplomatic relations.
Alliance against Turkey
In recent years, due to growing Turkish imperialism initiated by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, relations between two nations greatly improved. The United Arab Emirates have been hostile to Turkish ambitions and have clashed for influences over Syria, Sudan and Libya; while Armenia's relationship with Turkey has been poor due to Armenian Genocide dispute.[2] During the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the United Arab Emirates and its ally Saudi Arabia secretly supported Armenia against Azerbaijan.[3]
Earlier, the United Arab Emirates leaders, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, congratulated Armenia for gaining independence from the Soviet Union on 21 September 2020.[4]
Armenian Genocide
Increasing tensions between the United Arab Emirates and Turkey have also prompted the United Arab Emirates to seek closer tie with Armenia, resulting in an official statement in April 2019 by the United Arab Emirates that it would slowly begin to recognize the Armenian Genocide.[5] Emirate of Abu Dhabi had become the first emirate to recognize the genocide in April 2019.[6]
Economic and military relations
As for the result of growing Armenian–Emirati tie, increasing economic and military cooperation has been witnessed.
During the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war with Azerbaijan, Armenian President Armen Sargsyan was invited to deliver a speech on t the Emirati–Saudi Arabian channel Al Arabiya, urging the international community to stop Turkey from intervening in the conflict.[3] Shortly after the end of the war, Sarkissian paid a working visit to UAE, where he met Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and discussed bilateral cooperation between the countries.[7]
See also
References
- "Azerbaijan, UAE mull socio-economic ties, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict". menafn.com.
- Meneshian, George. "The reasons behind the Armenia–UAE alliance | George Meneshian". MEO.
- Fenton-Harvey, Jonathan. "How the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict could spiral into a proxy war". alaraby.
- "UAE leaders congratulate Armenian President on National Day". wam.
- "UAE also will recognize of the Armenian genocide in April - ANHA | HAWARNEWS | English". hawarnews.com.
- "UNITED ARAB EMIRATES : Abu Dhabi to recognise Armenian genocide - Issue 824 dated 20/02/2019". Intelligence Online. February 20, 2019.
- "Armenian President paid working visit to UAE to discuss bilateral cooperation". Businessworld. November 16, 2020. Retrieved November 20, 2020.