Israeli Ambassador lauds treatment of Jews in Azerbaijan
Commercial joint-ventures, cultural exchanges, weekly flights link Azeris and Israelis

Muslim Azerbaijan has a centuries-old history of tolerance and respect for its Jewish minority, according to Eytan Na’eh, Israeli Ambassador to Azerbaijan.

Ambassador Na‘eh says, "The tolerance of a country can be measured by its tolerance for its Jewish community. There is very high tolerance of Jews here, and no anti-Semitism. One could not wish for better treatment of Jews in a Moslem country than exists here in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has reason to be proud of its relations with its Jews and other minorities, Na’eh says.

Azerbaijan has had a sizeable Jewish community for hundreds of years, as Jews migrated from Iran. These Jews are known in Azerbaijan as the "Mountain Jews" because they live primarily in the foothills of the northern Caucasus Mountains, near the city of Quba. They are believed to be descendants of Jews enslaved in Babylon during the First Exile from Israel in the 6th century BC. The "Mountain Jews" speak a dialect that resembles Farsi, the principal language of Iran, but there is a mixture of other languages as well.

Smaller communities of Ashkenazi and Georgian Jews in Baku complement the Mountain Jews. Ashkenazi Jews were attracted to Baku during the first oil boom in the late 1800s, with such notable Jewish families as the Nobels and the Rothschilds playing important roles in developing Baku’s oil production to a scale that eclipsed Oklahoma’s oil industry during the same period.

Today, each of Azerbaijan’s Jewish communities has its own synagogue in Baku. These temples were built in 1947 during a time of religious tolerance as Stalin sought to rebuild support for his regime among Azeris.

It was these Jewish communities that first drew formal Israeli interest when Azerbaijan became an independent nation in 1991.

"Israel was one of the first countries to recognize independent Azerbaijan," Na’eh says. "We established relations in 1992 and first opened a Jewish emigration agency office in Baku."

That agency found itself with a heavy workload. There had been some emigration of Jews from Azerbaijan, beginning in the 1970s during a period of Soviet liberalization. But for most of Azerbaijan’s Jews, the emigration gates did not fully open until Azerbaijan became independent in 1991.

Independence was followed by war with Armenia and internal political and economic chaos. The Israeli embassy estimates that more than 40,000 Jews emigrated from Azerbaijan during the first years of independence, half the original population of 80,000.

"Today, we estimate that there are about 15,000 Jews remaining in Azerbaijan who are eligible to emigrate to Israel, " Ambassador Na’eh says.

Many of the Azerbaijani Jews who emigrated settled in Haifa, an industrial seaport in northern Israel. There is now enough demand for travel back and forth to justify direct flights weekly between Baku and Tel Aviv.

Israeli relations with Azerbaijan are cordial, but relatively quiet on the official level. "President Aliyev has met with the Israeli prime minister during international organization meetings abroad," Na’eh says. "And we have had some ministerial-level visits here. We enjoy excellent relations with the President’s advisors. The Jewish community is appreciated at all levels."

Azeri Foreign Minister Quliyev has scheduled a visit to Israel in 2002. Azerbaijan will open its embassy there next year.

The Israeli embassy has active cultural, education, assistance and commercial programs, however. "Very few Azerbaijan Jews speak Hebrew," Na’eh comments, "but they are being taught now."

In 2002 the embassy will bring to Baku a cultural exhibition highlighting the life of Mountain Jews who have emigrated to Israel. Israel has also established an agricultural assistance program, funded by the World Bank. This program sends Azerbaijanis to Israeli technical colleges for training tailored to the composition of a certain group.

Israeli businesses have made some inroads in Azerbaijan. One of the joint stock venture companies formed by the Ministry of Communications with Israeli participation is Bakcell, the smaller of Azerbaijan’s two principal cellular telephone companies. There is also some activity in petro-chemicals and construction.

Azerbaijan’s economic potential is very large, Na’eh says. And in future, he expects that Israeli companies will show increased interest in the country’s agriculture, petroleum, chemical, high technology and medicine sectors.