While Christians, including Armenians, have come under attack by extremist religious Jews, officials in Armenia express admiration for Israel and hope to see ties grow despite concerns over Israeli weapons arming neighboring Azerbaijan in their military conflict.
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For thousands of years the Jewish people have had close relations with the Armenian people and not for no reason — Armenians have had a presence in the land of Israel for thousands of years, with an entire quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem being named after their civilization in the holy land.
Much like Israel, modern Armenia is a functioning democracy, home to Christians, Muslims, and Jews, and it is also closely affiliated with Christianity as Armenia was the first Christian nation in history.
Historically, their fate is strikingly similar to Jews: they suffered a genocide in 1915 at the hands of the Ottoman Turks — a genocide in which Armenians were brutally raped, tortured, robbed, sent on death marches, drowned, burned, and humiliated for no other reason than that they were Christians.
Approximately 1.5 million Armenians were murdered in the Armenian Genocide, across the Turkish Empire, a crime against humanity which the modern successor of the Ottomans, Turkey, has never taken responsibility for. Sadly, genocide recognition has become a political ploy for Turkey to blackmail and harass allies into silence for fear of retribution from Turkey. For that reason, Israel — the nation state of the people who suffered the Holocaust, has not recognised the Armenian Genocide in a truly disgraceful moral failure.
As a result of the Genocide, the need for independence and survival has been a core value in the ethos of Armenian society – similar to Israel.
Armenia’s challenges, social structure, values, diaspora community, territorial disputes, and even the existential threats are all similar to Israel, so much so that Armenians — from the president himself to the average citizen, say that Israel is a profound inspiration for how to overcome challenges as a targeted minority. President Vahagn Khachaturyan said publicly that he gave a copy of Start-Up Nation, a book describing the rise of Israel's high-tech industry, to every minister in the government to be used as inspiration.
Armenia is a young nation that became independent only after the fall of the Soviet Union. It has a conservative society but is a democracy despite being surrounded by authoritarian regimes. And like Israel, it has a large, close-knit diaspora spread around the world.
Armenians view an independent nation-state, as a necessity for the survival of the Armenian people after they had suffered national tragedies. Some in society admire the Israeli model so much, that they established a program to bring people of Armenian heritage to the country much like Israel's Birthright outreach program to Diaspora Jews, and anyone with one Armenian grandparent is eligible for citizenship as well as a host of benefits — as Jewish immigrants to Israel enjoy.
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Mount Ararat viewed from the Cascade Complex at sunset towering above Yerevan, Armenia, May 31, 2019
(Photo: GettyImages)
Azeri-Armenian Conflict
In the case of Azerbaijan, the Shia Muslim nation has launched multiple wars over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, a region within the post-Soviet territory of Azerbaijan, adjacent to modern Armenia, which contains a majority Armenian population that has been targeted for ethnic cleansing by the Azeris.
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Jermuk's occupied territories overlooking Armenian civilian resort town
(Photo: Emily Schrader)
Azerbaijan has waged a war of words and weapons against Armenia with incitement against Armenians, and the military operations which Azerbaijan fought against Armenia in 2020 and 2022, as a result of Israeli weapons sold to Azerbaijan, saw Azeri war crimes targeting Armenian churches and civilian locations as well as invading and occupying sovereign Armenian territory in multiple locations.
Today, as a result of Armenia losing the war in 2022, there is a humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh due to the Azeri blockade which does not permit Armenians to return to Nagorno-Karabakh if they leave. There are currently peace talks taking with international brokers, but the truth is that Azerbaijan has not kept its word in previous ceasefires and Armenians have almost no faith in their Azeri counterpoints due to the incitement and continued violence against Armenians, including the killing of 4 Armenians by Azeri troops just a few days ago during the negotiations.
Jermuk is situated near the Azeri border where Azerbaijan invaded sovereign Armenian territory in 2022, and continues to illegally occupy the land. Marine, an Armenian who was present when Azerbaijan invaded in 2022, told Ynet, “I know that Azeris and Turks – they're normal people...I'm sure that they also don't want to have war. But why are they doing that [bombing Armenia]? I don't know. But Armenians were strong, are strong, and will be strong. I'm living here, my friends are living here…and we just want to live and create in peace.”
“It's our land and we don't want to leave this beautiful city or our beautiful Armenia,” she said.
There is a certain sorrow in Armenians when it comes to Israel. They are visibly pained when talking about Israel and many of them report a feeling of betrayal over the sale of weapons to Azerbaijan. In almost every Armenian I spoke to, the sentiment was the same.
Unfortunately, much like Israel, Armenia has bad luck with neighbors: closed borders with Turkey and Azerbaijan, and only Georgia and Iran on the other sides. As Armenia is not naturally resource rich, they’ve been dependent upon Iran and Russia for their ability to survive — despite the fact they are a democratic Christian nation which wants to partner with the West over warmongering terrorist regimes if given the opportunity.
While government officials understand the importance of Israel’s relations with Azerbaijan due to the Iranian threat, it is still Armenian civilians who are paying the price. While Armenia has to do what’s necessary to survive as a state, it’s also incumbent upon the West to foster relations that enable Armenia to be stronger internally and reduce dependence on neighbors like Iran and Russia.
The United States must pursue deeper bilateral relations with Armenia to strengthen its democracy which is under existential threat. Whenever and where ever possible, the US must maintain good relations with Azerbaijan and Turkey, but must not be hesitant to call out and even sanction Azerbaijan for war crimes if needed.
In the case of Israel, ties with both Turkey and Azerbaijan are critical to the security of the Jewish state — but that security shouldn’t be at the expense of selling weapons to Azerbaijan. If that requires reducing Israel’s dependence on Azeri oil, which provides 40% of Israel’s energy, then so be it.
Beyond military issues, Israel must do more to build technological and R&D ties with Armenia — especially in the fields of alternative energy and establish cultural exchange programs to expose Israeli society to Armenian society and vice versa.
Finally, Israel must formally recognize the Armenian genocide and stop allowing Turkey to blackmail them into silence. Whenever Turkey has made threats over the Armenian Genocide recognition, nothing happens in the end. Israel has an ethical obligation to right the historic wrong of refusing to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
The future can be one of mutual security and success for Armenia and Israel, but only if both parties take significant steps to advance modern relations between the two nations. We already have thousands of years of friendship and every logical reason to stand with Armenia – it’s time to act on our principles.
First published: 23:07, 06.29.23