Azerbaijan slams ally Israel's recognition of Armenian genocide

BAKU: Azerbaijan on Monday denounced a decision by its ally Israel to recognise the World War I massacres of Armenians as a genocide, a move widely seen as a rebuke by Israel to Turkiye.

Azerbaijan and Israel are allies but Baku’s closest foreign partner is Turkiye and the Caucasus country hinted that the move by Israel could hit their bilateral relations.

The recognition by Israel — announced on Sunday — was of “serious concern”, Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

Armenia has long sought international recognition that the mass killings under the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1917 amounted to a genocide, in which 1.5 million people died.

Turkiye strongly denies the accusation of genocide and says that both Armenians and Turks died as a result of World War I. It puts the death toll in the hundreds of thousands.

More than two dozen countries, including the United States, France and Germany, recognise the killings as a genocide.

“Such actions do not contribute to reconciliation or mutual understanding,” Azerbaijan said of Israel’s move.

“Instead, they deepen existing divisions and undermine efforts to achieve lasting peace and stability in the region. We call on the Israeli government to reconsider this decision,” the foreign ministry added.

Azerbaijan and Israel cooperate extensively on defence and security measures.

Successive Israeli governments had avoided formally recognising the Armenian genocide, in part to preserve relations with Turkiye, once one of Israel’s closest strategic partners in the region.

But since the war in Gaza erupted, Turkiye has regularly accused Israel of committing genocide in Palestine, an accusation Israel denies.

Azerbaijan and Armenia, locked in conflict for decades over the status of Karabakh— an Azerbaijani exclave ruled for three decades by Armenian separatists — have started ratcheting down tensions and taking steps towards finalising a comprehensive peace deal.