Azerbaijan to open embassy in Israel

Another ‘first’ for Azerbaijan:

First Shi'a Muslim State Azerbaijan to open an embassy in Israel, Americans with Azerbaijani Heritage are proud to hear this news.

Immediately upon declaring their independence from the Soviet Union which collapsed right afterward, Azerbaijan State officials reached out to American Jews and others around the world for assistance to establish the Friendship Society of Israel and Azerbaijan and to open a chapter of B’nai B'rith in Baku. Soon Israeli agricultural experts were invited to Azerbaijan to help them revitalize their food production industry.

Azerbaijan invited the Israeli government to open an embassy in Baku 1993, a move that came with great political cost to Azerbaijan as it strained relations with many other majority Muslim countries, most significantly, their immediate neighbor to the south, Iran. Now, Azerbaijan is the first Shi'ite Muslim State to open an embassy in Israel, bold move indeed.

Azerbaijan was the first to have a democratic, secular parliamentary Republic in the Muslim world in 1918 and gave women the right to vote before UK and USA.

Azerbaijan Society of America, sincerely offers its congratulations to Azerbaijan and Israel. Once again, Azerbaijan is a leader in progress of civil society and world stability.