Azerbaijan issues rare rebuke against key ally Israel over Armenian genocide recognition
The Israeli government’s decision on Sunday to formally recognise the Armenian genocide has drawn a rare rebuke from Azerbaijan, a close Israeli ally.
In an official statement, Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said the Israeli decision was a matter of “serious concern".
The ministry called the recognition a "distortion of the historical facts" and "the reduction of a complex historical issue to a political decision".
It added that the decision, which was "without a sound legal or scholarly basis" was "unacceptable".
“Such actions do not contribute to reconciliation or mutual understanding. Instead, they deepen existing divisions and undermine efforts to achieve lasting peace and stability in the region,” the statement said.
The ministry called on the Israeli government to reconsider its decision.
Azerbaijan and Israel have close ties and Baku is one of Israel’s major oil suppliers, while Israel sells advanced weaponry to the Azerbaijani government.
Last year, Baku sought to ease tensions between Turkey and Israel over Syria and Gaza by hosting talks between the two sides.
Turkey and Azerbaijan see each other as close allies. Under the 2021 Shusha Declaration, both sides are obliged to support each other if either is attacked by a foreign party.
Ankara and Israel both supported Azerbaijan during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020, when Baku captured large areas of territory that had been occupied by Armenia.
The Israeli decision is technically a cabinet position and would need to pass through the Knesset before formally becoming the state’s official position.
Dunya Basol, an academic specialising in Israeli affairs, said Azerbaijan may seek to pressure Israel to block the resolution at the Knesset level.
“It is also astonishing that the Israeli Knesset would ignore Azerbaijan’s sensitivity on this issue and assume that the Azerbaijan-Turkey alliance is an ordinary one,” he said.
Turkey, in a separate statement on Sunday, said the Israeli decision was a convenient way to distract public opinion from the fact that the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials over alleged crimes in Gaza.
Israel is also facing proceedings at the International Court of Justice over genocide allegations.
This article was sourced from Middle East Eye.
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