Armenia and Israel Throw Down a Gage to Iran and Turkey
20.01.2006
Axis Information and Analysis
This week, for the first time in history of bilateral relations, the Armenian Air Lines board landed in the Israeli Ben Gurion airport, our sources in Tel Aviv informed. According to the same sources, this air company hereafter plans to launch one Yerevan-Moscow-Tel Aviv flight a week. It is expected that at the beginning the outturn of this project will not be considerable, with regard of the fact that the contacts between the two countries are too limited. However, appearance of the Armenian liner in the central Israeli airport has political implications, rather than economic ones. In spite of the fact that the local mass media did not notice this event at all, it is a result of the gradual and soft-pedal thaw in relations between Armenia and the Jewish State.
[...]
In the first half of the 1990s the relations between Israel, Turkey, and Iran were completely the opposite if the Armenia-Turkey-Iran relations. The generalship that had a special influence in Ankara stood for broadening of cooperation with the USA and Israel. Formation of a triple military-strategic alliance was promoted by Turkey's regional rivalry with Iran and Russia, as well as by the permanent tension on the Turkish-Syrian border. Israel, having lost its allies, - the Iraqi Kurds, the Iranian Shah and the Lebanese Christians, during the 1970s and 1980s, saw Turkey as the only remaining strategic partner in the Middle East.
[...]
[...] Armenia and the Jewish State, though they had no reasons for enmity, appeared on the different sides of the barricade. These conditions prevented any normal development of mutual relations, especially when any attempts at dialogue between them were perceived by Turkey and Iran as "treachery", and were met by powerful pressure to cease.
[...]
During the 1990s the Armenian-Israeli relations remained “in embryo.” Of all the CIS countries only Armenia and Tajikistan have no official representatives in Israel, and Israel has no representation in these states.
The first serious attempt to initiate contact with Tel Aviv was undertaken by Yerevan in May, 1999. The first round of negotiations between representatives of the foreign policy departments of the two countries took place in the Armenian capital. The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs represented Israel. This event caused extreme irritation in Ankara and Teheran. Despite the reaction of the Iranian partners, in January, 2000, the Armenian President visited the Jewish State for the first time. However, further development of mutual relations was interrupted as the Al-Aqsa Intifada began in the autumn of the same year. The coverage of the events in the conflict zone by the Armenian mass media usually had a frankly anti-Israeli character. It was caused by the efforts of the pro-Iranian lobby in the business circles of the republic, and owing to the activity of the Israeli armies in the areas close to Armenian Church facilities in the Palestinian territories.
And even stronger blow to the fragile mutual relations was made by the official representative of the Jewish State. Rivka CohenRivka Cohen, who was heading the Israeli embassy in Tbilisi and responsible for connections with Yerevan, made a highly improper declaration in February, 2002. She publicly refused to recognize the events of 1915 in the Ottoman Empire to be the genocide of Armenians. Her statement caused the most serious reaction in Armenia. However, in reply to the indignation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the republic, the Israeli Foreign Service refused to correct the statement of its representative. The wave of the anti-Israeli publications in the Armenian press and statements of local politicians was enormous. [...]. Yerevan, on the contrary, tried to smooth away the consequences of this unpleasant incident. In November, 2002, Israel was visited by Ruben Shugaryan, the Armenian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. The following year, talking to Russian journalists he declared: "There are problems which puzzle us from time to time, in particular concerning the relations between Israel and Turkey. But we carry on political dialogue with Israel and we have an opportunity to discuss all urgent problems." Shortly before that, in January, 2003, David Peleg, the Deputy Director of Israel’s Foreign Department, came to Yerevan. According to the diplomats on both sides, these two visits served as a breakthrough toward development of the Armenian-Israeli relations. According to our sources, in October, 2004, Yerevan was visited by two Israeli diplomats. Their arrival remained unnoticed by the journalists.
The year 2005 appeared to be the most outstanding from the point of view of Armenian-Israeli relations, primarily due to the efforts of Yerevan. In May, Jerusalem was visited by the largest Armenian delegation, numbering almost 80 persons, in the history of bilateral contacts, Among them were Garegin II, the Catholicos of all Armenians, Ara Abramyan, Chairman of the World Congress of Armenians, Serge Sarkisyan, Minister of Defence of Armenia, Tigran Sarkisyan, the Head of Central Bank, and a number of the high-ranking diplomats and businessmen. Summing up the results of the visit, the Catholicos proclaimed "the beginning of a new era in relations between the Jews and the Armenians." The Head of the World Congress of Armenians added: "The relations between our countries are obviously at unsatisfactory level, and there is a necessity to develop them."
In November, following the invitation of the Catholicos, Israel’s Chief Rabbi, Yonah Metzger and the Member of Parliament of Russian origin, Yuri Stern, arrived in Yerevan. They visited "the Memorial to the Victims of the First Genocide of the Twentieth Century" in the Armenian capital. According to the Russian media reports, Metzger stated that: "It is impossible to recollect what happened with the Armenians in Turkey without shedding tears." Stern in his turn noted that he recognizes "the genocide of the Armenians". It is curious that according to the Azerbaijani journalists, the Embassy of Israel in Baku tried to deny these statements. "The Israeli position concerning the genocide of the Armenians remains unchanged. The statements of the Rabbi and of the Member of Parliament have an informal character and consequently of low significance," the comment of the press secretary of the Israeli diplomatic mission in Baku emphasized.
Despite the deterioration of relations with Turkey during recent years, in its contacts with Armenia the Jewish State still looks back at Ankara. However, after the beginning of Armenian Air Lines flights to Israel, one must first of all expect the reaction from Teheran...
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
Axis Information and Analysis
This week, for the first time in history of bilateral relations, the Armenian Air Lines board landed in the Israeli Ben Gurion airport, our sources in Tel Aviv informed. According to the same sources, this air company hereafter plans to launch one Yerevan-Moscow-Tel Aviv flight a week. It is expected that at the beginning the outturn of this project will not be considerable, with regard of the fact that the contacts between the two countries are too limited. However, appearance of the Armenian liner in the central Israeli airport has political implications, rather than economic ones. In spite of the fact that the local mass media did not notice this event at all, it is a result of the gradual and soft-pedal thaw in relations between Armenia and the Jewish State.
[...]
In the first half of the 1990s the relations between Israel, Turkey, and Iran were completely the opposite if the Armenia-Turkey-Iran relations. The generalship that had a special influence in Ankara stood for broadening of cooperation with the USA and Israel. Formation of a triple military-strategic alliance was promoted by Turkey's regional rivalry with Iran and Russia, as well as by the permanent tension on the Turkish-Syrian border. Israel, having lost its allies, - the Iraqi Kurds, the Iranian Shah and the Lebanese Christians, during the 1970s and 1980s, saw Turkey as the only remaining strategic partner in the Middle East.
[...]
[...] Armenia and the Jewish State, though they had no reasons for enmity, appeared on the different sides of the barricade. These conditions prevented any normal development of mutual relations, especially when any attempts at dialogue between them were perceived by Turkey and Iran as "treachery", and were met by powerful pressure to cease.
[...]
During the 1990s the Armenian-Israeli relations remained “in embryo.” Of all the CIS countries only Armenia and Tajikistan have no official representatives in Israel, and Israel has no representation in these states.
The first serious attempt to initiate contact with Tel Aviv was undertaken by Yerevan in May, 1999. The first round of negotiations between representatives of the foreign policy departments of the two countries took place in the Armenian capital. The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs represented Israel. This event caused extreme irritation in Ankara and Teheran. Despite the reaction of the Iranian partners, in January, 2000, the Armenian President visited the Jewish State for the first time. However, further development of mutual relations was interrupted as the Al-Aqsa Intifada began in the autumn of the same year. The coverage of the events in the conflict zone by the Armenian mass media usually had a frankly anti-Israeli character. It was caused by the efforts of the pro-Iranian lobby in the business circles of the republic, and owing to the activity of the Israeli armies in the areas close to Armenian Church facilities in the Palestinian territories.
And even stronger blow to the fragile mutual relations was made by the official representative of the Jewish State. Rivka CohenRivka Cohen, who was heading the Israeli embassy in Tbilisi and responsible for connections with Yerevan, made a highly improper declaration in February, 2002. She publicly refused to recognize the events of 1915 in the Ottoman Empire to be the genocide of Armenians. Her statement caused the most serious reaction in Armenia. However, in reply to the indignation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the republic, the Israeli Foreign Service refused to correct the statement of its representative. The wave of the anti-Israeli publications in the Armenian press and statements of local politicians was enormous. [...]. Yerevan, on the contrary, tried to smooth away the consequences of this unpleasant incident. In November, 2002, Israel was visited by Ruben Shugaryan, the Armenian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. The following year, talking to Russian journalists he declared: "There are problems which puzzle us from time to time, in particular concerning the relations between Israel and Turkey. But we carry on political dialogue with Israel and we have an opportunity to discuss all urgent problems." Shortly before that, in January, 2003, David Peleg, the Deputy Director of Israel’s Foreign Department, came to Yerevan. According to the diplomats on both sides, these two visits served as a breakthrough toward development of the Armenian-Israeli relations. According to our sources, in October, 2004, Yerevan was visited by two Israeli diplomats. Their arrival remained unnoticed by the journalists.
The year 2005 appeared to be the most outstanding from the point of view of Armenian-Israeli relations, primarily due to the efforts of Yerevan. In May, Jerusalem was visited by the largest Armenian delegation, numbering almost 80 persons, in the history of bilateral contacts, Among them were Garegin II, the Catholicos of all Armenians, Ara Abramyan, Chairman of the World Congress of Armenians, Serge Sarkisyan, Minister of Defence of Armenia, Tigran Sarkisyan, the Head of Central Bank, and a number of the high-ranking diplomats and businessmen. Summing up the results of the visit, the Catholicos proclaimed "the beginning of a new era in relations between the Jews and the Armenians." The Head of the World Congress of Armenians added: "The relations between our countries are obviously at unsatisfactory level, and there is a necessity to develop them."
In November, following the invitation of the Catholicos, Israel’s Chief Rabbi, Yonah Metzger and the Member of Parliament of Russian origin, Yuri Stern, arrived in Yerevan. They visited "the Memorial to the Victims of the First Genocide of the Twentieth Century" in the Armenian capital. According to the Russian media reports, Metzger stated that: "It is impossible to recollect what happened with the Armenians in Turkey without shedding tears." Stern in his turn noted that he recognizes "the genocide of the Armenians". It is curious that according to the Azerbaijani journalists, the Embassy of Israel in Baku tried to deny these statements. "The Israeli position concerning the genocide of the Armenians remains unchanged. The statements of the Rabbi and of the Member of Parliament have an informal character and consequently of low significance," the comment of the press secretary of the Israeli diplomatic mission in Baku emphasized.
Despite the deterioration of relations with Turkey during recent years, in its contacts with Armenia the Jewish State still looks back at Ankara. However, after the beginning of Armenian Air Lines flights to Israel, one must first of all expect the reaction from Teheran...
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
posted by Vahe Balabanian at 2:49 PM
1 Comments:
The development of relations between Armenia and Israel should be complemented by the re-approachmen t of Armenian and Jewish lobbies in America. The latter is even more important since it hardly can irritate Iran.
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