Azerbaijan has positioned itself in the middle of the battle as Israel’s closest Muslim buddy and has shunned criticizing military actions, whereas supplying oil and even inviting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to go to Baku. Sources inform “Globes” that until most recently, Azerbaijan has been pushing for a three-way summit in Baku with President Ilham Aliyev web internet hosting Netanyahu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The newest dedication to forestall Netanyahu’s plane from flying over Turkish airspace not solely ended hopes of such a summit however as well as led to the postponement of Netanyahu’s go to to Baku. The prime minister’s bureau declined to the touch upon the matter.
This isn’t the first time that Erdogan, who has imposed a commerce embargo on Israel, has taken such a step. In November, he prevented the plane carrying President Isaac Herzog from flying over Turkish airspace to the UN Native climate Change Conference in Baku. These two actions show Erdogan’s lack of readiness to adjust to Aliyev’s initiative because of anti-Israel sentiment in Turkey.
The Abraham Accords are the objective
With Donald Trump’s return to the White Residence, Azerbaijanis began to voice their need to mix into the Abraham Accords – an ostensibly uncommon intention on account of the Abraham Accords are based totally on normalization between Israel and nations with which it didn’t beforehand have full diplomatic relations – the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco. However, “Globes” can reveal that behind the Azerbaijani pondering is that The Abraham Accords moreover embody the US, and Baku believes that by them the “dam” that exists between them and the US safety industries could be launched.
Azerbaijan suffers from difficulties with safety imports from the US. Initially, following the first Karabakh battle throughout the early Nineties, the US banned the sale of weapons to Azerbaijan and Armenia. These restrictions lasted for a couple of decade, nevertheless traditionally Armenia is additional favored by the Individuals due to the extremely efficient Armenian lobby in Washington.
Thus in November 2023, Congress handed a laws often known as the “Armenia Safety Act of 2023,” which blocks any threat of the Secretary of State permitting safety product sales to Azerbaijan. This was in the middle of the Biden administration nevertheless since Trump returned to the White Residence, US envoy Steve Witkoff has already visited Baku. Although this has not led to Azerbaijan changing into a member of the Abraham Accords, “Globes” has found that prime officers from US safety giants, like Lockheed Martin and RTX, are already holding conferences in Baku, throughout the hope that Aliyev’s switch will materialize and so they’ll be succesful to realize permitted provides in Washington.
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If the switch is carried out, the Israeli safety enterprise may presumably be harmed, because it’s a essential weapons supplier to Azerbaijan, which invests 5% of GDP throughout the safety funds. However, senior Baku officers are moreover working to deepen safety cooperation with Israel. As part of talks with the Safety Ministry, Azerbaijan is striving to have Israeli safety industries change as many manufacturing traces as potential to its territory to reinforce technological knowhow and diversify the monetary system.
The Israel connection
The connection between Turkey and Azerbaijan is doubtless one of many closest that Ankara has and depends on the idea of “one nation, two states.” Azerbaijanis are a Turkic of us, like Kazakhs and Uzbeks, nevertheless nearer than all to Turkey – due to this fact the depth of the connection. In addition to, the occasions have frequent pursuits. The very shut connection between Aliyev and Netanyahu and between him and Erdogan has led to a lot of rounds of discussions in Baku between senior Israeli and Turkish officers, mediated by Azerbaijanis.
The authorities in Azerbaijan beneath Aliyev’s administration have undergone a fundamental change. Following the last word defeat of Armenia and the return of all of Karabakh in September 2023, senior Baku officers obtained right here to the conclusion that highlight should be paid to sustainable development in quite a lot of areas. That’s mirrored, as an illustration, in “Globes” report that the Innovation and Digital Enchancment Firm of Azerbaijan (IDDA) is offering Israeli startups that relocate to the nation a full exemption from firm tax, property tax, land tax, and dividends tax for a decade.
Transferring nearer to the US
In relation to abroad protection vis-à-vis the US, Azerbaijan believes that the road to Washington passes by Israel. As first reported by “Globes,” Azerbaijan’s oil and gasoline agency, SOCAR, acquired a ten% stake throughout the Tamar offshore gasoline topic from Israeli businessman Aaron Frenkel in January. US giant Chevron has a 25% stake in Tamar, and it’s well-known that US President Donald Trump has deep ties to senior figures throughout the US vitality enterprise.
SOCAR was not glad with merely the Tamar topic and in March signed up with Israel’s Ministry of Vitality and Infrastructure for gasoline exploration licenses in Israel as part of a consortium by which SOCAR is the operator, alongside its companions BP and Israel’s NewMed Vitality (TASE: NWMD). The licenses have been awarded to the profitable group in Cluster I, which covers an area of 1,700 sq. kilometers in Israel’s northern monetary waters.
When SOCAR approached the Israeli gasoline market, it appeared, amongst completely different points, on the capability to connect a pipeline to Turkey. Of the roughly 10.09 BCM produced from the Tamar reservoir in 2024, 34% was supplied to Jordan – the Hashemite Kingdom is crossed from south to north by the Fajr gasoline pipeline, which connects to Syria as far as Homs and from there branches off to Tripoli in Lebanon and Banias in western Syria. In accordance with estimates, the worth of connecting from Homs to the Turkish gasoline infrastructure may be about $200 million, a sum that’s not expensive in enterprise phrases. Now, with the historic meeting between the US President and his Syrian counterpart Ahmed al-Sharaa, Azerbaijan hopes that it “guess” appropriately.
Printed by Globes, Israel enterprise data – en.globes.co.il – on Would possibly 15, 2025.
© Copyright of Globes Author Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2025.