ARMENIA’S GROWING RELATIONSHIP WITH IRAN COULD AFFECT ISRAEL
CHRISTIAN NEWS
By JNS.ORG
03/19/2015 13:08
Armenia’s budding relationship with Iran may hurt it’s longstanding
relationship with Israel.
Armenian Christmas in Bethlehem . (photo credit:TRAVELUHJAH)
The status of the Old City of Jerusalem and those holy places also
presents one of the thorniest issues in the Arab-Israeli conflict,
and the latest installment in this long-drawn drama involves the
Republic of Armenia and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The Armenian leadership’s cancellation of a planned visit to Jerusalem
in February 2010 by then-prime minister Tigran Sargsyan provided
a cause for concern and puzzlement for the Israeli government that
persists to this day.
Until recently, the Armenian government had not sent a single
delegation to Israel since the cancellation of Sargsyan’s visit. In
contrast, an Armenian neighbor, the Muslim-majority Republic of
Azerbaijan, has sent a series of top-level delegations, including
cabinet ministers, parliamentarians, and Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov.
In what was reportedly a bit of damage control, on March 5, Armenian
Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan arrived in Israel for what the
Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs described as a “private visit,”
promoting a decidedly anti-Turkish and anti-Azeri agenda. Nalbandyan
received a less-than-warm welcome due to the well-documented and
increasing wave of anti-Semitism in the Armenian media as well as the
prolific state-sponsored anti-Israel propaganda that makes Armenia
such a darling of Iran.
What really caused the cancellation of the visit of Armenian prime
minister Sargsyan to Israel? In mid-February 2010, Yerevan notified
Israel that Sargsyan had become ill with the flu and was unable to
travel. Other diplomatic sources in Jerusalem noted that the flu struck
the Armenian prime minister in “a strange manner after a meeting with
the advisor of Iranian President Mehdi Mostafavi.”
Nearly at the same time as the Armenian official trip, the Iranian
ambassador in Yerevan, Seyed Ali Sagayan, announced that the Islamic
Republic would act as an intermediary, promoting the normalization
process between Armenia and Turkey. This was preceded by a visit
to Tehran of then-Armenian minister of transport and communication
Manuk Vardanyan, an invitation to the defense minister of Armenia to
Iran, and the arrival in Yerevan of a head of the Iranian diplomatic
delegation.
According to information received in Jerusalem, Tehran feared that
the Israelis would try to negotiate with the head of the Armenian
government about the tacit cooperation on the Iranian issue. Although
Iran remains a major regional partner of Yerevan, no less important for
the Armenians is their position in Jerusalem at the city’s holy sites.
The Jerusalem Patriarchate of the Armenian Apostolic Church controls
many Christian shrines in the city (including a part of the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre). The Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem (where
about 2,500 people live) is the spiritual center for the influential
Armenian diaspora in the Middle East, including Lebanon, Syria, and
Iran. This quarter is even called the key to the “Armenian factor”
of Middle East politics.
For Armenians, these places are particularly sensitive because of
the long-term confrontation with the Greeks regarding control over
the Jerusalem sites. In resolving a number of conflicts between
the Armenians and Greeks, the Israeli authorities, in particular the
Ministry of Religious Affairs, plays a critical role. On such matters,
Israeli state agencies prefer to remain neutral.
But recently, representatives of the Armenian Church began to
express fears that amid the crisis with Turkey, Israel had decided to
strengthen the partnership with Greece, and by consequence the Israeli
government may prefer the Greeks in the conflict over Jerusalem’s
holy sites.
“Holy Mount Zion to the Jews actually is in the possession of the
Armenian community and the Israeli government is implementing a
systematic policy to force Armenians out. Armenia as the state did
not oppose this policy.” Step Karapetyan, stated publicly ess than
a month before the announcement of the visit of the Armenian prime
minister to Israel, one of Jerusalem’s priests. He further noted
that “in such circumstances, conflicts and collisions will occur and
further, because the problem is not only religious but also political
and geopolitical conditions.”
The Iranians reportedly feared that in exchange for some assistance in
the matter of holy places, Sarkisian would agree to tacit cooperation
on subjects of strategic importance for Tehran, but the Armenians
quickly backed down under pressure from Iran.
The Iranian regime has never ceased to support Armenia in its
megalomaniac policy of occupation of the sovereign Azeri territory.
Recently, on behalf of Armenia, a blatant attack on an Azeri senior
diplomat–Baku’s ambassador to Washington, Elin Suleymanov–was aired
by the official Islamic Republic of Iran broadcaster Radio Tabriz,
in which the Iranian broadcast accused Suleymanov of “lobbying
activities against Armenia in Washington, DC.” The Iranians used a
classical anti-Semitic ruse by calling any diplomat who has healthy
relationship with Jewish people, especially American Jewry, a “secret
agent” of Zionists.
The mullah-controlled regime in Tehran manifests a growing concern
over the invigoration of relations between Israel, Azerbaijan,
and the states of Central Asia, particularly Kazakhstan. The
Iranians fear that the Israeli strategy of containing the Islamic
Republic–which continues to stall the P5+1 negotiations over Iran’s
nuclear program–is gaining momentum, while Armenia is still suffering
from the Iranian flu.
http://www.jpost.com/Christian-News/Armenia-growing-relationship-with-Iran-394435