The State of Azerbaijan opened its first embassy in Tel Aviv - Israel, amidst a great welcome from the Israeli side, since it is an Islamic country with great weight in Eastern Europe.

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Edited by Tony Wild
Politics news section
March 29, 2023

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     Israeli relations with Azerbaijan were characterized by strength and durability, similar to some other countries, such as Turkey. The importance of Azerbaijan to Israel comes from its strategic geographical location, as it is located in an important geographical middle between Eastern Europe and Western Asia, and is bordered by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, and Armenia to West and Iran in the south.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said that the opening of an Azerbaijani embassy in Israel is further evidence of the strength of the relationship between the two countries.

He added during the opening ceremony of the embassy that Azerbaijan is an Islamic country and its strategic location makes the relationship between us of great importance and great potential.

Cohen continued:

 I spoke with Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov about forming a united front against Iran and strengthening cooperation in the fields of economy, security, energy, and innovation, and I will soon go on a political visit to Baku with a large economic delegation, which will increase the depth of trade relations between Israel and Azerbaijan, according to « Russia Today"

Azerbaijan - a secular nation with a majority-Turkic and majority-Shia Muslim population - was briefly independent (from 1918 to 1920) following the collapse of the Russian Empire; it was subsequently incorporated into the Soviet Union for seven decades. Azerbaijan remains involved in the protracted Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Armenia. Nagorno-Karabakh was a primarily ethnic Armenian region that Moscow recognized in 1923 as an autonomous oblast within Soviet Azerbaijan. In the late Soviet period, a separatist movement developed which sought to end Azerbaijani control over the region. Fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh began in 1988 and escalated after Armenia and Azerbaijan attained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. By the time a ceasefire took effect in May 1994, separatists, with Armenian support, controlled Nagorno‑Karabakh and seven surrounding Azerbaijani territories.

Under the terms of a cease-fire agreement following Azerbaijan’s victory in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War that took place from September-November 2020, Armenia returned to Azerbaijan the remaining territories it had occupied and also the southern part of Nagorno-Karabakh, including the culturally and historically important city that Azerbaijanis call Shusha and Armenians call Shushi. Despite Azerbaijan’s territorial gains, peace in the region remains elusive because of unsettled issues concerning the delimitation of borders, the opening of regional transportation and communication links, the status of ethnic enclaves near border regions, and the final status of the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Russian peacekeepers deployed to Nagorno-Karabakh to supervise the cease-fire for a minimum five-year term did not prevent the outbreak of sporadic, low-level military clashes along the Azerbaijan-Armenia border in 2021.

 

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