Azerbaijan was set on Wednesday to become the first Shi’ite Muslim country to open an embassy in Israel, with the two countries’ foreign ministers meeting in Jerusalem ahead of the inauguration ceremony.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen called the arrival of an ambassador from Baku and the opening of a permanent embassy in the Jewish state “historic” after 30 years of diplomatic ties.
“Azerbaijan is a strategic partner of Israel,” Cohen said at a press conference with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, emphasizing the close coordination on regional security with an emphasis on countering Iran, which shares 428 miles of border with Azerbaijan, split into two noncontiguous sections.
History!
I am currently hosting Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister @Bayramov_Jeyhun at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem.
For the first time after 30 years of diplomatic relations between our countries, pic.twitter.com/K9Mr8WqeCE— אלי כהן | Eli Cohen (@elicoh1) March 29, 2023
“Israel and Azerbaijan share the same perception of the Iranian threats,” Cohen said. “The Iranian ayatollah regime threatens both our regions, finances terrorism and destabilizes the entire Middle East.”
Bayramov thanked Jerusalem for supporting “Azerbaijan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity during almost 30 years of illegitimate occupation of Azerbaijan’s territories by Armenia.”
Cohen is set to visit Baku next month.
Israel has operated an embassy in Baku since 1993, a year after relations were established. It was one of the first countries to recognize Azerbaijan’s independence after the breakup of the Soviet Union.
In late February, Azerbaijan’s first-ever ambassador to Israel, Mukhtar Mammadov, arrived in Tel Aviv before presenting his credentials to Israeli President Isaac Herzog and taking up his post. Mammadov, the outgoing deputy education minister and a veteran of both the education and foreign ministries, had been working from the Azerbaijani trade office in Tel Aviv and will now move to the embassy.
