Israeli president took Azerbaijani flight to bypass Turkey's airspace ban

Israeli President Isaac Herzog took an Azerbaijan Airlines flight to Baku on Wednesday to attend an international conference because Turkey has been blocking Israeli government aircraft from using its airspace, Middle East Eye understands.

Open-source data from Flightradar24 indicates that Herzog travelled on flight J222, operated by Azerbaijan Airlines, known as AZAL. The flight departed Tel Aviv at 11:35am and passed through Turkish airspace before arriving in Baku at 3:40pm local time.

Pictures and footage from Herzog's welcome ceremony in Baku show that he arrived on an AZAL Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, matching the aircraft type recorded by Flightradar24 for that flight. The arrival time also aligns with the announcement issued by Herzog's press team.

A spokesperson for Herzog’s office declined to comment on the flight details "at this stage".

Turkey had barred Herzog's plane from its airspace in 2024, forcing him to cancel a visit to Azerbaijan. In April, his plane took an eight-hour route to Kazakhstan for an official visit to avoid Turkish airspace.

For the Baku visit, Herzog could have taken a longer route through Greece, Bulgaria and over the Black Sea. However, MEE understands that his team opted for a passenger flight because ongoing attacks on ships in the Black Sea have raised concerns about the safety of that route.

Although Herzog is not subject to an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant, Ankara bars all Israeli government aircraft from its airspace.

Civilian flights operated by Israeli and other foreign airlines, however, are still permitted to pass through Turkish airspace on routes to and from Tel Aviv.

A Turkish official familiar with the matter told MEE that Azerbaijan had not informed Turkey that the AZAL flight was carrying the Israeli president.

The official said the Israeli government no longer submits requests to use Turkish airspace because it knows Ankara’s position.

“Naturally, Turkey cannot get the passenger manifest for every airliner just passing through the airspace,” the official said.

Translation:  Israeli President travels to Baku with Azerbaijani plane. Israeli President Isaac Herzog met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Baku. In November 2024. It is believed that Azerbaijan assigned its own plane to Israeli Herzog to circumvent this situation. The plane's name being Shusha is interpreted as a reference to the "Shusha Declaration."

Herzog is in Baku to attend the seventh summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) on Thursday. He met Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Wednesday after arriving in the city.

The visit comes amid tensions between Ankara and Baku over Azerbaijan's decision last week to impose a headscarf ban in primary and middle schools.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is attending the summit in place of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who likely opted to stay away because of Herzog's presence. Fidan is also expected to seek to ease tensions between the two allies.

Turkey and Israel both provided material support to Baku during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020, helping Azerbaijan recapture large swathes of occupied land internationally recognised as Azerbaijani territory.

After the war, Turkey and Azerbaijan signed the Shusha Declaration in 2021, committing to defend one another.

The Azerbaijani Dreamliner that carried Herzog was named “Shusha”.

Some social media commentators have suggested that the choice of aircraft was no coincidence, interpreting its name as another jab at Ankara.