Following a 15-day delay, Mukhtar Mammadov, the first-ever ambassador of Azerbaijan to Israel, on Sunday evening presented his credentials to President Isaac Herzog,
The Jerusalem Post reports.
Mammadov, along with the ambassadors of Guatemala, Ecuador, Sri Lanka, Suriname and Malawi, had originally been scheduled to present his credentials on March 9, which was a Thursday, and a day of national paralysis, causing the presentation ceremony to be postponed.
Two of the aforementioned ambassadors are non-residents. They, together with the three resident ambassadors are expected to present their credentials in May unless a suitable date is found in April.
Although Israel and Azerbaijan have had diplomatic relations for 30 years, and there has been an Israeli Embassy in Baku for much of that time, prior to January of this year, there had never been an Azerbaijani ambassador to Israel – not even a non-resident ambassador.
But in November of 2022, a historic decision was made by the Azerbaijani parliament to open an embassy in Tel Aviv.
In January of this year, Mammadov was appointed by President Ilham Aliyev.
Not only is he his country’s first ambassador to Israel, but also the first ambassador of a Muslim country with a Shi’ite majority and a Shi’ite government.
A veteran diplomat, who has also been deeply involved with education, Mammadov’s immediate past position was that of deputy education minister.
