Azerbaijan Stands Up to Iran, with Turkey’s Support

As anti-government protests proceed in Iran, Tehran is escalating tensions with its neighbors, accusing them of interfering in its home affairs. A kind of neighbors, Azerbaijan, has Turkey’s assist and is pushing again.

Iran has just lately carried out army workouts on Azerbaijan’s border and warned Baku to not incite Iran’s vital Azeri minority.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has carried out quite a few drone strikes in opposition to Kurdish teams primarily based in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan area, which it accuses of inciting Iran’s Kurdish minority.

Zaur Gasimov, an professional within the area at Bonn College, stated the workouts and assaults are a part of a scientific coverage by Tehran.

“Iran tries to shift the eye of the Iranian inhabitants in the direction of overseas coverage, in the direction of conflicts on the border, and in the direction of a polemic with its neighbor international locations,” Gasimov stated. “The army drills have been carried out not solely on the border with the Republic of Azerbaijan within the north but in addition with Iraq and Turkey. So, they’re like messages to the area, however they’re addressed rather more to the native viewers.”

However Baku is pushing again in opposition to Tehran, finishing up its personal army workouts on Iran’s border. In the meantime, Azerbaijani safety forces this month have detained 19 folks and accused them of working for Iranian intelligence.

Huseyin Bagci, head of the Ankara-based Overseas Coverage Institute, stated Baku is emboldened by its assist from Turkey, a few of which is enshrined in a typical protection settlement.

“Turkey and Azerbaijan [are] brothers, associates,” Bagci stated. “They usually have this Shusha settlement, which isn’t binding however vital. If Azerbaijan is beneath assault or in peril, Turkey will come unconditionally to the assistance of Azerbaijan. Iran is attempting to increase its affect, however Turkey is sort of a barrier stopping Iran’s affect in Azerbaijan.”

Turkish army assist was important to Azerbaijan in 2020, when it decisively defeated Armenian-backed forces in a battle over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.

This month, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev condemned Tehran for its army workouts, pledging to defend his nation’s secular state and ethnic Azeris each in Azerbaijan and Iran. Analyst Gasimov stated Aliyev’s more and more assertive stance towards Tehran is a big change for the area.

“The final three a long time, Baku was very cautious in its relationship to the very massive Azeri-speaking neighborhood in northern Iran,” Gasimov stated. “However we have now seen the conduct of the army drills on the border to Iran because the response to the Iranian army drills by the Azeri aspect. [At] the identical time, new discourse in Baku in regards to the Azeri audio system in Iran have been two gestures addressed to the Iranian political class, saying that one thing has modified within the area.”

In a transfer analysts say will additional anger Tehran, Baku opened an embassy in Israel. The 2 international locations have already got shut army ties, regardless of Tehran’s warnings. For now, Ankara has shunned commenting on the turmoil in Iran, however some analysts warn that silence shall be examined if Tehran ratchets up tensions with Baku.