“Brotherly” relations between Iran and Azerbaijan are now thing of the past

PanARMENIAN.Net - Let us leave these lies on the conscience of Baku and simply ask ourselves: why does Baku need aggravation of relations with Tehran, if Iran is home to around 20 million ethnic Azeris, who are wanted to be made a “fifth column” for promotion of pan-Turkist ideas? Since when has strengthening of ties with Armenia been the internal affair of Azerbaijan? All these questions have one answer: Baku is trying to enlist the U.S. support in the issue of settling the Karabakh conflict and dividing the Caspian Sea, therefore she acts in an unusual way trying to give herself out as the “enemy” of Iran. And how much she succeeds or how honest the politicians are is quite a different matter. Baku has added to her armoury the undying postulate “There are no permanent allies, only permanent interests”, but she fails to implement it because of the lack of adequate and serious actions. Judge for yourself: protest actions are held in Ankara and Stockholm by people who are only indirectly related to Azerbaijan. It is common knowledge that majority of statements of the Azerbaijani diaspora are nurtured by Turkey, which, at the expense of Baku, tries to solve her problem with Iran in terms of regional leadership. Moreover, it is likely that the U.S. may start a war against Iran, in which case Azerbaijan acquires strategic importance for America. But Azerbaijani politicians do not think about what will become of them and their country if Tehran strikes the first blow against Azerbaijan...

“Azerbaijanis and Azerbaijani citizens expected quite a different attitude from the Iranians and Iran, and I believe they have right for it. At least given the fact that a great community of ethnic Azerbaijanis live in Iran, I think that the Iranian government’s support to Armenia is unacceptable. In this regard, we strongly condemn Iran’s attempts to interfere in Azerbaijan’s internal affairs,” said executive secretary of the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party, Ali Ahmedov, stressing that such stand of Tehran worries every Azerbaijani citizen and causes conflicting feelings and emotions. Ahmedov also said he didn’t want the Iranian side to consider the Karabakh conflict from a religious point of view.

Ahmedov once again mentioned 20% of the “occupied territories” and 1 million refugees. Most likely he recalled them for reminding the world community about them. And then sounded the hidden threat: “Numerous communities of ethnic Azerbaijanis live in Iran - although they are Iranian citizens, they are Azerbaijanis, our brothers. All this gives the Iranian-Azerbaijani relations a special color and meaning. It must be taken into account by the Iranian side.” In short, once again Baku gave way to blackmail, the main instrument of the Azeri policy. But Azerbaijan overlooked the fact that blackmail and threats work more on (or they seem to work on) Europe and the USA, while that cock won’t fight in Iran.

The Azerbaijan Federation of Sweden went even farther, stating that after Azerbaijan declared independence, Iran launched a campaign of hatred and sabotage. The Federation statement says: “Military-technical support to Armenia, prohibition to recall in the mosques Azerbaijanis killed in Karabakh, use of military force against Azerbaijan in the Caspian Sea, establishment of camps in Azerbaijan for the export of religious bigotry, propaganda of hatred and lie against Azerbaijan on the state TV channel “Səhər” are only a few examples of the twenty-year policy.” One more quote, “Giving permission to open Armenian schools, sports clubs, media editorials in Southern Azerbaijan, Iran prohibits the establishment of institutions by Turk Muslims, and organizes mass lawsuits against the Azerbaijani intelligentsia,” the statement says.

This long quotation provides insight into the attitude of Azerbaijan to Iran. Let us only add that no Azerbaijani Diaspora organization can have a viewpoint different from the official one voiced by the ruling party.