A bilateral relationship exists between Armenia and Israel. From 1993 to 2007, Armenia was served by the Embassy of Israel in Georgia. In 1996, Tsolak Momjian was appointed the honorary consul of Armenia in Jerusalem. Eleven years later, the residence of the Embassy of Israel in Armenia was moved to Jerusalem. In October 2010, Shmuel Meirom was appointed the Israeli ambassador to Armenia.[1] Armen Melkonian was appointed the Armenian ambassador to Israel in 2012, with a residence in Cairo.[2] In October of that year, Melkonian presented his credentials to Israeli President Shimon Peres.[3] On 21 September 2019 Armenia announced that it would be opening an embassy in Israel.[4] Despite generally cordial ties between the two, relations soured after Armenia withdrew its ambassador to Israel due to Israeli arms supply to Armenia's enemy, Azerbaijan, in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War.[5]
Israel and Armenia have maintained diplomatic relations since the latter's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.[1] The Armenian diplomatic mission to Israel was located in Georgia from 1993 to 2007, although Tsolak Momjian was appointed honorary consul of Armenia in Jerusalem in 1996.[1]
There have been several high-level visits to Israel by Armenians. Former Armenian president Robert Kocharyan traveled to Israel and met with high-ranking Israeli officials, including former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, in January 2000. Both countries pledged to strengthen relations and signed agreements on health and bilateral investment.[6] In 2003, Catholicos of All ArmeniansKarekin II visited Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of IsraelYona Metzger. Metzger accepted Karekin's invitation to visit Armenia[7] in 2005, and his trip included a visit to the Tsitsernakaberd (the Genocide Memorial in Yerevan).[8] At the memorial, he formally recognised the Armenian genocide.[9] In 2014 Shmuel Meirom (Israel's ambassador to Armenia, with a residence in Jerusalem) said that Israel is willing to abolish all visas with Armenia soon, beginning with holders of diplomatic passports.[10]
In December of 2021, Armenia transferred its Ambassador to Brazil, Arman Akopian, to Israel. Akopian holds a PhD in Semitic philology and speaks Hebrew and Arabic. In mid-1990s he had initiated Hebrew Studies at the Yerevan State University, the biggest university in Armenia.
High-level visits and meetings
Date
Location
Note
December 1994
Israel
Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vahan Papazian visits.[1]
Israeli diplomats (headed by Foreign Ministry official Pinchas Avivi) and Armenian diplomats (headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakosian) meet to discuss the relationship between their countries.[15]
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan meets with Yair Auron, an Israeli historian who specializes in genocide studies.[17]
Economic relations and tourism
Since independence, Armenia has received support from Israel and is one of its trading partners. Armenia Air operates twice weekly flights to Israel and Armenia is looking forward to a rise in tourism from Israel.[18]
The Armenian community has lived in the Levant for about 2,000 years. According to Yoav Loeff (lector of the Armenian language and history at Hebrew University of Jerusalem), the Armenian presence in Jerusalem dates to 301 AD thanks to the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem (which dates back to the Apostolic Age).[19][20]Tigranes the Great, under whom Armenia reached its greatest extent, deported thousands of Jews to Armenia in the first century BC.[19] Israel is home to the Armenian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.[21][22] The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem was founded in 638 and is located in the Armenian Quarter, the smallest of the four quarters of the Old City of Jerusalem. According to a 2006 study, 790 Armenians live in the Old City.[23] One of the earliest mentions of Armenians and Jews is in the 1723 book Travels through Europe, Asia, and into parts of Africa by French traveler Aubry de La Motraye, in which de La Motraye writes that the Armenians and Jews are "reckon'd more honest" than the Greeks in the Ottoman Empire.[24]
About 25,000 Armenians lived in Mandatory Palestine by the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, but most fled the area in the ensuing violence.[20] After the establishment of the state of Israel, most of the remaining Armenian community adopted Israeli citizenship and settled in the Old City's Armenian Quarter.[20][dubious–discuss]
In 2009–2011, The Jerusalem Post reported on incidents in which Haredi Yeshiva students spat at Armenian Christians.[29] The Jerusalem district police responded, "All complaints of mutual assault are treated with the utmost severity....more than one case ended with charges being filed and the deportation of clergy involved in assault. As opposed to the situation about three years ago, the frequency of spitting has declined dramatically."[30]
The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem (an independent, self-governing Christian patriarchate dating to the Apostolic Age) Nourhan Manougian said in 2013, "If Israel recognizes the Armenian genocide it won't be the end of the world." He further claimed that Armenians in Jerusalem were being treated as third-class citizens.[31]
Culture
Armenian ceramicist in Jerusalem
Armenian-Israelis are ethnic Armenians with Israeli citizenship. Three thousand[32] Armenians live in Israel, including 1,000 in Jerusalem's Armenian Quarter.[33] About one thousand Armenian-Israelis have Israeli citizenship, mainly in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa. The Institute of African and Asian Studies at the Hebrew University established an Armenian-studies programme specialising in study of the Armenian language, literature, history and culture, and the Armenian genocide.
According to the Jewish Virtual Library, "the Armenian Quarter is well preserved. St. James Convent is a complex of several churches with open spaces and gardens covered with a variety of greenery. The Patriarchate building next door is an impressive structure consisting of the Patriarch's residence, gold embossed throne room and several offices. Behind its main gate, the convent contains a priest's quarters, a library building, a museum, printing press, elementary and high schools and residences, youth and social clubs and residential shelters for the poor and employees of the Patriarchate. Currently the Theological Seminary is located outside the convent across the street from the main gate."[33]
Some of Jerusalem's artistic heritage has been influenced by Armenian ceramics and tile-painting.[20]
Before the 1996 discovery of a medieval Jewish cemetery, it was believed that there was no Jewish presence in Armenia before modern times.[34] A team of Armenian and Israeli historians and archaeologists excavated the site of the original discovery, and found 64 more graves.[34] It was determined that the Jewish community in Armenia dated back at least to the 13th century.[34] Bishop Mkrtchyan, who first discovered the cemetery, said: "At a time when you can't imagine that a country... in Europe either helped create or didn't destroy a Jewish settlement ... It is fantastic how they could gather cultural, architectural symbolism of Jewish Armenians ... and they were connected, and built one of the strongest kingdoms during [the] time of [the] Mongols."[34]
Historians have conjectured that the first Jews arrived in Armenia shortly after the destruction of the first Temple in Jerusalem.[35] They lived (and live) relatively peacefully with the Armenian Christians, with anti-Semitic incidents being a rarity.[35] Many immigrated to Israel after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948,[35] and 2002 estimates number the ethnic Jews in Armenia at under 1,000.[36]
A Russified Jewish community of 800 officially remains in Armenia, primarily in Yerevan, in addition to the Subbotniks who live near Sevan.[19][37] Rimma Varzhapetian-Feller, head of Armenia's Jewish community, has said that she always felt proud of Armenia when she met fellow Jews from other parts of the former Soviet Union: "We always declare everywhere that there has never been antisemitism in Armenia, that Armenia is a good place for Jews to live and, more importantly, that Armenia is quite a stable country in political and social respects".[citation needed] The first instances of antisemitism in Armenia occurred in September 2004 when, for the first time in Armenia's history, the Joint Tragedies Memorial in Yerevan was desecrated.[38]
On 23 October 2004, Armenian Department for Ethnic and Religious Minority Issues head Hranoush Kharatyan accused Israeli leaders of promoting intolerance toward non-Jews[39] in response to an incident where a yeshiva student spat on Archbishop of Jerusalem Nourhan Manougian during a religious procession in the city.[40] The student eventually apologized to the archbishop.[41] During her 2012 visit to Armenia, Israeli Minister of Agriculture Orit Noked said: "We are like each other with our history, character, with our small number of population and having communities abroad."[42]
President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi with leaders of the Israeli Greek and Russian Orthodox, Armenian, Coptic and Maronite Churches in 1958
Israel does not officially recognize the Armenian genocide.[43] Recognition of the genocide became a subject of debate in Israel in the years following Armenia's 1991 independence from the Soviet Union. Turkey has warned that labeling the events as genocide by Israel or the United States would harm its relations with Israel.[44] In October 2008, the Knesset voted to have a parliamentary committee convene on the Armenian genocide at the urging of Meretz chairman Haim Oron, leading to meetings of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committees. The government of Turkey continued to lobby to prevent the recognition from going further.[45] According to The Jerusalem Post, "many Israelis are eager for their country to recognize the Genocide".[46] During the summer of 2011, the Knesset held its first discussion on the matter. By a unanimous 20–0 vote, the Israeli parliament approved a public session on the issue by the Education, Culture and Sports Committee at the request of Meretz Knesset member Zahava Gal-On;[47] it stopped short of passing a bill put forward by Gilad Erdan, an Israeli cabinet minister and close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for political reasons.[48] Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, one of the bill's supporters, said: "It is my duty as a Jew and Israeli to recognize the tragedies of other peoples."[49] Rivlin told an Israel-based Armenian action committee that he intends to introduce an annual parliamentary session to mark the Armenian genocide.[50]
The Armenian community of Jerusalem believes that the genocide denial is due to fear of jeopardizing diplomatic relations with Turkey.[20]Yair Auron, an Israeli historian, scholar and expert specializing on Holocaust and Genocide studies, said that Israel is concerned about hurting its current trade relations with Turkey and wants to retain the uniqueness of the Holocaust.[51]
In 2001, when he was Israeli Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres called the Armenian genocide "meaningless."[52] In response, Israel Charny, executive director of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide in Jerusalem, wrote: "It seems that because of your wishes to advance very important relations with Turkey, you have been prepared to circumvent the subject of the Armenian genocide in 1915–1920 ... it may be that in your broad perspective of the needs of the state of Israel, it is your obligation to circumvent and desist from bringing up the subject with Turkey, but, as a Jew and an Israeli, I am ashamed of the extent to which you have now entered into the range of actual denial of the Armenian genocide, comparable to denials of the Holocaust."[52]
In 2008, Yosef Shagal, an Azerbaijani-born former Israeli parliamentarian from Yisrael Beiteinu said in an interview with an Azerbaijani news outlet: "I find it is deeply offensive, and even blasphemous to compare the Holocaust of European Jewry during the Second World War with the mass extermination of the Armenian people during the First World War. Jews were killed because they were Jews ... [With Armenians] the picture is principally different - seeking to establish the state and national independence, Turkish Armenians sided with the Russian Empire, which was at war with Turkey".[53]
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin visited the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem on May 9, 2016. Concluding his speech he said, that "the Armenians were massacred in 1915. My parents remember thousands of Armenian migrants finding asylum at the Armenian Church. No one in Israel denies that an entire nation was massacred."[54]
According to Marc David Baer, Israeli genocide denial has been facilitated by Turkish Jews. He claims that, "promoting themselves as loyal subjects of the sultan, Ottoman Jewish leaders sided with Sultan Abdülhamid II against Armenians, who became their common enemy." Today, the main Jewish leaders in Turkey—chief rabbis David Asseo and Ishak Haleva, and former Jewish community president Bensiyon Pinto—oppose recognition of the Armenian genocide.[57][58]
James Karygiannis is a former Canadian politician. He served in the House of Commons of Canada as a Liberal MP from 1988 to 2014, and as member of the Toronto City Council from 2014 until 2020, when his seat was vacated due to campaign spending violations.
The history of the Jews in Armenia is one of the Jewish communities in the Caucasus region. There is evidence of Jewish settlement in the Armenian Highlands dating as early 1st century BC.
Reuven "Ruvi" Rivlin is an Israeli politician and lawyer who served as the tenth president of Israel between 2014 and 2021. He is a member of the Likud party. Rivlin was Minister of Communications from 2001 to 2003, and subsequently served as Speaker of the Knesset from 2003 to 2006 and 2009 to 2013. On 10 June 2014, he was elected President of Israel. His term ended on 7 July 2021.
Anti-Armenian sentiment, also known as anti-Armenianism and Armenophobia, is a diverse spectrum of negative feelings, dislikes, fears, aversion, racism, derision and/or prejudice towards Armenians, Armenia, and Armenian culture.
Diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey are officially non-existent and have historically been hostile. Whilst Turkey recognised Armenia shortly after the latter proclaimed independence in September 1991, the two countries have failed to establish diplomatic relations. In 1993, Turkey reacted to the war in Nagorno-Karabakh by closing its border with Armenia out of support for Azerbaijan.
The State of Israel and the Republic of Turkey formally established diplomatic relations in March 1949. Less than a year after the Israeli Declaration of Independence, Turkey recognized Israeli sovereignty, making it the world's first Muslim-majority country to do so. Both countries gave high priority to bilateral cooperation in the areas of diplomacy and military/strategic ties, while sharing concerns with respect to the regional instabilities in the Middle East. In recent decades, particularly under Turkey's Erdoğan administration, the two countries' relationship with each other has deteriorated considerably. However, diplomatic ties were reinstated after a successful normalization initiative in mid-2022.
Relations have always been strong between Azerbaijan and Turkey, the only two predominantly Turkic countries located west of the Caspian Sea. Former Azerbaijani president Heydar Aliyev often described the two as being "one nation, two states."
United Armenia, also known as Greater Armenia or Great Armenia, is an Armenian ethno-nationalist irredentist concept referring to areas within the traditional Armenian homeland—the Armenian Highland—which are currently or have historically been mostly populated by Armenians. The idea of what Armenians see as unification of their historical lands was prevalent throughout the 20th century and has been advocated by individuals, various organizations and institutions, including the nationalist parties Armenian Revolutionary Federation and Heritage, the ASALA and others.
Azerbaijan and Israel began diplomatic relations in 1992 following Azerbaijan's independence from the Soviet Union. Azerbaijan is one of the majority Muslim countries, alongside Turkey, Egypt, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Kosovo, Morocco, Albania, and the other former Soviet republics to develop bilateral strategic and economic relations with Israel.
Armenian genocide recognition is the formal acceptance that the systematic massacres and forced deportation of Armenians committed by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923, during and after the First World War, constituted genocide.
Armenians in Israel and Palestine make up a community of approximately 5,000–6,000 Armenians living in both Israel and the State of Palestine.
Bilateral relations exist between Armenia and Serbia. Diplomatic relations between Armenia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia were established on 14 January 1993; Serbia is the legal successor to this country. Both countries are represented through their embassies in Athens, Greece, and both have established honorary consulates, which serve as the only diplomatic representatives between the two countries.
Armenian–Syrian relations are foreign relations between Armenia and Syria. Armenia has an embassy in Damascus and a consulate general in Aleppo. In 1997, Syria opened an embassy in Yerevan. Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa visited Armenia in March 1992.
Armenian–Jewish relations are complex, often due to political and historical reasons.
The Zurich Protocols refer to two bilateral protocols signed in 2009 by Armenia and Turkey that envisioned starting the process of normalizing relations between the two countries. The Protocols included provisions for the establishment of formal diplomatic relations, the opening of the Turkish-Armenian border, and the establishment of a joint historical commission on the Armenian genocide issue. The agreement, which later proved to be ineffectual, had been brokered by the United States, Russia and France.
Diplomatic relations between Armenia and Saudi Arabia were formalized on 25 November 2023. However, the relationship between the two countries has witnessed significant warming since the 2010s, possibly due to common opposition to increasing Turkish influence.
Bilateral relations exist between Italy and Armenia. Italy has an embassy in Yerevan and Armenia has an embassy in Rome. Both countries are full members of the Council of Europe.
The International Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide was the first major conference in the field of genocide studies, held in Tel Aviv on 20–24 June 1982. It was organized by Israel Charny, Elie Wiesel, Shamai Davidson, and their Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide, founded in 1979. The conference's objective was to further the understanding and prevention of all genocides; it marked the shift from viewing genocide as an irrational phenomenon to one that could be studied and understood.
The following is list of the official reactions to the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War.
Because of the geography, history, and sensitivities of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, accusations, allegations, and statements have been made of involvement by third-party and international actors during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, including in media reports. Azerbaijan has been accused of employing Syrian mercenaries during the war, including reports by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). There have also been allegations of Kurdish militia from Syria and Iraq fighting on the Armenian side, and although some third-party sources had confirmed it, some publications had considered these claims "dubious". During the war, ethnic Armenian volunteers from the Middle East, Europe, and Latin America fought on Armenian side. Both sides have denied employing mercenaries in the war, but the OHCHR had stated that there were reports about Syrian fighters motivated primarily by private gain fighting on Azerbaijan's side recruited with Turkey's assistance and foreign nationals fighting on Armenian side with motivation being investigated, calling for withdrawal of any mercenaries and related actors from Nagorno-Karabakh.
↑ Neusner, Jacob (1965). A History of the Jews in Babylonia, Volumes 1-5. Brill Archive. p.27. Tigranes took a large number of Jews captive, and deported them to Armavir and Vardges on the Ksakh river, which became a great commercial center.
↑ Aubry de La Motraye (1723). A. de La Motraye's Travels through Europe, Asia, and into parts of Africa. London: Printed for the author. p.189.
↑ R. Hrair Dekmejian & Hovann H. Simonian. Troubled Waters: The Geopolitics of the Caspian Region, 2003, p. 125 "In addition to commercial links, Israel has given strong backing to Azerbaijan in its conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, which reportedly has included military assistance."
↑ Sedat Laçiner, Mehmet Özcan, İhsan Bal. USAK Yearbook of International Politics and Law 2010, Vol. 3, p. 322 "Israel was one of the strategic partners and supporters of Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh War with Armenia."
↑ Bahruz Balayev, The Right to Self-Determination in the South Caucasus: Nagorno Karabakh in Context, Lexington Books, 2013, p. 73 "Israel has supported Azerbaijan in its conflict with Armenia for the enclave of Nagorno Karabakh."
↑ Derfner, Larry (26 November 2009). "Mouths filled with hatred". The Jerusalem Post. Of all Old City Christians, the Armenians get spat on most frequently because their quarter stands closest to those hot spots.
↑ Stoil, Rebecca Anna (18 May 2011). "Knesset moves toward recognizing Armenian genocide". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 19 May 2011. For years, consecutive governments had blocked attempts by MKs to raise the subject of recognizing the genocide out of concern that such recognition could damage relations with Ankara. This year, however, the government did not block the hearing.
↑ Lis, Jonathan (31 May 2011). "Knesset Speaker working to boost recognition of Armenian genocide". Haaretz. Retrieved 2 June 2011. Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said Monday that he wanted to convene an annual parliamentary session of the full Knesset to mark the Armenian genocide of 1915 and 1916 at the hands of the Turks. 'It is my duty as a Jew and Israeli to recognize the tragedies of other peoples,' Rivlin said, speaking to an Israel-based Armenian action committee.
Bishku, Michael B. (2021). "Israel and Armenia: So Near Experientially, But So Far Away Geopolitically?". Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. 44 (2): 19–42. doi:10.1353/jsa.2021.0001. S2CID232040530.
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