Israeli President's Dark-Flight Over Turkey Exposed: Baku and Herzog's Scheme to Bypass Ankara's Air Embargo
Flight data and images show Israel's president crossed Turkish airspace on a commercial flight to attend a summit in Baku.
The President of Israel, Isaac Herzog, traveled to Baku on Wednesday to participate in an international conference on the flight of Azerbaijan Airlines (Azal); Because Türkiye prevents Israeli government planes from passing through its airspace. This matter has been announced by knowledgeable sources to Middle East Eye.
Publicly available data on FlightRadar24 website shows that Herzog traveled on Azerbaijan Airlines flight number J222. The flight took off from Tel Aviv at 11:35 am, crossed Turkish airspace and landed in Baku at 15:40 local time.
The pictures and videos of Herzog's welcoming ceremony in Baku show that he arrived in the city on a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner belonging to Azal; A subject that matches the aircraft type registered for this flight on FlightRadar24. The arrival time of the plane is also consistent with the announcement of Herzog's press office.
A spokesman for the Israeli president's office declined to comment on the details of the flight "at this stage."
In 2024, Türkiye banned Herzog's plane from passing through its airspace; An action that forced the President of Israel to cancel his visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan. In April, his plane traveled an eight-hour route to stay away from Turkish airspace for an official trip to Kazakhstan.
To travel to Baku, Herzog could have taken a longer route through Greece and Bulgaria and over the Black Sea. However, Middle East Eye has learned that his team has opted to use a passenger flight due to security concerns over ongoing attacks on ships in the Black Sea.
Although Herzog's arrest warrant has not been issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), Ankara has banned all Israeli government planes from passing through Turkish airspace.
However, civilian flights of Israeli airlines and other foreign companies are still allowed to fly through Turkish airspace on their way to and from Tel Aviv.
A Turkish official familiar with this matter told Middle East Eye that the Republic of Azerbaijan had not informed Turkey that the President of Israel was present on Azal's flight.
The official added that the Israeli government no longer requests to use Turkish airspace because it is aware of Ankara's position.
He said: "Naturally, Turkey cannot receive the passenger list of every passenger plane that just passes through the airspace of this country."
Herzog's trip to Baku and meeting with Aliyev
Herzog has traveled to Baku to participate in the seventh summit of the Conference on Engagement and Confidence-Building Actions in Asia (CICA), which is scheduled to be held on Thursday. After arriving in this city on Wednesday, he met with Ilham Aliyev, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
The trip comes amid heightened tensions between Ankara and Baku over Azerbaijan's decision to ban the headscarf in primary and secondary schools, announced last week.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will attend the summit instead of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It is possible that Erdogan decided not to participate in this meeting because of Herzog's presence. Fidan is also expected to try to reduce tensions between the two allies of Turkey and the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Both Turkey and Israel provided material support to Baku during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020 and helped the Republic of Azerbaijan to recapture large parts of the occupied lands that are internationally recognized as the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
After the war, Turkey and the Republic of Azerbaijan signed the "Shusha Declaration" in 2021, based on which the two countries pledged to defend each other.
The Azerbaijani Dreamliner plane that transported Herzog to Baku was called "Shusha".
Some social network users have suggested that the choice of this plane was not accidental and interpreted its name as another allusion to Ankara.