Israeli PM Netanyahu and his spouse Sara Netanyahu arrived in Azerbaijan Dec. 13 for a one-day working visit. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Netanyahu held a one-on-one meeting, during which the issues related to the development of ties between the two countries were discussed.
The MP noted that Jordan, a country with a shared geographical location, history, culture and language with Palestine, has always enjoyed fine relations with Israel.
“Even the fact that the majority of Jordan’s population is Palestinians has not had any negative impact on bilateral ties with Israel. On the other hand, Israel itself has a sizeable Arab population, many of whom are already integrated to the Israeli community and are well represented in this country’s army and parliament,” he added.
According to him, even leading Muslim countries like Turkey and Egypt have had and still have close ties with Israel for years.
Azerbaijan is not the only country that is visited by Israeli officials, Aliyev said, noting that the Israeli premier will pay a visit to Kazakhstan right after finishing his Azerbaijan visit.
The MP reminded that the State of Azerbaijan built its diplomatic relations with the Administration of Palestine on 15 April 1992, and has always remained committed to the principles of friendliness, brotherliness and the protection of people’s rights, proclaimed in the UN Charter.
“On 22 October 1995, prominent statesman Heydar Aliyev met in New York City with Yasser Arafat, a leader in the Palestinian national liberation struggle,” Aliyev said. “Azerbaijan’s current President Ilham Aliyev, too, has been sensitive in improving these ties.”
The Palestinian Embassy in Baku that currently operates is funded by Azerbaijan, the MP said, recalling the visit to Baku by President of the State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas in June 2011 at Azerbaijan’s invitation.
He stressed that Azerbaijan has always backed Palestine, during discussions at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the United Nations, and other international organizations.
“In 2016 alone, Azerbaijan voted in favor of more than 20 resolutions supporting Palestine’s position, within the UN General Assembly, the Non-Aligned Movement,
UNESCO, and other organizations,” Aliyev said. “Azerbaijan has mad the Palestine issue a priority when it was a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.”
MP Aliyev stressed that Azerbaijan has always supported the idea of settling this Middle East conflict on the principle of two states and expressed full support for the creation of an independent Palestinian state with East al-Quds as its capital.
“In 2012, Azerbaijan International Development Agency (AIDA) has donated 100,000 dollars to the people of Palestine in order for the humanitarian crisis to be solved,” he continued. “On 11 June 2013, Baku hosted a donor conference of the OIC member-countries’ foreign ministers in support of al-Quds and a founding conference of the Islamic Financial Security Network for aid to the Palestinian state. Azerbaijan allocated financial aid to support the projects presented in the conference’s plan.”
Over the past five years, Azerbaijan and Palestine have signed four agreements and a memorandum of understanding, the MP added.
Azerbaijan-Israel ties, he said, are bilateral in nature and do not have a negative impact on relations with any other country.
Azerbaijan sees dialogue with Israel as a platform to raise the Palestinian issues, Aliyev stressed.
According to him, Azerbaijan has contributed greatly to the strengthening of Islamic solidarity, as well as the elimination of tensions between the West and the Islamic world.
“Azerbaijan’s president, on all high platforms, repeatedly expressed his uncompromising stance against Islamophobia,” he said. “Despite numerous invitations, the Azerbaijani president has not paid a visit to Israel. Azerbaijan has no embassy in Israel. This position of Azerbaijan is welcomed in the Muslim world.”
“In 2012-2014, when Azerbaijan was elected a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, the Arab League has taken a unanimous decision to vote for the country,” Aliyev added. “The declaration, passed in the 13th Istanbul Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), especially reflects Azerbaijan’s contribution to the fight against Islamophobia and the strengthening of Islamic solidarity.”
He noted that those trying to accuse Azerbaijan against the backdrop of such principled position do not take a fair stance on the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
“All the former presidents and vice-presidents of Iran have visited Armenia and welcomed Armenian president, prime minister and other officials at the high level in their country. Iran tried to justify that all this is was in its interests,” said Aliyev.
There is a visa-free regime between Iran and Armenia, the MP said, noting that preparations are underway for Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s visit to Armenia.
“At this point, Iran does not take into account Islamic solidarity and ignores the expulsion of over one million Azerbaijani Shiite Muslims from their native lands and the Khojaly genocide committed against Azerbaijanis by Armenia with the direct participation of Serzh Sargsyan, who is called a friend of Iran. At this point, the fatwa of Iran’s supreme religious leader, which prohibits any kind of relationship with Armenia, is also ignored,” added Aliyev.
The MP accused Iran that highlights the importance of Islamic solidarity for the ongoing developments in the Middle East of turning a blind eye to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
“I wonder whether Iranian brothers know that each liter of petrol they transfer to Armenia can kill an Azerbaijani Muslim. Probably, they are unaware of it, if they were aware of it, they would not have done,” he added.
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