Azeri Deputy Foreign Minister, Fariz Rezayev, is visiting Israel and said today (Wednesday) that with the decision to open an official embassy in Israel, the sky is the limit in relations between the two countries and peoples.
This is the first statement by an Azeri official at this level following the announcement by the President of Azerbaijan to open an embassy in Israel and formalize relations between the countries.
"This is nothing less than a rare and historic step and I am happy to be in a place where such a decision is made and to be part of the process of opening the embassy," said the deputy minister.
"The alliance between the two countries is a miracle because it is not based only on common interests but on the common history of the two peoples, who have been living together for more than a thousand years," said the deputy minister, referring to the common life of the mountain Jews and Muslims of the Caucasus.
Azeri Deputy Foreign Minister, Fariz Rezayev, photo: Azeri Foreign Ministry
Rezayev's visit plan is diverse and surprising.
Besides a tour of possible sites for the establishment of the embassy, Rezayev is scheduled to meet with the former head of the Mossad, Tamir Pardo, who is highly regarded in Azerbaijan.
In addition, the Deputy Minister will visit the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and give a lecture on various aspects concerning Azerbaijan as well as on the common life between Jews and Muslims and other religions in the country.
He will also meet with Einat Shalein, the head of the Israel International Aid Agency (IAA) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and with Aliza Ben Nun, the head of the political setup at the ministry. Rezayev even found it appropriate to meet with a teacher he remembers fondly from the time he studied at the school and immigrated to Israel.
An interesting detail about the Deputy Minister is his interest in the history of the State of Israel and the existence of a large library in his office about Israel, most of which are books he purchased in the USA.
The decision to open an embassy in Israel was made this year, after a long period of warming relations between Azerbaijan and Israel which also included, according to foreign reports, deep cooperation in the security field.
Various media outlets in the world published that Israeli-made drones helped the Azerbaijanis tip the scales in fighting against the Armenians in 2019, during which they managed to recapture large parts of the Nagorno-Karabakh region from the Armenian separatists.
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