Sep 10, 2026 14:05 pm IST

Opinion | Why Azerbaijan, A Staunch Pakistan Ally, Is Slowly Warming Up To India

Azerbaijan, which had until recently been condemning India's Operation Sindoor and even allowing Kashmir Day events by the Pakistan Embassy, is now slowly rethinking its ties. But why?

Aditi Bhaduri Aditi Bhaduri Columnist

Aditi Bhaduri Columnist

On the sidelines of the recent summit of the heads of states of the members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a series of bilateral meetings. While most of them, with those like the meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, were covered by the Indian media, one went overlooked - that with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev. Just consider, almost a year ago at a similar SCO summit meeting in Tianjin, China, Baku had alleged that India, together with some other member states, had blocked its bid for entry to the organisation. A year later, Modi and Aliyev were holding a bilateral meeting at an event where Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were also present.

For Baku, this was certainly a consequential moment - it was splashed all across the country's media, which had been overtly hostile to India just a while ago. Bilateral ties, always strained, nosedived after Operation Sindoor, where Baku had come out strongly in support of Islamabad and condemned India's actions. So, what prompted this course-correction now?

The First Breakthrough

A breakthrough was first witnessed earlier this year, when India and Azerbaijan held the 6th round of Foreign Office Consultations in Baku, the first such talks since 2022. The talks were held between India's Ministry of External Affairs Secretary (West), Sibi George, and Azerbaijan's Deputy Foreign Minister, Elnur Mammadov, on Friday. In a statement, the MEA release for the meeting said, "[The two sides] comprehensively reviewed the current state of bilateral relations covering areas of mutual interest. The issues discussed included trade, technology, tourism, pharmaceuticals,........

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