Israel and Azerbaijan: Setting the Facts Straight

For several weeks, I have been seeing articles published by the Armenian lobby that make a great attempt to diminish the deep and lasting friendship shared by Israel and Azerbaijan, and to sway readers to believe that Azerbaijan is not a beacon of tolerance, and that the current aggressions by Armenia are anything other than criminal. 

Yet as a lifelong Jewish citizen of Azerbaijan, I know from first hand experience, that the country of my birth and where I have proudly raised two generations of Azerbaijani Jews, is in fact a land built on the pillars of tolerance, acceptance and multicultural harmony for which it has become so famously known. 

Azerbaijan is not a new friend to Israel, or to the Jewish people. Our ties run centuries deep. My hometown of Red Village is the largest all-Jewish town outside of Israel and the U.S. and the last surviving shtetl in Europe. It was enacted centuries ago, when the Jews in surrounding regions faced invasive, antisemetic threats, and the leaders of Azerbaijan dedicated a safe haven to assure our protection. And today, 30,000 Jews representing Ashkenazi, Georgian and our unique Mountain Jewish community, live peacefully in Azerbaijan.

In my capacity as head of the Baku Mountain Jewish Community, I have witnessed first hand the degree of investment and appreciation our government and our national culture has put into celebrating diversity, and honoring our unique traditions as Jews. 

You see this in our beautiful synagogues, built and rebuilt by Azerbaijan’s Government and gifted to our community. You see this in our sprawling orthodox Jewish day school, where some hundreds of students attend. You also see this in our impressive mosques and churches; Orthodox, Catholic, Baptist, and most prominently: Armenian. In Azerbaijan, Armenian residents live in equal peace and prosperity, just like any other citizen, residing in Baku and other major cities. Sadly, this safety and respect afforded to every Armenian residing in Azerbaijan is not even close to be reciprocated in Armenia. There are no Azerbaijanis left in Armenia, after they were all expelled in 1988-1991.

One of Azerbaijan’s most celebrated and dedicated war heroes is a Mountain Jew named Albert Agarunov. He was awarded the country’s highest honor, the title of National Hero, and has had a large avenue in Baku named after him, where the Azerbaijani Government unveiled his statue last year. Albert volunteered to fight with his countrymen, against Armenian invasion, and was known for his tremendous skills and courage, and that he lived and died a life inseparable from his faith – one of courage, justice and compassion. 

The anti-Azerbaijani narrative of the Armenian lobby misses some key factors that help define reality. A major issue is that Armenia has a serious problem with antisemitism, and was actually ranked by the Anti-Defamation League the second most antisemitic nation in Europe and one of the top 3 antisemetic nations in the world outside the Middle East and North Africa. Antisemitism in Armenia is a very old problem, although it has been especially pronounced in the last century, such as when the Armenian Legion of Nazi Wehrmacht helped Nazis. The most revered Armenian national hero, Garegin Nzhdeh, for whom a grand statue was officially raised in 2016 in Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan, was the leader of this Legion and a Nazi collaborator. 

In Azerbaijan, a majority-Muslim nation, we erect a statue to a Jewish National Hero, and in Armenia they erect a statue to a Nazi collaborator!

These are difficult yet significant factors that carry tremendous consequence in determining the viability of relationships. That Armenia spends every penny it has on invading and vilifying Azerbaijan, rather than investing in the incredible opportunities countries like Israel and Azerbaijan focus on, only deepens the divide. 

In Azerbaijan, we are proud of what the UAE and Bahrain have done with Israel, and we applaud this progress with fervor. But it doesn’t make our friendship with Israel irrelevant, quite the contrary, we serve as the exemplar for Muslim nations around the world, especially as they relate to Israel, our key partner in trade, technology, education, international security and diplomacy. Azerbaijan and Israel’s friendship has been deeply ingrained for decades, and will only continue to expand as both nations share the drive and passion for innovation, progress and most importantly peace, values and dreams that are more powerful than any manipulation or attempt to diminish what is inarguably true.