Monday, March 11 2019 15:39

ArmInfo.Armenia should strive for the level of relations with Israel, which excludes the sale of Israeli weapons to our opponent - Azerbaijan. Such opinion expressed  to ArmInfo Tevan Poghosyan, President of the International Center for  Human Development, and Advisor to the President of Armenia 

Recently, in an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Deputy Foreign  Minister of Armenia Grigor Hovhannisian, who is in Israel on a visit,  said that Armenia's desire to stop Israeli arms supplies to  Azerbaijan is by no means a condition for improving relations with  Israel. "We want our friends to know that the sale of arms to  Azerbaijan goes beyond the scope of a business deal and has  consequences for us.  Armenia also does not rule out the possibility  of cooperation with the Israeli defense sector," the Armenian  diplomat said.

Israel has officially supplied weapons to Azerbaijan since 2012. The  total amount of deliveries over these years amounted to about $ 4  billion. According to the latest data of the Department of Defense  Export of the Israeli Defense Ministry, in 2017 Azerbaijan accounted  for 13% of total Israeli arms exports of $ 9.1 billion. Thus,  Azerbaijan ranked third after India and Vietnam among importers of  Israeli weapons. Israel is the second after Russia partner of  Azerbaijan in the world arms market, only a billion behind the total  Russian defense contracts with Baku at $ 5 billion.

Baku mainly purchases UAVs, armored vehicles, electronic  intelligence, air defense, anti-tank missiles from Israel. At the  beginning of June 2018, the presentation of the Israeli  operational-tactical complex LORA with a maximum range of 300 km was  held in Baku. Since 2018, the Israeli company Aeronautics and the  Ministry of Defense Industry of Azerbaijan have been implementing a  joint project of AZAD Systems to create unmanned aircraft on the  territory of Azerbaijan. The latest Israeli acquisitions of Baku were  50 missiles to 4 LORA launchers and 100 light SkyStriker drone  drones.

"Accordingly, we should not raise this issue at the negotiation stage  in the direction of deepening our own relations with Israel. Yes,  Armenia should do everything possible to stop the supply of Israeli  weapons to Azerbaijan, but this should be done exclusively through  diplomatic efforts, by increasing self-worth and result of the  importance of diplomatic relations. Only in this way can we overcome  difficulties, and even use some of them in the interests of Armenia  ", he stressed.

According to Poghosyan, today the opening of the Armenian Embassy and  active work in Israel are fully based on the interests of Armenia. In  his view, they adhere to a similar position in Israel, especially  since both countries have long been accredited ambassadors. In this  light, the counselor is confident that the opening of the Armenian  Embassy in Israel will entail a reciprocal step of Jerusalem.

"With independence, Armenia overcame not only such difficulties. I  think we will overcome the existing ones. Accordingly, the sooner we  start working with Israel, the more correct it will be for us. In the  end, the Armenian embassy in Russia didn't prevent multi-billion  deliveries of Russian weapons to the same Azerbaijan. Therefore, our  diplomats will have to work actively not only in Israel, " Poghosyan  concluded.

The other day, Israel was visited by an Armenian delegation headed by  Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigor Hovhannisyan. During the  visit, the opening of the embassy in Israel was discussed with a view  to bringing relations to a new, higher level. During the meetings in  Jerusalem, the Armenian delegation also discussed organizational  issues related to the upcoming visit of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol  Pashinyan and Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan to  Israel.