In March of 2023, Azerbaijan became the first Shia Muslim country to open an embassy in Israel. On Wednesday Hikmet Hajiyev, the foreign policy advisor to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev spoke to i24NEWS about the growing partnership between the two countries.
“Azerbaijan and Jewish people have centuries old traditions of the bonds of friendship and partnership, and currently Israel and Azerbaijani have that cooperation in many spheres, developing dynamically- we have been making really great progress now that Israel’s embassy is also in Azerbaijan. What we see with the establishment of the embassy in Israel is that we are entering a new level of cooperation between the two countries,” Hajiyev said.
The bilateral cooperation has so far included realms of agriculture, education, and defense. Azerbaijan and Armenia have fought two wars over Nagorno-Karabakh region, internationally recognized as Azerbaijan, since the 1980s, unable to reach a lasting peace settlement despite mediation efforts by the European Union, United States and Russia. The foreign policy advisor spoke highly of Israel on defense collaboration in this context, “Defense cooperation with Israel, in particular the Israeli defense equipment, plays a crucial and important role [in our conflict] and we are thankful to Israel and the Israeli people. It is very much inscribed in the memory of Azerbaijani people.” This confirms speculations that Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s visit to Azerbaijan in July included military agreements in addition to discussions about Azerbaijan’s neighboring country, Iran.
“Holding strong ties and cooperation with neighboring countries is important” the foreign policy advisor said when discussing Azerbaijan-Iran relations. Hajiyev discussed that it is the country’s perspective to hold an ‘inclusive’ foreign policy, meaning a diplomatic friendship with Israel does not mean losing one with Iran. However, there have been reports of growing tensions between Iran and Azerbaijan since their opening of an embassy in Israel.
On the warming ties between Turkey and Israel, the advisor said, “we would like our friends to be friends among themselves. Azerbaijan is glad to see a friendship and mutual understanding between Israel and Turkey and would be happy to further develop communication between the two countries, perhaps in a trilateral format.”
Hikmet Hajiyev also discussed with i24NEWS the Jewish community within Azerbaijan, “they are our brothers and sisters,” he said, and spoke about the positive ways the Azerbaijani Jewish community contributes to the country’s identity as a whole. During World War 2, Azerbaijan accepted many Jewish refugees escaping religious persecution in Europe. “The Jewish community is such a part of our society; we made sure to share our bread during difficult times.”
Caliber.Az
