Following the January terrorist attack in the Azerbaijani embassy in Iran there has been a mutual expulsion of some diplomatic personnel and the suspension of Azerbaijan’s embassy operation. In February, the Azerbaijani authorities detained nearly 40 people on suspicion of spying for Iran. In March an anti-Iranian member of Parliament was wounded in Baku, with the involvement of the Islamic Republic in an attempt to kill him. Some scholars even wonder about a risk of a war between the two countries. Actually, the President of Azerbaijan is one of the few heads of state in the world willing to call out Iran’s “state-sponsored terrorism”. But why Iran is so interested in destabilize Azerbaijan?
Azerbaijan is in a delicate situation as it is subject of increasing interest by the West as a useful energetic hub, for the sake of the very much needed broad strategic diversification to disenfranchise Moscow. In the competitive global security landscape represented by both Russian and Chinese attempts of domination in the former Soviet stans, Azerbaijan is becoming an important geopolitical asset for the EU to link Europe to the Caspian basin and Central Asia region, and contain in these way the attempt of the two Asian empires to reinforce their spheres of influence and dominance. Azerbaijan is also still in a state of ceasefire with Armenia, the ally of Russia and Iran that, as recently revealed, play a pivotal role by serving as a central hub for supplying sanctioned goods to Russia, including military equipment helping in the aggression to Ukraine. Furthermore, the Azeri proposal to have the Zangezur corridor to bypass Armenia and connect directly to Turkey, is strongly opposed by Armenia through Iranian backing, as Iran doesn’t want to be cut out of the land connection to Armenia and so Russia. Iran’s opening of its consulate in Kapan recently, clearly shows how Iran wants to increase its support for Yerevan’s regional aspirations, which are de facto contrary to the West’s objectives in the region. But Iran wants to expand its sphere of influence in the South Caucasus even through Azerbaijan. Actually, a significant segment of the Azerbaijani population is Shi’a and so Iran considers Azerbaijan as its backyard for the expansion of the influence of its brand of Shi’ism in the region. Some scholars argues that the reason of the increasing conflict is that Azerbaijan is also a strong ally of Israel, which is a guarantee to the broad Western security compact in the region but a threat to Iran. But more than this there is a deep reason of the Iranian hostility to Azerbaijan, that started already since 1991 Azerbaijani independence: almost a third of the population of Iran is comprised of ethnic Azerbaijanis, and a strong secular Azerbaijan on a Western trajectory would threaten the stability of the Ayatollah regime, as an inspiration for its own ethnic Azerbaijani community, already protesting for greater rights.
Last month actually in Berlin, I assisted to the South Azerbaijani diaspora in Germany demonstrating for Human Rights, education rights and more freedom in Iran, where the Azeri minority is repressed. Standing amid this crowd – primarily ethnic Azerbaijanis mobilized from all over Europe – I discover that the rally was formally related to the Khordad event, a national rebellion of South Azerbaijani that happened in 2006 after a racist caricature scandal in Iran. After this incident, according to claims, over 5,000 activists were detained and tortured. Around 150 of them were either murdered or went missing (by being burnt alive or thrown into Lake Urmia). Many people eventually became disabled.
South Azerbaijanis have long been subject to prejudicial treatment and ethnic discrimination by the Iranian authorities, both the pre-revolutionary Pahlavi dynasty and the incumbent theocratic regime. Typically viewed as second-class citizens, the ethnic Azerbaijanis have endured assimilation policies, demeaning stereotypes, and forced relocation for decades. There are several ways that the Southern Azerbaijani people’s language, culture, and legacy are being repressed today. Although the Iranian legislation explicitly grants minorities the freedom to speak their own language, the central government actually forbids the use of Azerbaijani in schools and colleges. The continual Persianization of Southern Azerbaijani toponyms is another source of concern within this intentional cultural appropriation while Azerbaijani cultural and historical heritage is not only being ignored but, in some cases, may physically be destroyed: it was the case Tabriz’s Ark Castle, which was demolished by bombing to create way for new construction.
The political dimension of the Southern Azerbaijani movement is, too, subject to the repressions of the state apparatus in Iran. International organizations, such as Amnesty International, have documented how the Iranian government frequently arrests large numbers of people during Azerbaijani demonstrations and cultural events. Numerous Azerbaijani activists are imprisoned, subjected to torture, and/or pushed into exile each year as a result of their efforts to advance the political and cultural rights of the Southern Azerbaijanis.
Things have gotten worse for this ethnic group since the flare-up of the Mahsa Amini protests in September 2022. Demonstrations against obligatory hijab laws eventually voiced political, social and economic demands as well with some demanding the abolition of the Islamic Republic (such as “Freedom, Justice, and National Government” slogans). The Iranian authorities, in their turn, mobilized all their security forces to quell the demonstrations, also in the Southern Azerbaijani provinces. The crackdown was quite brutal as reflected in a comprehensive report presented by a group of experts: according to the report, the number of detainees in Tabriz, the major city in South Azerbaijan, “was more than 1700 protestors in the first two weeks of the protests alone”. Furthermore, the governmental raids between September and December 2022 led to the shooting of at least twenty-four victims by the security forces and the injury of hundreds of demonstrators in the Azerbaijan region of Iran. At least 6 ethnic Azerbaijanis were sentenced to death.
A few specific cases are particularly momentous. In September 2022, a teenager from Zanjan Mehdi Mousavi was murdered by the law enforcement bodies. Mehdi`s family and relatives were threatened and told to remain silent about the murder. In another occasion, the target was a 22-year-old Nasim Sedghi, whose family was forced to pronounce that her passing a mischance.
Maurizio Geri
