AZERBAIJAN TO OPEN CULTURAL OFFICE IN ISRAEL?

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAKU 000930 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/22/2016 TAGS: PREL IS AJ SUBJECT: AZERBAIJAN TO OPEN CULTURAL OFFICE IN ISRAEL? REF: BAKU 757 Classified By: Charge d,Affaires Jason P. Hyland, reasons 1.4 (b) and ( d). ¶1. (C) According to Ilgar Mukhtarov, director of the Americas Desk at the MFA, Azerbaijan has serious plans to open a cultural office in Israel that it will begin to act on after the June OIC Summit in Baku concludes. Mukhtarov explained that an Embassy or even a Trade Mission would be too difficult to accomplish given "pressures" but a cultural office would be possible. It is justifiable on grounds of the Jewish-Azerbaijani population that has emigrated to Israel in recent years, he said, and eventually the GOAJ could upgrade it to the level of a trade mission or ultimately an embassy. Mukhtarov said that this is not idle speculation. The MFA is already looking at how to budget such a project, he claimed. ¶2. (C) Israeli Ambassador Arthur Lenk, when asked by Emboff, was unaware of any plans for an Azerbaijani cultural office in Israel although he said "it is consistent with what we have heard" as to Azerbaijan's plans to open a representational office of some kind in Israel, below the level of an Embassy. Most often, he said, the talk is of a trade office. Ambassador Lenk added that while a cultural office is better than nothing, it is "too little" and Israel would want to see Azerbaijan upgrade it to a trade mission, then to a consulate, and finally to an embassy. Ambassador Lenk said that Israel understands Azerbaijan has to move slowly. ¶3. (C) COMMENT: Azerbaijan has good relations with Israel but is subject to intense pressure by Iran and other OIC members whenever it seeks to upgrade relations or to assist Israel in international fora (reftel). Mukhtarov's remarks are notable, first because they demonstrate that the MFA is thinking creatively and actively about ways to upgrade relations with Israel, and second because of his contention that this thinking has reached the point where it is affecting the MFA's budget. END COMMENT. HYLAND