President Isaac Herzog headed to Azerbaijan on Tuesday for a state visit as ties between Israel and the Shi’ite country bordering Iran continued to expand.
Azerbaijan is “a friendly state, a key state with a lot of areas of cooperation,” Herzog said on the tarmac at Ben-Gurion Airport.
The president emphasized that “Azerbaijan is a neighbor of Iran, a destabilizing force in the region seeking to undermine Israeli alliances of peace and security in the region.”
Azerbaijan, a Shiite Muslim state, opened embassy in Israel earlier this year and Israel will work to further develop ties, he added.
As for the negotiations between coalition and opposition parties over the judicial reform, taking place under the auspices of the president’s office, Herzog said: “We can reach understandings. It takes effort, goodwill, and leadership, and I say: Ignore the background noise and think about the goal…No one will violate our values or basic principles.”
President Isaac Herzog departs for state visit in Azerbaijan. May 30, 2023 (credit: CHAIM TZACH/GPO)During the two-day visit, Herzog plans to meet with his Azeri counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, and to take part in a special event marking the 75th anniversary of Israel’s independence.
Aliyev is scheduled to welcome Herzog and his wife, Michal, at his palace with an honor guard. The presidents will then hold a diplomatic meeting, which will be followed by a luncheon for the two couples.
Health and Interior Minister Moshe Arbel plans to accompany Herzog to Azerbaijan, where he plans to meet with his counterparts in Baku to discuss greater cooperation in training doctors, emergency preparedness and digital health.Israel and Azerbaijan are expected to sign an agreement on health cooperation during the visit.
The Herzogs plan to meet with members of the Jewish community in Azerbaijan. They are expected to be met at the airport by 30 children from the Chabad school in Baku, who will wave the flags of Israel and Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan’s strengthening relations with Israel
Azerbaijan opened an embassy in Israel for the first time this March. Israel has had an embassy in Baku since 1993.
Baku had been hesitant to open an embassy in Israel in the past to avoid alienating other Muslim-majority states or provoking Iran. But it saw the Abraham Accords and Israel’s rapprochement with Turkey, in which Aliyev played a part, as turning points.
Israel and Azerbaijan have a close defense relationship. Jerusalem supplied drones to Baku that were used in its 2020 war with Armenia, according to foreign reports.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found that 69% of Azerbaijan’s arms imports in 2016-2020 came from Israel, which represented 17% of Israel’s arms exports in that period.
About 40% of the petroleum imported to Israel comes from Azerbaijan.
Azeri politicians attributed the move to open an embassy in Israel to Iran opening an additional consulate and declaring close ties with Armenia, with which Azerbaijan fought a war in 2020.
Iran and Azerbaijan share a 670-kilometer border, and there has long been speculation that Israel has launched covert operations in Iran from its northern neighbor.
Last year, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian accused Israel of having “established its presence in several regions of Azerbaijan.” Baku denied the accusation.
Soon after, Iran staged a military drill along the border. Aliyev responded by having himself photographed with Israeli Harop kamikaze drones that were produced in his country.
Comments are closed.