It appears that the Abraham Accords did not only open the doors to Israel having peace agreements with Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Sudan and perhaps some other countries soon. They also created the possibility that Israeli-Azerbaijani relations can also get better.
According to former Israeli Communication Minister Ayoob Kara, "For all the states that we talk about, the important thing is the economic process. Once it gets going, these countries could even open embassies in Jerusalem and not just Tel Aviv. They consider the Jewish people to be sons of Abraham and greatly admire nationalistic Hebrew music."
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Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov agreed that the Abraham Accords could also lead to increased cooperation between Israel and Azerbaijan: "We follow carefully the developments around the Middle East peace process. We have always supported the establishment of peace and security in the Middle East. We believe this will contribute to the development and prosperity of the whole region."
"There are good opportunities for cooperation in many areas," he added, stressing that the Azerbaijanis greatly admire what Israel has to offer related to agriculture. "We are very interested in studying Israel's rich experience, modern Israeli agricultural technologies and advanced practice in this field. Tourism is another promising area for greater cooperation. Direct flights between Israel and Azerbaijan and mutual visa facilitation promote the growth of tourism in both directions."
Arye Gut, the executive director of the Azerbaijan House in Israel, agreed regarding the strengthening of Israeli-Azerbaijani relations in recent days, noting that it was incredible that both the Israeli Knesset and the Azerbaijani Parliament held an inter-parliamentary meeting during the height of a pandemic: "Israel-Azerbaijan relations are of the strategic and military-technical partnership nature, held at the highest intergovernmental level of trust and ongoing mutual dialogue."
However, he noted that there is far more to Azerbaijani-Israeli relations than the technical-military dimension: "Today, this strategic partnership is diversified into other sectors of the economy, including agriculture, hi-tech, healthcare and military-technical partnership. It should be emphasized that in the world's marketplace, the State of Israel is one of Azerbaijan's major strategic oil buyers."
"Relations between Jews and Azerbaijanis have always been very good," Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Bayramov noted. "Jews have lived in Azerbaijan for centuries. All this time, Jews and Azerbaijanis have lived together in peace and friendship. We are proud that this good tradition continues. We highly appreciate how this community contributes to the development of our country. The community also does play a role in the development of relations between Azerbaijan and Israel."
Concerning the current conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Azerbaijan Foreign Minister Bayramov stated that Azerbaijan is very much interested in a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: "The military solution has never been our preferred option. Azerbaijan has consistently stated that tensions along the frontline do not serve its interests."
Nevertheless, he added: "However our plea to resolve the conflict peacefully fell on deaf ears. Irresponsible and bellicose statements coming from Armenian leaders and the systematic policy of consolidating the occupation of Azerbaijani territories by altering the demographic, cultural and physical character of these territories did not receive adequate reaction and condemnation by the international community."
"Armenia's growing sense of impunity encouraged it to take an unconstructive position in the negotiations and to further its territorial claims by declaring 'a new war for new territories,' which led to the situation we are facing now," Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Bayramov noted. "We are ready to start negotiations, but for this to happen we need Armenia's commitment to withdraw its forces from the occupied lands. Regarding a compromise, let me underline that territorial integrity cannot be the subject of negotiations."
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Regardless of the current conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, the positive nature of Israeli-Azerbaijani relations is still something we Israelis should be proud of. When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Azerbaijan, he proclaimed that Israel's relationship with Baku is something that we Israelis should show off to the world:"The world sees so much intolerance, so much darkness, and Azerbaijan is an example of what relations can be and should be between Muslims and Jews everywhere."
In the wake of the Abraham Accords, this is clear more than ever. Furthermore, Kara does not believe that Biden's election will change this for we all must "stand united against Iran."
Rachel Avraham is a political analyst working for the Safadi Center for International Diplomacy, Research, Public Relations and Human Rights
