A tragedy in Ganja

Two police officers have been killed by criminals while performing their official duties. The killing of policemen is accompanied by an attempt to "moralize" criminals, just like the attempt on the head of the executive power of Ganja a few days ago. In particular, the "martyrs" with propagandized signs of radical Shiism are represented as defenders of the rights of the oppressed. This ideological model is a clear copy of the Iranian revolutionary ideology.

Its basis is that the "shehid", inspired by the examples of "martyrs", sacrifices himself in the name of the rights, honor and dignity of the oppressed. Even in official diplomatic correspondence at the end of each note, this slogan is written instead of the wording adopted throughout the world ... "Taking this opportunity, accept the assurances of very high respect" ... etc.

Not only me, but probably many other people have an opinion that even since my student years, that fellow students from Ganja, if someone insulted them, without waiting for anyone from outside, gave a hard answer to the offender. Therefore, this imposed propaganda scheme "about the defender" who came to protect the "honor and dignity" of Ganja residents, whether from Moscow or from Iranian Kuma, looks like "the work of the director" who is little familiar with local realities. Either someone wants to show us, or really some radical circles in the Iranian leadership are trying to destabilize the situation in Azerbaijan, make it unstable for a long-term period, and cause a clash between Shiite and Sunni in our country. I am confident that the investigation will indicate who really ordered and executed this attack on our statehood.

Since the time when Heydar Aliyev came to power, in the relations between Azerbaijan and Iran, there was a modus operando (code of conduct), which can be expressed in such a way that:

-We (Azerbaijan) do not interfere in your internal affairs, and you (Iran) do not export your ideology of the Islamic revolution to our territory. Bad or good these rules have been in effect for many years, and today we see that some forces in the Iranian leadership are trying to break this rule and Ganja events are evidence in favor of this assumption. Having repeatedly dealt with Iranian statesmen and diplomats, I, like many in Azerbaijan, have well learned one reality that in relation to Azerbaijan two tendencies are constantly opposed to each other in the Iranian political elite: hostility and confrontational moods and the ideas of good-neighborliness and fraternal cooperation.

In different periods of our independence, one or the other group came to dominating positions to implement their policy towards Azerbaijan. Today's events in Ganja show that the Iranian political forces, focused on confrontation with Azerbaijan, have come to the fore. Why is this happening?

Obviously, the cause of this is not Azerbaijan itself, but the situation that is observed today around Iran, primarily as a result of the actions of the current US administration. Confrontation along the Iran-Israel line is getting closer and closer to the hot phase.

The anti-Iranian coalition, to which the countries of Western Europe are forced to join, are getting more and more clear organizational structures. I think that after the summit "Trump-Putin" in Helsinki, anti-Iranian trends in Russian politics will also strengthen.

The distancing of Russia from Iran towards Turkey and the western coalition in the Syrian direction also tends to constantly strengthen. Therefore, the main question is why did the reactionary circles in the Iranian leadership decide to take such obvious hostile actions against Azerbaijan? Indeed, in case of aggravation of relations between Iran and Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani side will receive the support and assistance of all the above-mentioned opponents of Iran, including Russia, which is not going to give its influence in Azerbaijan to Iran.

Azerbaijan has repeatedly stated that it does not want to be a country from the territory of which anti-Iranian activities of any external forces will be carried out. This declaration can be revised if the Iranian leadership does not neutralize the forces that committed the provocation against the Azerbaijani state in Ganja.