Israel Takes an Interest in the Defense of Azerbaijan

Doğukan Atmaca

Israel’s Defence Minister Benny Gantz has been busy with diplomacy in October. First, he visited Azerbaijan, and two weeks later he travelled to Ankara to meet with President Erdoğan and Defence Minister Hulusi Akar. Since the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, Israel has been supporting Azerbaijan against Armenia mainly because of its concern with  Azerbaijan’s other neighbour, Iran. Gantz’s visit is remarkable because as a defence minister he did not only meet with his Azerbaijani counterpart Hasanov Zakir Asgaroglu but also Chief of State Border Service Colonel Elchin Quliyev and visited the border headquarters. Gantz was accompanied by two highly significant colleagues, Defence Ministry Director Major General Amir Eshel, and Director of the Policy and POL-MIL Bureau Dror Shalom. 

In 2016, Netenyahu depicted Azerbaijan as a safe haven for Jews calling the world to witness how Jews and Muslims can co-exist in peace in Azerbaijan. Moreover, the war in Ukraine and Nagorno-Karabakh enabled Israel to become a more influential actor in the above-mentioned regions, especially in Azerbaijan. Israel, indeed, has been supplying Azerbaijan for decades. While Azerbaijan supplies Israel’s crude oil needs (40% of Israel’s oil import), the latter provides advanced military equipment such as Long-Range Artillery Weapon System (LORA) missiles and hi-tech products to Azerbaijan. The military sales of Israel to the Azerbaijani government has gradually increased from $1.6bn in 2012 to $127bn in 2017. On average, Israeli weaponry makes up 69% of Azerbaijan’s arms while Israel has also been training Azerbaijani special forces for the security of the Baku Airport. 

Azerbaijan holds a significant position for Israel because it shares a border with Iran, with which Israel has long-standing historical problems. A stronger Azerbaijan in the region would keep Iran under pressure from the north as well as internally since  South Azerbaijani Turks claim to constitute one-fourth of Iran’s 70 million population. The Nagorno-Karabakh War made the battle lines even more obvious with Iran openly supporting Armenia while Israel backs Azerbaijan. It may sound speculative but if tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan do not cool down in the near future, the Iranian – Israeli rivalry might be observed in the region even more clearly in the shape of a proxy struggle between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Recently, Iran has deployed fifty-thousand troops near the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, and  Gantz’s visit to the border headquarters and his meeting with the border commander Elchin Quliyev point to Israel’s interest in Azerbaijan’s defence against Iran. The director of the Policy and POL-MIL Bureau Dror Shalom is an important and influential name with his level of expertise in military intelligence and security, while he is also familiar with Middle Eastern affairs. Likewise, Elchin Quliyev is an influential and trusted border security commander who has completed his 20th year of service in the border mission. Therefore, it is safe to claim that Israel is directly involved in Azerbaijan’s territorial defence. 

It is worth mentioning that two weeks after visiting Azerbaijan, on 27 October, Gantz also visited Turkey, Azerbaijan’s most important ally in the region. Last summer, the Turkish Intelligence Service collaborated with Israel to foil Iran’s attack plans against Israelis visiting Turkey. By improving its ties with Iran’s two major neighbours, Turkey and Azerbaijan, Israel strengthens its hand against Iran and also locates itself in a better position in West Asian matters. 

In conclusion, Gantz’s visits to Azerbaijan and Turkey in October point towards a strengthening of collaborations between the three countries and pushes Iran to a corner where it allies itself mainly with Russia and Armenia. Israel, which supports Azerbaijan against Armenia, is professionally interested in any potential assault from Iran to Azerbaijan. Such defence and trade collaborations might also pave a way to make Israel a second energy hub after Turkey in the East Mediterranean since Israel and Turkey both receive oil and gas from Azerbaijan.