Israeli President Flew Commercially to Baku, Bypassing Turkish Airspace Ban

Israeli President Isaac Herzog flew to Baku last week on a commercial Azerbaijan Airlines flight, thereby bypassing the airspace ban imposed by Turkey. This caused outrage in Ankara. Later, Turkish officials said they did not know Herzog was among the passengers on the commercial flight.

In 2024, Turkey did not grant Herzog the right to use its airspace during his visit to Azerbaijan. As a result, he did not travel to Baku, where he had planned to attend COP29.

The information emerged amid rising tensions between Azerbaijan and Turkey. The dispute was triggered by Azerbaijan's controversial decision to ban the wearing of hijabs in schools. At the same time, Ankara has long been dissatisfied with Azerbaijan's close ties with Israel. Some Turkish commentators linked these two issues and argued that Baku's alleged disrespect for Islam can be partly explained by its friendship with Israel.

On Friday, the influential pro-government Azerbaijani outlet APA published an article criticizing the "uproar" over the flight in Turkey and stating that "the issue is quite simple." APA wrote: "Neither a special aircraft was used for the Israeli president's visit to Azerbaijan, nor was any unusual flight planned. He arrived in Azerbaijan as a passenger on a commercial flight. However, those in Turkey who always look for a pretext against Azerbaijan and 'search for it' are also turning this issue into a subject of manipulation."

Other Azerbaijani media outlets also covered the flight. According to them, there was no need to notify Turkey about Herzog's use of its airspace, because he was travelling on a commercial aircraft.

Herzog was in Azerbaijan to attend the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA). During his stay in the country, he also held a face-to-face meeting with President Ilham Aliyev.

During Herzog's speech at the summit, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and others walked out in protest. Videos of the incident were widely shared on social media.