In recent days, it was reported that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sought to improve his country's relationship with Israel. The possibility of Israel and Turkey working together to transport natural gas to Europe will be discussed in energy cooperation talks next month. It should be stressed that should Turkey reconcile with Israel, this would further enhance the Abraham Accords and work to strengthen peace in the Middle East region, a welcoming development.
Also, Ayoob Kara, who served as Israel's communication and cyber minister under PM Netanyahu, spoke about the very real possibility of containers being loaded on freight trains in Abu Dhabi, taken by train through Jordan to Israel and from there, maybe going to Turkey. In the eyes of Kara, Azerbaijan has a critical role to play, both in improving Israeli-Turkish relations and enhancing the Abraham Accords generally.
Both Turkey and Israel played a pivotal role in Azerbaijan's victory during the Second Karabakh War. Both Israel and Turkey have been assisting Azerbaijan with the reconstruction of Karabakh. For this reason, it is in Azerbaijan's national interests that both Turkey and Israel will reconcile and get along with each other.
According to Kara, "I met the adviser of Erdogan in Abu Dhabi about two months ago. We spoke about making our relationship better. I told him that it is right to continue to cooperate. Step by step, Erdogan understands that it is better to go with the Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, and Israel and to cooperate. That is the right way to make the economy better and to improve the lives of the citizens. I am sure that we are now going in the right direction."
In Kara's view, Azerbaijan has a crucial role to play in improving Turkish-Israeli relations: "Azerbaijan is very influential as they have been friendly with Israel for many years. They are a free state that is close to our region. Azerbaijan has the same interests as Israel, the US, and the United Arab Emirates. These are humane countries with strong economies. They should get special privileges for this."
Last year, Azerbaijani Presidential Aide Hikmet Aliyev stated, "Turkey is a brotherly country of Azerbaijan and Israel is our strategic partner. We want our friends to be friends with each other. If the sides agree to such an initiative, then Azerbaijan will always welcome them." In the past, Azerbaijan offered to hold a trilateral summit, which would enhance relations between the three countries.
Kara stressed that there are many countries that are part of the Abraham Accords Agreement and not just Bahrain, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan. He noted that both Egypt and Jordan, as well as Azerbaijan, have been supportive of the Abraham Accords Agreements. In fact, around the same period that the Abraham Accords Agreements were signed, Azerbaijan opened an official Tourism Office in the State of Israel, thus upgrading their relationship with the Jewish state.
"There are also another four or six states that want to join the Abraham Accords," he noted. "All of the Muslim countries we need in the Abraham Accords, including the Shia countries. Israel has a very good relationship with both Bahrain and Azerbaijan, which are both majority Shia. Every Muslim country that wants to live in harmony with us and is opposed to terrorism and extremism can join the Abraham Accords."
Kara believes that there should be cooperation to spread peace across the Middle East: "If anyone wants to economically cooperate with us in peace, not only Azerbaijan but also Pakistan or Turkmenistan, or other states that want to have peace with us, we should give any state that wants to cooperate with us privileges in the UAE and other states in our coalition."
Later this month, Kara will be speaking in more depth about the Azerbaijani Israeli relationship and how it can enhance the Abraham Accords in a talk at the Begin Center on Feb, 28, 2022. The talk is titled "Karabakh and the Khojaly Genocide." Aside from discussing Azerbaijan's potential role in the Abraham Accords, he will also be speaking about his trip last summer to Karabakh, when he became the highest-ranking Israeli political figure to visit Shusha. Other speakers include prominent Middle East scholar Dr. Mordechai Kedar, Azerbaijani communal leader Lev Spivak, prominent human rights activist Irina Tsukerman, Azerbaijani Jewish activist Esther Ha-Levi, Rabbi Zamir Isayev, and prominent Azerbaijani Russian journalist Anastasia Lavrina.
Rachel Avraham is the editor of the Economic Peace Center. She is also the author of "Women and Jihad: Debating Palestinian Female Suicide Bombings in the American, Israeli and Arab Media."
