Iranian-way double standards

Baku/17.09.21/Turan: Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan for International Affairs Hikmet Hajiyev met twice with Iranian Ambassador Seyed Mousavi within  three days. The first meeting took place on September 13, but nothing specific was said about its content. However, it was obvious that it was a question of vehicles carrying fuel to Karabakh, despite the protests of Baku. After the first meeting with the ambassador, the situation did not change - Iranian drivers continued to travel to Karabakh. But the detention on September 15 by the Azerbaijani military of two Iranian drivers and the statement that they will be held accountable, obviously, became the subject of the last conversation with the Iranian ambassador.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan acknowledged that foreign goods must pass through customs, passport and other points when crossing the border, as provided for by the legal norms of the CIS.

However, for some reason, Iran does not want to give up its actions. For some reason, “Stepanakert - Armenia” is written in the accompanying documents of vehicles entering Azerbaijan from Iran. What does Iran want to say by this?

Political observer Zardusht Alizade answered these and other questions in the “Difficult Question” program.

According to him, Iran creates tension in relations with Azerbaijan not because of Armenia, but because of Azerbaijan’s rapprochement with Turkey and Pakistan. Iran creates tension because of the exercises conducted by the special forces of Azerbaijan and Turkey in the Caspian Sea and the inscription "Stepanakert - Armenia" on the accompanying documents, this is a message to Azerbaijan that Tehran can support Armenia.

Azerbaijan, on its part, naturally takes adequate measures. Therefore, the process is still moving in a diplomatic manner, moving in some cases to the customs level, the border level. And this shows that the parties have a diametrically opposite vision of the situation.

The expert also recalled that another scandal erupted in August. The site of the State Procurement of Russia announced a tender for the maintenance of the barracks and housing stock of the military camps of the Ministry of Defense of this country, located on the territory of Karabakh. At the same time, the very territory of Karabakh, which belongs to Azerbaijan, was designated on the website as the "Republic of Nagorno Karabakh". Later, after the protest expressed by Azerbaijan, this provocation was eliminated.

Zardusht Alizadeh is inclined to believe that there was no personal instruction from Ayatollah Khamenei to write “Stepanakert - Armenia”. “Before the 44-day war, Iranian merchants, sending their vehicles to the territory of Armenia, wrote“ Stepanakert - Armenia ”in the accompanying documents, and then it was perceived as a norm. Now, after the victory won, Azerbaijan cannot tolerate this state of affairs, and it will naturally seek to put an end to this practice through punishment and imposition of fines. This is a technical tradition of the grassroots level, when they write “Stepanakert - Armenia” in the accompanying documents,” he said.

According to the observer, despite the inscriptions in the documents, Tehran does not consider Khankendi to be the territory of Armenia. “At the level of diplomacy, Iran has always recognized the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and Armenia as an aggressor state, joined with various statements, international documents containing criticism of its annexationist policy,” Alizade said.

On the other hand, the expert noted, it is obvious that Iranian businessmen did not want to get involved in unnecessary disputes with the Armenian side, which demands to write “Stepanakert - Armenia” in the documents.

“Double standards are typical for all states and Iran is no exception, but I think it’s not worth looking for some deep subtext here,” Alizade is sure. –0—