Baku is “offended” by Tehran, but offers setting new checkpoints with Iran

March 7, 2011 - 18:18 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - During the eighth sitting of the Azerbaijani-Iranian intergovernmental committee on economic cooperation on March 7, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov offered Iran to set new checkpoints with a twenty-four-hour schedule of operation.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi called for establishment of a joint bank, joint shipping companies, as well as opening credit lines, Mehr correspondent reported.

A range of documents on bilateral cooperation are envisaged to be signed based on the results of the sitting.

Mammadyarov’s suggestion is within the logics of cooperation between the two neighboring countries. However, the recent processes in the Azerbaijani-Iranian relations prove that it's not all that simple.

Specifically, since the beginning of 2011 Azerbaijani organizations have organized protest actions in front of Iranian embassies in foreign countries over Tehran’s good neighborly relations with Armenia. Moreover, Baku openly accused Tehran of interference in its domestic affairs, but without going into details of how this interference is implemented.

However, given the reports of Azerbaijani media that thousands of Azerbaijanis go to Iran to purchase cheap foodstuff, the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister’s suggestion is rather reasonable.

The history suggests that the Azerbaijani-Iranian border has always been “leaky,” serving a path for arms and drugs smuggling even during the Soviet times. Now its volume has become huge. Most likely, due to this very reason Iran does not repeal the visa regime for Azerbaijani citizens, who can sharply change the demographic situation in the Northern Azerbaijan.

Influential Iranian politicians have already started speaking about Baku’s main goal – to divide Iran. Thus, Mammadyarov’s proposal can be considered also from this point of view.