Azeri Ambassador to Turkey Hazar Ibrahim revealed that Israeli companies offered the Baku government assistance in rehabilitating the territories damaged in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War
Israeli companies have offered the government in Baku assistance with the difficult rehabilitation work in Nagorno-Karabakh
, the Azeri ambassador to Ankara, İbrahim Khazar, told the Turkish state news agency Anadolu.
Among the other countries from which various companies have offered aid to Baku are Turkey, Iran, the United Kingdom, Italy, Hungary and Japan.
"Rehabilitation in the liberated areas will be carried out while maintaining the historical and authentic heritage of the area, along with technological innovations," the ambassador said.
According to him, the Nachchiban Corridor, which is the product of one of the ceasefire clauses in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, has created new opportunities for regional cooperation.
One of the main examples of this is the export trains that have already started departing in recent weeks from Istanbul, via Azerbaijan, to Central Asia - to China.
Still, the war left severe damage in Azerbaijan - mostly economic.
Ibrahim said that "the extent of the material damage from the Armenian attacks is more than $ 50 billion."
He noted that "after liberation, the sights on our historic lands were devastating."
According to Azeri estimates, since the end of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, Armenians have destroyed 700 historical and cultural sites, 927 libraries, 808 cultural centers, 85 music and art institutions, 22 museums with more than 100,000 works, four art galleries, four theaters throughout the divided province. And two concert halls.
At the same time, Ibrahim accused Azerbaijan of committing war crimes.
"The Armenian army, which found itself incompetent in front of our army, did not hesitate to fire at civilians in cities that were not at all in the war zone," the Azeri ambassador to Ankara claimed.
"As a result, 100 of our civilians were killed, 416 were injured, and severe damage was done to civilian infrastructure," he added.
"Relations between Israel and Azerbaijan have been strengthened through close cooperation with several parties," Aryeh Gut, an expert on Israel-Azerbaijan and head of the Azerbaijan House in Israel, told Israel Today.
"Israel was one of the first countries to recognize independent Azerbaijan. No country in Eurasia is a closer member of Israel than Azerbaijan."
At the level of cooperation, Gutt notes that it is carried out in several areas: plots, high-tech, medicine and the military field.
"Israel is one of the strategic buyers of Azeri oil," notes Gut. "After the liberation of the occupied territories, in which Israel played a key role, Israeli officials are very interested in investing in these territories in Nagorno-Karabakh. This, along with Israeli medical assistance already provided to war victims."
"The set of interests that make it important for Israel to maintain relations with Azerbaijan has not changed," explains Mickey Aaronson, an expert on international relations at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security.
"This is a Muslim country bordering Iran. For years, Israel has maintained good relations with them, including economically. There is not necessarily a connection between the private companies involved in rehabilitation and the strategic ties between the countries."
