Opinion: Azerbaijan is not in a position to dictate Israel`s domestic  political agenda

ArmInfo. Azerbaijan is not a state capable of dictating Israel's domestic political agenda. This is how former Armenian parliament member Arman Abovyan commented on reports that Israel suspended the process of recognizing the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire after pressure from Azerbaijan.  

In his Telegram channel, the politician noted that reports in the  media—alleging that a vote on recognizing the Armenian Genocide had  been removed from the Knesset's agenda—had sparked a new wave of  indignation within the Armenian information sphere.  Addressing  claims that this decision was made under Azerbaijani pressure,  Abovyan dismissed such explanations as "extremely naive and foolish." 

"Azerbaijan is not the kind of state that can dictate its domestic  agenda to Israel," Abovyan wrote. "No matter how much 'Aliyev-junior'  puffs out his chest, he has not grown to a level where he can exert  pressure on Israel. Whether one likes it or not, Israel is a key  military-political player in the Middle East, possessing its own  strategic interests and making decisions based exclusively on them."

He added, "This, of course, does not justify Israel, which itself has  committed genocide in Gaza and aggression against Iran—a brotherly  nation to the Armenians," Abovyan believes. According to him, talk  about Baku allegedly forcing Benjamin Netanyahu to change his  position seems more like an attempt to simplify a complex political  picture.

"It is far more logical to assume that we are witnessing a  coordinated political game in which both Israel and Azerbaijan are  pursuing their own objectives. For Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet, the  issue of recognizing the Armenian Genocide has become a tool for  exerting pressure on Turkey and an element of internal political  maneuvering, designed to boost popularity among the most radically  anti-Turkish segments of Israeli society. Furthermore, these  parliamentary maneuvers maintain space for diplomatic bargaining  within the complex Israeli political landscape," the politician  asserted.

According to Abovyan, the most surprising aspect of this situation is  the reaction from a segment of Armenian society. He noted that  instead of recognizing the diplomatic window of opportunity that has  opened, an emotional "hysteria" has taken hold, which works against  Armenia's own interests. Abovyan believes it is essential for the  Armenian people to understand three fundamentally important points.   First, he argues, it is less important that the vote in the Knesset  was postponed or removed from the agenda.  "What is fundamentally  important is that, for the first time in history, the Israeli  government itself has acknowledged the Armenian Genocide as a  genocide and brought this issue to a parliamentary procedure.  This  is already a significant political precedent. Moreover, a substantial  portion of the Israeli intellectual and public elite has publicly  welcomed this step. This means that the issue has ceased to be merely  an academic discussion and has entered Israel's active political  agenda," Abovyan added.

Secondly, the politician is confident that there is no need to harbor  illusions about the motives of the Israeli leadership. He reminded  that Israel is guided solely by its own national interests and is  indifferent to the moral aspect of the issue.

"If recognition of the Armenian Genocide proved to be a useful tool  in the confrontation with Turkey and a way to strengthen the  Netanyahu government's domestic political position, then it is  precisely this tool that they used. And there is nothing surprising  about this," Abovyan asserted.

Regarding his third point, Abovyan stated that Armenian diplomacy  should be entirely indifferent to why Israel took this step. The  politician reminded the public that in international politics, it is  the result—not the motive—that matters.

"The result is that Armenia now possesses another serious diplomatic  and political argument in the struggle against Turkey's policy of  denying the Armenian Genocide. This argument must be used as  effectively as possible, rather than being discarded due to emotions.  Unfortunately, against this backdrop, the anti- Armenian stance of  the Pashinyan authorities in Armenia looks especially stark. Their  constant declarations regarding the inadmissibility of 'politicizing'  the issue of Genocide recognition are, in fact, repeating word-  for-word the long-standing line of official Turkey, which has always  sought to remove this topic from the sphere of international politics  and reduce it strictly to historical discussions," Abovyan added.

According to him, a perpetrator always seeks to avoid practical  accountability for their crime, and Turkey is not unique in this  regard. Meanwhile, the approach of the current Armenian authorities,  he argues, fundamentally weakens Armenia's diplomatic standing and  contributes to the erosion of the diplomatic toolkit that serves the  interests of the Republic of Armenia.

"In international politics, the winner is not the one who screams and  cries the loudest, but the one who knows how to exploit even the  contradictions between other states to further their own national  interests.  Cold calculation is always stronger than hysteria. And if  the political situation creates additional opportunities for the  Armenian people to defend historical truth, they must be seized  without hesitation or unnecessary emotion. After all, when the  pro-Turkish Pasha chaos in the country ends, we must have the tools  to defend our national interests in our arsenal," he concluded.

On July 13, it was reported that Israel had suspended a critically  important vote in the Israeli parliament on recognizing the violence  against Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during World War I as  genocide.  Media outlets today began circulating information that  this was allegedly done after a call from the President of Azerbaijan  to the Prime Minister of Israel.

On June 25, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar submitted a draft resolution  for government approval on Israel's first official recognition of the  Armenian Genocide. It was unanimously approved by the Israeli cabinet  and sent to parliament for approval. This occurred amid rapidly  deteriorating relations with Turkey due to Recep Tayyip Erdogan's  statements against Israel.

Ten years ago, the Knesset Education Committee announced its  recognition of the Armenian Genocide. In May 2018, amid worsening  relations between Israel and Turkey, the Knesset plenum approved a  debate and vote on a similar issue. However, the Israeli government  has yet to officially recognize the Armenian Genocide.

Two years ago, Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on social media  that "Turkey committed the Holocaust of Armenians," and Prime  Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced last year that he would  recognize the Armenian Genocide.