Israel should rethink its relationship with Azerbaijan – Jerusalem Post

YEREVAN, JULY 21, ARMENPRESS. The Israeli ''Jerusalem Post'' has printed an articles authored by Alex Galitsky headlined ''Israel should rethink its relationship with Azerbaijan''.

The author notes that Azerbaijan's burgeoning relationship with Israel has long been predicated on the false narrative that Azerbaijan is a “country of tolerance.” Azerbaijan has often paraded the existence of a small, but vibrant, Jewish community in the country as a testament to its commitment to diversity and tolerance. However, Azerbaijan, a dictatorship based on petrodollars that has been ruled by the same family for over a half-century, is anything but that.

The article notes that Azerbaijan, a close ally of Turkey and fellow denier of the Armenian Genocide, has actively sought the eradication of the region’s indigenous Armenian inhabitants and traces of their millennia-old civilization.

'' The Azerbaijani SSR denied cultural, political, linguistic and economic rights to the Armenians of Artsakh (also known as the Nagorno-Karabakh) and Nakhijevan, and in the late 80s and early 90s, Azerbaijani authorities started to engage in government-backed pogroms and massacres of Armenians in Azerbaijan to suppress calls for Artsakh’s independence. These pogroms also targeted Jewish communities, which began to flee Baku en masse in response to the increasing incidents of harassment'', Alex Galitsky wrote, adding that Azerbaijan’s assault on the region’s Armenians ultimately culminated in a full-scale war which ended with a ceasefire that effectively secured the establishment of an independent and democratic Artsakh.

'' For the last 30 years, the Azerbaijani government has frequently deployed rhetoric advocating for the ethnic cleansing of Armenians in Artsakh and the Republic of Armenia itself – regularly referring to Armenians as enemies of the state – and denying the thousands of years of Armenian civilization in the region'', reads the article.

The Jerusalem Post notes that during the beginning of 2000s some 28,000 Armenian cultural monuments in Nakhijevan were destroyed by Azerbaijan as part of an unprecedented cultural genocide. The article also recalls the brutal murder of a sleeping Armenian officer in Hungary by Azerbaijani Ramil Safarov in Hungary during a NATO training program. '' Safarov was extradited to Azerbaijan six years into a life sentence handed down by Hungarian courts – but upon his arrival was pardoned, promoted in rank and lauded by the media as a national hero for doing his Azerbaijani patriotic duty by killing an Armenian'', reads the article.

The Israeli ''Jerusalem Post'' newspaper writes that Azerbaijan provoked a large-scale agression against Armenia this week, striking civilians by heavy artillery and UAVs. '' In Azerbaijan, tens of thousands came to the streets chanting “Death to Armenia” and calling for a war with Armenia.The institutionalization of state-sponsored racism towards Armenians should be an immediate cause of concern for any nation that has not only experienced genocide, but continues to struggle against the promulgation of racist and discriminatory rhetoric by those who deny it its fundamental right to exist'', reads the article, adding that in addition to Azerbaijan’s flagrant disregard for minority rights, the country has also long worked against the strategic interests of Israel.

''Azerbaijan has also refused to open an embassy in Israel due to regional pressure. On the other hand, Armenia has consistently taken tangible steps towards good faith relations with Israel – including a commitment to establish an embassy in Tel Aviv'', reads the article.

The author of the Israeli newspaper notes that given the aformentioned, Israel should rethink its relations with Azerbaijan.