The confrontation between Azerbaijan and Iran, which has developed in recent months, has become a severe threat to peace in the region.
The tense confrontation between Azerbaijan and Iran severely impacts the security of Central Asia and the Middle East. The role of the US is undeniable.
An indicator of this is one recent event. March 22, Azerbaijani News Agency Report reported that on March 25, a rally of Iranian Azerbaijanis («Turks of Southern Azerbaijan») would be held in Brussels. It was named by the organisers of the «Freedom and Independence March».
The head of the press service « Organization of National Resistance of Southern Azerbaijan », Majid Araz, gave an interview with the Azerbaijani news agency «Azertaj». He spoke about the upcoming action.
« The rally will also protest against Iran’s attacks against Northern Azerbaijan. Iran threatens Azerbaijan with an open war, declaring Armenia its „ red line “ and creating a strategic Iran-Armenian union against the Turkish-Azerbaijani union. All this made us protest. We will never accept this ».
Iran has repeatedly stated the inadmissibility of an attempt on the territory of Armenia through which Azerbaijan wants to lay the extraterritorial Zangezur corridor.
The action was held in front of the European Parliament. By a strange coincidence, the NATO headquarters is also located in the capital of Belgium. Azerbaijan has excellent relations with NATO.
Here is the final statement:
« It was reported to the free international community that the chauvinist and fascist governments that ruled Iran for about a hundred years pursued a brutal policy of colonialism and exploitation against non-Persian nationalities. Over the years, historical wealth, civilisations, economics, nature, and political rights were plundered; in short, everything that belonged to the oppressed peoples in Iran, all rights and justice movements, faced brutal repression. It was emphasised that the regime
Pehlevi exerted severe pressure on enslaved peoples, especially Azerbaijani Turks and other Turkic peoples of Iran, and even reached the systemic destruction of the historical monuments of Azerbaijan. With the hope of gaining freedom and justice, Azerbaijani Turks played an essential role in overthrowing the Pehlevi regime; however, unfortunately, during the regime of the Islamic Republic, nothing changed, and even racial fascism was added to national fascism. Azerbaijani Turks, waging a long struggle for their rights since the Islamic Revolution, said „ No! “ the Velayat-e-Fakih system in the 1979 revolution, and although the Constitution made demands for the implementation of the progressive law on provinces and regions, the regime’s response was only bullets and repressions.»
It is clear that activists are opposed to any Iran, regardless of the political regime.
« Today, for a reason, the world is closely watching the people of Iran; the international community admires and appreciates their struggle. However, this revolution has a lot of discrimination and double standards. In particular, the rhetoric of person-language media abroad, monopolised by the reactionary course, including against the Turkic people of Southern Azerbaijan, follows a policy that is not very different from the policies of sensitive media, boycotting their struggle and introducing censorship.
In recent months, the president was the only statesman to support the protest against the torment of the people of South Azerbaijan in the international arena, including within the Organization of Turkic States Ilham Aliyev framework. From here, we express our deep gratitude to the president and ask the respected president to continue to support our rights in the international arena ».
Here is «The main requirements of the Turks of Southern Azerbaijan», which begins with a call for a complete boycott of Iran, already under sanctions:
« -We demand from countries around the world to deny legitimacy to the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran, to break political and economic ties with the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran; – we condemn the desire of the chauvinistic regime of Iran with medieval thinking to master nuclear weapons of mass destruction, we consider this a potential threat to the existence of peoples living in Iran, as well as neighbouring countries and the entire democratic world. Therefore, we demand that the world’s states abandon the compromising policy regarding the Iranian regime and take serious preventive measures.»
Support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity
« We condemn the support by the Iranian regime of the official Moscow war against Ukraine and the military assistance of Russia and support the territorial integrity of Ukraine ».
Call for partitioning Iran and attack on its territorial integrity
« We want the world’s countries to recognize the pluralism and multi nationality of Iranian society and consider this issue in relations with Iranian citizens. Since Iran is a multinational and multicultural country, we demand that the languages of all nations be official. We are against the ideology of „ One nation, one language, one homeland “ -we condemn the continuation by the Iranian regime of a colonization policy towards the assimilation of non-Persian peoples and, in particular, Azerbaijani, Gashgai, Turkmen, Khoras and other Turks; –
The peoples who have undergone colonization in Iran have requirements for self-determination within the framework of international law. Today’s slogan „ Freedom, Justice, National Government “, sounds most often in South Azerbaijan, among Gashgaitsev ( Kashkais. — P. M.), Turkmen and summarizes our requirements. We want the freedom-loving people of the world to support our struggle to achieve the legitimate demands of us Turks.»
American fingers
On March 23, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken attended hearings on the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Democratic Senator Bob Menendez asked the Secretary of State about the requirement of the US Presidential Administration to allocate $ 700,000 for the participation of the Azerbaijani military in international military exercises. Blinken’s answer was very revealing. Firstly, according to Russian-speaking, including some Azerbaijani media, the secretary of state said:
« Azerbaijan has a long border with Iran and needs protection. Amendment 907 applied to Azerbaijan should be repealed ».
As we know, on June 24, 2022, US President Joe Biden extended the abolition of the application of the 907th Amendment about Azerbaijan. Consequently, the US Secretary of State wants to eliminate this amendment. It was adopted under pressure from the Armenian lobby. Secondly, during the answer to the question, Blinken noted:
« There are many good reasons for this; in particular, it is essential to strengthening cooperation between the armed forces of Azerbaijan and NATO in the framework of peacekeeping missions ».
We need to wait to find out what are the next steps or Azerbaijan. It will depend on the outcome of the incoming presidential elections in Türkiye. Azerbaijan may be used to open the “second front” against Russia indirectly. It also could be used for a direct attack on Iran.
