Armenia recognizes Palestine

By Paul Vartan Sookiasian

Armenia has formally recognized the state of Palestine, the country’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday.

“Our position has consistently been in favor of a peaceful and comprehensive settlement of the Palestinian issue, and we support the ‘two-state’ solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” the ministry said.

Armenia supports an immediate ceasefire to the war in Gaza and “categorically rejects the targeting of civilian infrastructure, violence against the civilian population and capture of civilians during the armed conflict,” it added.

The Armenian government sent a 30-ton aid package of desperately needed food and medicine to Palestinians in Gaza for the first time in March.

The more than eight-month war between Israel and Hamas has accelerated international recognition of Palestine, with Ireland, Norway, Slovenia, and Spain each doing so in the past month.

Armenia joins 144 other countries in official recognition, including neighboring Azerbaijan and Georgia, which both did so more than three decades earlier. Major holdouts include France, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

It was not immediately clear what further actions Armenia might take as a result of recognizing Palestine.

Israel is one of Azerbaijan’s main arms suppliers and provided weapons that were used against Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh in the 2020 war and in the years after.

UPDATE: In response, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said it summoned the Armenian ambassador for a “harsh reprimand.”