‘Both countries are close friends’: Azerbaijan hosts first high-level meeting to calm Israel-Turkey tensions in Syria

Peloni:  It will be difficult to raise to square the knot between the Muslim Brotherhood power in Turkey which is committed to the destruction of Israel coexisting with Israel.  Trump’s recent remarks declaring Israel needs to be reasonable still echo, it would seem that Turkey is being bolstered into a position of regional dominance with which it should not be trusted.  Notably, Erdogan’s lack of adhering to commitments which contrast with his own designs on power have recently been demonstrated with his illegal arrest of a domestic political rival.  Considering this, are we seriously to believe that this same regime will adhere to any commitment made in Baku?

Deconfliction talks come after Israel struck Syrian airbase wanted by Turkey

All Israel News Staff | Published: April 10, 2025

Flags of Israel, Turkey and Azerbaijan By AI 

Israeli and Turkish representatives met in Azerbaijan on Wednesday, in a first high-level meeting meant to calm the quickly rising tensions between the two nations’ armed forces in Syria.

Last week, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) struck several military sites in Syria, including the Hama Air Base and the Tiyas Airbase (also known as T4), of which Turkey was rumored to be assuming control.

Following reports that Israel and Turkey initiated contacts aimed at setting up a deconfliction channel to prevent unwanted clashes between their forces, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev announced Wednesday that his country would help the two nations reach an agreement.

“A diplomatic-security delegation, led by National Security Council Director Tzachi Hanegbi, and with the participation of senior representatives from the Defense Ministry and the security services, met last night with a parallel Turkish delegation,” the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office stated Thursday.

“Israel thanks Azerbaijan and President Ilham Aliyev for hosting the important talks. Each side presented its interests in the region. It was agreed to continue on the path of dialogue in order to maintain regional stability.”

Speaking at the annual ADA University Policy Forum in Baku on Wednesday, Aliyev had referenced his country’s interest in helping achieve a solution.

“Both countries are close friends of Azerbaijan. With Turkey, we are allies, and Israel is a friendly state to Azerbaijan, and over many years, this mutual friendship has been proven in difficult times for both of us,” President Aliyev said.

“Therefore, this tension between the two countries is very troubling and a matter of concern for us.” He claimed that his government helped end the previous period of tension between Israel and Turkey, leading to an official visit by Israeli President Isaac Herzog to Turkey in 2022.

Aliyev said  that despite legitimate concerns, he hopes to find “areas of mutual interest.”

“It is always bad when your friends have poor relations; it is bad for them, bad for us, and bad for the world. I believe that despite legitimate concerns and the relatively high level of mistrust, it is still possible to find a basis for normalization and areas of mutual interest.”

On Thursday morning, Turkish news site The Daily Sabah reported that Israeli and Turkish officials held their first deconfliction meeting in Azerbaijan on Wednesday, citing sources in the Turkish Defense Ministry. 

“The first technical meeting held Wednesday in Azerbaijan to discuss a conflict prevention mechanism between Türkiye and Israel to avoid unwanted incidents in Syria,” sources said.

The sources said that Turkey told Israel to “immediately halt provocative attacks that threaten Syria’s territorial integrity and destabilize its security.”

They also accused Israel of “expansionist” behavior, saying the international community should do more to stop Israeli “unlawfulness.”

On Thursday, sources in the Turkish Defense Ministry told the Saudi al-Arabiya channel: “Our presence in Syria is not intended to harm a third country. We told Israel that our presence in Syria is at the request of Damascus in order to increase Syria’s defense capabilities to deal with terrorism.”

An Israeli government official on Thursday confirmed the meetings in Azerbaijan, briefing media outlets that a Turkish military presence in the Palmyra area of Syria, where the T4 airbase is located, was a “red line” for Israel. 

“Yesterday, a meeting was held between representatives from Israel and Turkey in Azerbaijan, where Israel made it clear unequivocally that any change in the deployment of foreign forces in Syria – and in particular the establishment of Turkish bases in the Palmyra area – is a red line and will be considered a breaking point,” the official said.

The official also said that Israel has already made its position clear that preventing this threat is the responsibility of the new government in Damascus. 

“Any action that endangers Israel will endanger the rule of [Syrian President Ahmad] al-Shara,” the official stated. 

An Israeli security source was later cited by Sky News Arabic, reiterating that Israel does not want to see Turkish forces on the Golan border.

However, the source added that Turkey is currently not interested in a conflict, and that the IDF has currently no instructions to actively combat any Turkish presence in Syria.

Israel and Turkey have been verbally sparring over each other’s presence in Syria following the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024 by Turkish-supported groups like Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.

While Turkey has criticized Israeli strikes and the seizure of a security buffer in the Mount Hermon area, Turkey itself has seized hundreds of kilometers of territory in northern Syria, both during and after the Syrian Civil War. 

Israel struck several sites in Syria where the Turkish military reportedly wanted to establish bases for its forces in the area, including the T4 airbase near Homs.

Despite the clear differences of positions visible in the statements from the two sides, one of the Turkish officials said, “Efforts will continue to establish this mechanism.”