Azeri leader to visit Iran to annoy US, opposition paper says
Azadliq, Baku
11 Dec 04
An Azerbaijani opposition paper sees President Ilham Aliyev’s planned
visit to Iran is “an expression of anger at the USA”. Azadliq said
that President Aliyev decided to go to Iran as a balancing act in view
of the US Presiden George Bush’s failure to invite him to his
inauguration. Azadliq also said that the Azerbaijani authorities
maintain “unofficial” economic ties with Armenia. The following is the
text of the report by the political section of the Azerbaijani
newspaper Azadliq on 11 December headlined “Why is Ilham Aliyev going
to Iran?” and subheaded “There is no significant reason for this
visit”; subheadings have been inserted editorially:
[Azerbaijani President] Ilham Aliyev is planning to visit Iran. If one
asks government bodies – the presidential administration, Ministry of
Foreign Affairs – about the planned visit, they will all respond in
the same way: documents are being drafted. You cannot find answers to
questions such as what are those documents all about, have any new
spheres for intergovernment cooperation have been defined? “Documents
are being prepared for the time being.” This is the only answer you
can get. The only thing we know in very general terms is that the
sides will discuss the simplification of the visa regime between the
two countries. (About this a bit later)
Aliyev offended by Bush
But one can make assumptions as to the kind of questions that will be
addressed during Aliyev’s visit to Iran or what this official
rapprochement with Iran is for.
The main reason for the rapprochement with Iran is probably the fact
that Ilham Aliyev’s desperate attempts to visit the USA have
failed. There have been numerous commentaries on this. The country’s
most famous political scientists have openly said that because Ilham
Aliyev has not been invited to the USA, he is trying to remind people
of himself by making special gestures towards Russia and Iran.
Interestingly, there have been no reports yet as to whether Aliyev has
been invited to the US President-elect [George Bush’s] inauguration or
not. Perhaps, Aliyev has a 50-50 chance. Bush was re-elected for the
second term. So, he cannot be elected for another term, which is why
this kind of invitation will not be considered as a risk for him.
Tehran smoothes ethnic ire
Iran has its own interests. Iran wants to demonstrate to the
international community that it maintains special relations with
countries of the Caucasus and that it plays a serious and constructive
role in this system of relations. It is true that Iran maintains
normal economic and political relations with some European
countries. But its relations with the USA, which has the final say on
geopolitical issues, are getting worse and worse.
Iran pretends that it has close relations with Azerbaijan. By doing
so, it aims to smooth the smouldering ethnic discord within its
boundaries. The opening of Azerbaijan’s consulate in Tabriz was also
aimed at preventing ethnic tensions from growing. Azerbaijan could not
open this consulate in Tabiz under [Former President] Heydar
Aliyev. The Iranian authorities did not even allow Heydar Aliyev to
see Tabriz when he visited this country.
But Ilham Aliyev will most probably visit the newly-opened consulate
in Tabriz (He will also have some “patriotic” films and footage of
himself shot there). Iran knows pretty well that Ilham Aliyev’s
government has no geostrategic plans or policy in line with those
plans. So, no-one is worried [in Iran].
Iran’s blackmail
Now, the fact of Naxcivan’s blockade is Iran’s trump card in its
relations with Azerbaijan. The Iranian government is openly
blackmailing Azerbaijan by exaggerating its role in Naxcivan’s power
supplies. Although there is every reason to worry about this
blackmail, Azerbaijan has encountered this neither under Heydar Aliyev
nor under his successor. What are these reasons?
Both Iran and Azerbaijan are members of the Organization of the
Islamic Conference [OIC]. The OIC cannot do anything but declare
Armenia as an aggressor again and again in its meetings (similar to
wishy-washy resolutions on Palestine). Iran has also openly supported
these resolutions. But the fact that Iran is maintaining military,
strategic, economic and political ties with Armenia, whom Iran itself
regards as an aggressor, is directly aimed against Azerbaijan. But
the Azerbaijani government neither officially protested against Iran’s
double standards nor raised the issue with the OIC. Ilham Aliyev will
not do so either for several reasons.
First, the corrupt Azerbaijani government maintains secretly economic
ties with Iran’s corrupt clerical leadership. Second, there are no
doubts that the Iranian secret services can prove any time that the
Azerbaijani government itself profits from unofficial economic ties
with Armenia by providing information collected both in Azerbaijan and
Armenia. There may be other reasons as well.
Simple visa regime not reason for visit
Ilham Aliyev’s planned visit to Iran presents interest also from
another point of view: The simplification of the visa regime.
The visa regime between Azerbaijan and Iran is not that complicated
today. Even the Iranians and Azerbaijanis living within the perimeter
of 40 km from the border can visit one another without visas. In order
to simplify the visa regime, one should simply cut the number of the
necessary documents, reduce fees and resolve some other issues
connected with the border security.
The scale of the mentioned problems shows that they can be solved by
signing some necessary documents and there is no need for visiting the
neighbouring country for this. Now that Aliyev has decided to visit
Iran, this is nothing but his and Iran’s expression of anger at the
USA.
And finally, why should not Aliyev along with [Eduard] Shevardnadze in
Georgia, [Alyaksandr] Lukashenka in Belarus, [Leonid] Kuchma and
[Viktor] Yanukovych in Ukraine and [Vladimir] Putin in Russia be
together with the clerical regime?