Political Analysts Disagree about Assessing Ilham Aliyev's OIC Statement

Donald Trump inspired a new tension in the Middle East, unilaterally calling the city of Jerusalem the capital of Israel. Representatives and leaders of Muslim countries gathered for the answer to the US President in Istanbul. At the Istanbul summit of the OIC, a declaration was adopted in which Jerusalem is recognized as being under the occupation of the capital of Palestine. Azerbaijan took an active part in the OIC summit, represented by President I.Aliyev, who urged Trump to cancel the scandalous decision.

Azerbaijan actively supported Palestine and the Arab countries, and simultaneously opposed Israel, with which we maintain productive military-technical and political relations. Yerevan is happy with that, especially as opposed to the sale of Israeli weapons to Azerbaijan, Armenians are intensifying Armenian-Israeli political ties.

The new situation that has developed after Aliyev's statement in Azerbaijan's relations with Israel and the Arab world is commented on by political experts. In an interview with Azerbaijani media, Russian expert Pavel Klachko said that Azerbaijan showed Islamic solidarity. But "my vision is that it is necessary to exercise diplomatic flexibility and somewhere adjust the line without becoming a position of radical confrontation or aggravation of contradictions. Azerbaijan will have the best prospects for development just when it will show maneuverability and ability to negotiate with all parties ...", P. Klachko said.

In an interview for Turan, the political scientist and Milli Majlis deputy Rasim Musabekov said that Azerbaijan supported the OIC emergency summit's statement collectively adopted on this issue. Radical appeals, distributed before the summit that nearly all Muslim countries should sever diplomatic relations with Israel, withdraw from negotiations on the settlement of the Palestinian problem and start a new Intifada were not accepted. Along with Azerbaijan, this resolution was supported by Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan also supporting close partnership with Tel Aviv. "So I do not think that our relations with Israel will suffer significant damage. The leadership of this country is sympathetic to the situation, actions and position of Azerbaijan," the MP said.

As for the activity of Turkey in this issue, the invitation of the Foreign Minister of Armenia Nalbandian to Israel and the initiation of the issue of recognizing the "Armenian genocide" in the Knesset is more like an "answer" to Ankara, and not to us.

In all cases, I believe that Turkey, Israel and we will have the wisdom to not sacrifice mutually beneficial relations to the present-day rhetoric," R. Musabekov added.

The participation of the Azerbaijani President in the work of the OIC summit and his statement on Jerusalem is quite natural and fully corresponds to the foreign policy of the country, the political scientist Ilgar Velizadeh continued.

Answering Turan's questions, he asked: "How else could the President of the country, on the initiative of which the current year was declared the year of Islamic solidarity, act?

Azerbaijan has always insisted and insists on the observance of the UN resolutions on Karabakh, therefore it cannot take a different position with regard to the decisions of the UN General Assembly on Palestine or Jerusalem. Baku recognizes Palestine as a state with East Jerusalem as its integral part. Unfortunately, such obvious things often fall out of sight, which causes significant misconceptions.

- What can be the consequences for Azerbaijan?

- In fact, Baku did not invent anything new, and did not violate the principles of its own policy. Baku's position for the US and Israel is not new. To think that these countries will immediately and negatively react to the words of the President of Azerbaijan means not knowing the realities of the current policy.

Yes, Israel is our long-term partner in the region, with which Azerbaijan is linked by years of very close cooperation in so many areas. And nobody is going to cross out this experience. Just like no one is going to put an end to the prospects of bilateral interaction.

These topics are usually taken out of the brackets of the Middle East issues and do not affect the nature of Azerbaijan's foreign policy guidelines," the political scientist Ilgar Velizadeh explained. --0-----