Tuesday, October 4 2022 11:46

ArmInfo. Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz's visit comes days after video footage surfaced of Azeri troops executing Armenian POWs, the Jerusalem Post reports. 

While meeting with the Azeri officials, Gantz "emphasized the  importance of maintaining strategic relations between the State of  Israel and the Republic of Azerbaijan and continuing to work towards  regional and global peace and stability," an official the statement  read. 

The Muslim-majority Central Asian country borders Iran, which  according to foreign reports, allows Israel to conduct espionage  operations and more against its main foe.

Baku has also been the main supplier of crude oil to Israel and has  become a significant recipient of Israeli military hardware in recent  years. A 2020 report by the Stockholm International Peace Research  Institute found that Baku was the second largest customer of Israeli  weapons systems after India.

Azerbaijan and neighboring Armenia have had a long-standing dispute  over the contested Armenian- populated enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.  Violence has spiraled into an all-out war twice in 2020 and in the  1990s over the area.

The six-week war in 2020 claimed more than 6,500 lives and saw the  use of Israeli weapons systems including drones that tilted the war's  balance on the side of Baku, allowing it to regain control over  territory it lost to Armenia during the 1990s.

Last month at least 286 people were killed on both sides before a  truce was brokered by the United States.

Gantz's visit came days after graphic video footage surfaced of Azeri  soldiers executing six Armenian prisoners of war captured during the  last round of fighting in September.

Armenian Ministry of Defense spokesman Aram Torosyan said there was  "no doubt" about the authenticity of the footage, adding "it is  typical of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces. That style is known to us  and the international community from the irrefutable evidence of  previous similar incidents."

The video came weeks after other reports of the rape and mutilation  of a female Armenian soldier by Azeri troops during the same round of  fighting. 

Azerbaijani authorities have said that investigations have been  launched into both incidents, the newspaper reports.

Commenting on Benny Gantz's visit to Azerbaijan, Israeli political  scientist Alexander Zinker called it "disgraceful." 

"I can understand - security and political issues, but organizing a  visit while the entire world is discussing the atrocities committed  by Azerbaijani soldiers who executed six Armenian POWs, demanding an  investigation and calling the perpetrators to account - Even the The  Jerusalem Post editorial board, who are not pro-Armenian, have paid  attention to this - I can hardly find an appropriate word -  disgraceful visit," Zinker wrote.