Tehran and Baku do not need Azerbaijani-Iranian conflict - expert's opinion

Baku/31.10.22/Turan:  Last week, several Azerbaijani websites, some of which are little known, reported that in 10 days a harsh purge of Iranian agents in Azerbaijan would be imminent. It was reported about the intention of the authorities to neutralize the Iranian network, meaning not so much spies as agents of influence. At the same time, the names of people and the names of organizations were not called.

The process of "cleansing" from Iranian agents will soon begin in Azerbaijan. “Preparations for this should have started a long time ago. It was expected they would come to their senses. Apparently, they did not understand this and they will not be forgiven. The process will take place in the next 10 days,” the country.az website reported.

https://astna.biz/ext/news/2022/10/subsc/pol-security/en/2729.htm

Turan asked an Iranian specialist, a former employee of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Iran, Sadraddin Soltan, to answer questions about the reasons for the dissemination of this information and the prospect of popular unrest in Iran.

The message about the imminent large-scale purge of pro-Iranian forces in Azerbaijan was spread not by the official media, but by telegram channels, Soltan answered. The state did not confirm or deny this information.

“For the first time I read from the AzFront channel. The reason for the rapid spread of this information is Iran and its actions. Iran is conducting military maneuvers on the border with our country, threatening Azerbaijan. At the same time, a large-scale operation against Iranian agents in Azerbaijan was reported on the social network. This news fits in with the events in Iran and is therefore plausible and spread by other media. Information, or perhaps a rumor, was brought to the society at the right time,” Soltan said.

At the same time, Iranian agents and traitors are being arrested in Azerbaijan. This is not a new event. In 1992, when Azerbaijan regained its independence in autumn, a resident of Iranian intelligence in Azerbaijan was arrested. Then there were other cases of such arrests, including employees of the Ministry of National Security. Recently,  Ojag Nijat, a representative of Iran's top leader Khamenei, was expelled from Baku. He was engaged in the creation of a fifth column in Azerbaijan, promoted the Iranian revolutionary doctrine of Ayatollah Khomeini in our country, harmed the security of our country. In Tabriz, Tehran, anti-Azerbaijani actions were carried out in front of the diplomatic missions of our country, led from a single center, the expert noted.

Large-scale arrests of Iranian forces, if they are in Azerbaijan, will worsen relations between the two countries. Is there a need  this? Answering this question, Soltan said: “The public of Iran and Azerbaijan are united by common values. More than 30 million Azerbaijanis living in Iran believe in the same religion, have the same cultural characteristics as in the north. And in Azerbaijan there are supporters of the ideology of official Tehran. This creates problems related to Iran in the Republic of Azerbaijan. People confuse religion with patriotism, loyalty to one's country, so betrayal of our citizens is not ruled out. In the Iranian city of Qom and possibly other places, Azerbaijani citizens are conducting propaganda against our country, trying to overthrow the state system that exists in our country.

Azerbaijan does not need a conflict with Iran, just as hostility with Azerbaijan harms Iran. The conflict between our countries will cause an increase in Tehran's pressure on the Azerbaijanis living there and an increase in Iranian support for Armenia. Iran also does not need a conflict with Azerbaijan, since our country has always been an outlet for Tehran, surrounded by blockades and sanctions. Azerbaijan remains the main criterion of stability in the South Caucasus, and an example for the Azerbaijanis in Iran, Tehran, which is forced to conduct a cautious policy towards us, considers this.

The expert gave an example: during the 44-day war and later, Tehran spread false rumors against Azerbaijan, but then it was forced to normalize relations with us. Recently, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry said that the IRGC exercises on the border with Azerbaijan are not directed against our country, the exercises are carried out only to train the army for their internal needs.

How achievable are the goals set by the participants in the mass actions in Iran? Soltan believes that the slogans “Woman, Life, Freedom” and “Freedom, Justice, National State” put forward by the Azerbaijani Turks in Iran inform the world that the people demand not only freedom for women and the people, but also the creation of a national government.

“On December 12, 1945, the Azerbaijani Turks created a national state that existed for 1 year. In 1946, the Persian regime flooded Northern Azerbaijan in Iran with blood, the activists of the young state were killed or fled to Baku. Therefore, the demand is again put forward to create a national government in Iranian Azerbaijan. The reason is the unresolved national issue in Iran, the government's disregard for constitutional, simple national rights about the equality of nationalities, the fair distribution of national wealth, languages, etc. - Articles of the Constitution 15, 19 and 20. The people are waiting for the implementation of the basic law, they demand reforms and changes in the constitution. Over 44 years, the Iranian state has not changed, has not developed, which has given rise to problems that have resulted in mass protests throughout Iran,” said Iranist Sadraddin Soltan.--0-