An interview with Israeli international law and policy expert Mikhail Finkel.
The Embassy of Azerbaijan in Israel is to open on March 29. How do you view this step?
We view this as a very important and positive step. For 30 years Azerbaijan and Israel have maintained very good diplomatic relations and our friendship has been growing. The Embassy of Israel in Azerbaijan has been operating for a long time. The Embassy of Azerbaijan in Israel is opening now. This is a fact that should not be underestimated. This is a very important and friendly step. Now both countries will fully interact at the level of embassies. The relations between them will be symmetrical. This will contribute to the growth of all kinds of ties both between our states and between our peoples. Undoubtedly, this will bring our countries and peoples even closer together.
Iran and Saudi Arabia have agreed to normalize relations. It is also known that Saudi Arabia and Syria have expressed their willingness to restore diplomatic ties. What processes in the region could this signal?
Saudi Arabia befriending Iran and trying to establish relations with Syria, a vassal of Tehran, shows that Riyadh no longer trusts the United States, as the latter is fully engaged in the conflict with Russia on the Ukrainian field. Washington is no longer a player in the Middle East, and Saudi Arabia no longer trusts its security guarantees.
Saudi Arabia is tired of attacks on its oil infrastructure initiated by the Houthis, not without Iran’s help. For this reason, Riyadh has decided to come to an agreement with Tehran, which promises to stop attacks on the facilities of the Saudi ARAMCO oil company in exchange for certain benefits. This is all there is to it. This basically indicates a weakening of the US role in the Middle East.
Presidential elections in Türkiye are scheduled for May. Will the future of current Israel-Türkiye relations change if incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan loses his office?
Many projections suggest that current Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan may lose the upcoming presidential election. But if we look back at history, we can see that Erdoğan was the worst president of Türkiye for Israel. Erdoğan was the politician who created a crisis in traditionally good Turkish-Israeli relations, and it was under Erdoğan’s presidency 15 years ago that those ties nearly ended in a complete severing of diplomatic relations.
Erdoğan received Hamas delegations, called Israel a “fascist state” from various tribunes, sent a ship to the Gaza Strip, which, in addition to humanitarian aid, carried weapons. Erdoğan said that he did not recognize Palestinian terrorist organizations, while Hamas is one of them. Then, in a great stroke of luck, Israel and Türkiye reconciled. Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog paid a visit to Türkiye and now there is a more or less established dialogue with Ankara and a kind of cold peace. In this regard, Israel believes that if a different president comes along, he will be better than his predecessor. But if Israel was able to reconcile with Erdoğan and mend relations despite all his rhetoric, then we will be even better at dealing with any other Turkish president that the Turkish people elect. I would like to point out that even in the most critical times, Israeli and Turkish entrepreneurs continued their cooperation and there was even an expansion in their ties during the years of the crisis.
The military escalation in the area of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict has recently intensified. What do you think it can lead to?
Indeed, the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict is not over. It is not even smoldering, it is real and all-encompassing. Sooner or later, of course, this conflict will end in only one way, and that is another war. Unfortunately, the Armenian side refuses to accept the peace initiatives of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, who offered a comprehensive peace treaty. Regrettably, the Armenian side refuses to meet these peace initiatives half way, to accept mutual recognition of each other’s borders, rejecting all the benefits that peace could bring and choosing to take the path of war. This is a great tragedy and a great misfortune of this choice.
Asif Aydinli
Translated from Zerkalo.az
