February 16, 2006
Baku State University in Azerbaijan has opened a Hebrew department. One Azeri student will be sent to Israel to study Hebrew, and will return to teach in the new department. The president of Baku State University, Abel Maharramov, told local reporters that the department would become a “bridge for the development of Azeri-Jewish cooperation.” Azerbaijan has had diplomatic relations with Israel since the early 1990s, but has not yet sent an ambassador there, which is probably due to its proximity to Iran and its involvement in international Muslim organizations. On Monday, the president of Azerbaijan told a group of American Jewish leaders that his country may upgrade its relations with Israel and open a trade mission there. Arthur Lenk, Israel’s ambassador to Baku, told reporters that two Azeri students are already studying in Israel, and the more the two countries knew about each other, the wider their cooperation could be.
