A new wave of tension – in relations between Tehran and Baku. It seems the Nakhchivan Declaration, which was signed in March by Azerbaijan, Iran, and Turkey, didn’t settle all the problems. Even though at the official level, Baku and Tehran claim brotherly relations, the series of protest actions were held in front of the consulship of Azerbaijan in Tebriz, which underwent without any prevention of the authorities. It means anything but not deep warm feelings of Iran to its northern neighbor. Moreover, Iran is not liberal to freedom of meetings, demonstrations, and protest actions. Thus, there is no doubt who the initiators of these protests are. On May 8th, the demonstration of Iranian students against the contest Eurovision and gay-parade (which is only a rumor) in Azerbaijan was held.
The majority of participants of the demonstration in Tebriz were members of the Iranian pro-governmental youth organization Basij. It is notable that the video of an Azerbaijani blogger in Tebriz shows that demonstrators were provided with food there. Perhaps free food is a serious motivation for participation in protests organized by the authorities in Iran which suffers from sanctions.
Azerbaijan’s response at the demonstration followed immediately. On May 11 in Baku, a protest was held in front of the Iranian embassy. About 600 people participated in this action, including activists of the pro-presidential youth organization Ireli. Azerbaijani demonstrators demanded stoppage of interference into internal affairs of Azerbaijan by the Iranian state. They demanded to leave Eurovision alone, take a just position in the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement and stop support of Yerevan and the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. In such cases Azerbaijani always use a protocol photo of Mahmud Ahmadinejad and Serge Sargsyan shaking hands. Baku reminds that Sargsyan had been involved into genocide of Azerbaijani in Khodjaly.
Furthermore, the scientific and religious council of the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of the Caucasus made a statement on position of some Iranian religious activists toward Azerbaijan. The document deserves a quotation: “We are strictly against offences of the Azerbaijani state, humiliation of its state attributes, insult of President by some religious activists of neighboring Iran, threats to our independent policy; we consider them as interference into our internal affairs.
The real reason for directed against our people and statehood provocations is not a religious care, Islamic solidarity, demonstration of brotherhood, and care about feelings of our nation, as it is presented, but the fact that they want to damage our stability and create confrontation within our society. After the statement of our President that Azerbaijan would never be a territory for any aggression against Iran, such actions and statements couldn’t be accepted. Presentation of gay-parade as a reality – even though our society and the state do not accept such phenomena – and accusation of our state of mischief show hostility and craftiness,” Azerbaijani theology scientists say.
What is the real reason of another wave of tension in Iranian-Azerbaijani relations? Few people can believe that Tehran, which suffers from many internal problems, is heavily concerned with gay-parade.
The much more important role is played by millions of ethnic Azerbaijani living in the IRI. Despite the official policy of Tehran aimed at their assimilation, they continue to recognize themselves as Turks and Azerbaijani, rather than “wrong Persians,” whom Tehran has given a chance to join the united Iranian nation through rejection of their cultural identity. It doesn’t correlate with the policy of mullacrates founded their state on the basis of Shiah fundamentalism and Persian nationalism. In this context, the 1st Forum of Turks of South Azerbaijan, which was held in Ankara, is a serious reason for the Iranian authorities for starting another wave of anti-Azerbaijani propaganda in their country. The Forum gathered 237 participants, including deputies of the Azerbaijani parliament Sabir Rustamkhanly and Faradzh Guliyev. It took place on May 12. It is notable that the municipal authorities of Ankara tried to prevent the Forum and the initiators had to find another place for holding the event. Turkish officials explained it by “security issues,” but they could do it under Tehran’s pressure.
However, many experts are sure that Tehran cannot forgive for independent opinion not only south, but also north Azerbaijani, i.e. the Azerbaijani Republic which doesn’t want to follow the foreign political course of Iran. Another irritant is relations between Azerbaijan and Israel. Moreover, forming of “the coalition of war” in Israel after the parliamentary elections improved Iran’s fussiness (the new internal political situation in Israel is analyzed by Petr Lukimson for VK: http://vestikavkaza.ru/analytics/politika/57818.html)
. In other words, the growing threat of launching a military strike at Iran by Israel influences negatively Iranian-Azerbaijani relations.
Therefore, the current problems in relations between Azerbaijan and Iran have a systemic character caused by different values of two societies and different geopolitical targets. Many experts hope that tension in the bilateral relations could be eliminated during the visit by Ilham Aliyev to Iran in late August, where he will participate in the 16th summit of the heads of the Non-aligned Movement states. Will these hopes fulfill? It is a difficult question. Baku is sure it is Tehran that aggravates the situation.
