Deputy Minister: Armenia considers the possibility of opening an  embassy in Israel

ArmInfo. Armenia opposes the sale of Israeli weapons to Azerbaijan, but does not put this as a precondition for improving relations with Jerusalem. The Deputy  Foreign Minister of Armenia Grigor Hovhannisyan stated this in an  interview with The Jerusalem Post.

According to him, Armenia is considering the possibility of opening an embassy in Israel in order to bring ties between the two countries to the "next level". However,  according to the deputy minister, Yerevan is not considering the  issue of opening a diplomatic mission in Jerusalem. "I wouldn't  concentrate on that. The main thing is that the relationship is  established," he said. At the same time, the diplomat noted the  desire of the Armenian side to see the mirror steps from Israel,  opening the embassy in Yerevan. Today, Armenia and Israel are  represented in the country of each other by non-resident  ambassadors.Touching on the information that Israel is the main  supplier of weapons to Azerbaijan, Grigor Hovhannisyan said that  Armenia would welcome Israel if it follows the example of the United  States and many European countries - that is, it does not sell  weapons to either Baku or Yerevan. The deputy minister stressed that  there is no military solution to the Karabakh conflict, only  political, but the sale of weapons to Azerbaijan leads to an arms  race. 

As the representative of the Armenian Foreign Ministry pointed out,  Armenia wants to convey to its partners that the sale of arms to  Azerbaijan goes beyond the usual logic of such transactions, and is  fraught with consequences. At the same time, as the diplomat noted,  Armenia "does not exclude the possibility of cooperation with the  defense sector of Israel."Grigor Hovhannisyan also touched upon the  Armenian Genocide. The diplomat who served in Israel in 2000 in the  team of the UN mediator in the Middle East, said that although  Armenia would welcome recognition of the historical fact that the  Armenian people had to endure, this is not a precondition for  developing closer ties with Israel. "We know that geopolitical  aspirations often interfere with moral ones. And we also sometimes  have to deal with this," said Hovhannisyan. 

When asked if he was disappointed that Israel did not recognize the  Armenian Genocide, he made a distinction between his personal opinion  and the opinion of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As a descendant  of refugees who survived the genocide, Hovhannisyan said he was  personally disappointed, although this is not the position of the  foreign ministry or the government. He added that many countries,  including the United States, which are a close partner of Armenia,  did not recognize the Genocide. At the same time, he noted that for  more than 25 years of independence of Armenia, the pace of  recognition was impressive when thousands of regional governments and  about 40 countries recognized the Genocide.  Hovhannisyan also  touched upon the mutual interests of the two countries, noting that  Armenia is a member of the EAEU and for Israeli products can become a  gateway for entering a huge market.