hetq investigative journalists
HY RU EN
Asset 3

Loading

 End of content No more pages to load

Your search did not match any articles

Hrant Gadarigian

Iranian Foreign Policy Analyst Hails Liberation of Azeri Lands

While many Armenian officials see Iran as a friendly neighbor to the south that has taken a “balanced” approach on the Karabakh conflict, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) today reports that the head of Iran’s Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, Kamal Kharrazi, “hailed the liberation of Azeri lands which were occupied for 30 years.”

Kharrazi, according to the IRNA, made the remark in a statement calling on Azerbaijan not to rely on “foreigners” to ensure its security.

“Unfortunately, the interference of third parties in Caucasus crisis had led to the presence of terrorist forces from Iraq and Syria in this region,” the IRNA quotes Kharrazi as saying.

Yesterday, during his meeting with visiting Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that Tehran would never allow “terrorists or Zionists” to damage peace and security in the southern Caucasus and its relations with Armenia.

If Kharrazi did “hail the liberation of Azeri lands” during last year’s Karabakh war, he must be aware that Azerbaijan hired Middle Eastern mercenaries, estimated to number in the hundreds, in its war effort. Where these mercenaries are now remains unanswered.

If these are the “terrorists” he refers to, his praise of Baku’s military victory seems a bit contradictory.

Armenia’s Foreign Ministry has yet to comment on Kharrazi’s alleged statement.

(The IRNA is the official news agency of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is government-funded and controlled by the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.)

Photo: Islamic Republic News Agency

Comments (1)

George
While many Armenian officials see Iran as a friendly neighbor to the south that has taken a “balanced” approach on the Karabakh conflict, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported that the head of Iran’s Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, Kamal Kharrazi, “hailed the liberation of Azeri lands which were occupied for 30 years.” Expression of "liberation of Azeri lands" and similar statements like "Nagorno-Karabakh is a disputed territory, internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but mostly governed by the Republic of Artsakh" are expressed by a layman person would be understandable but it angers me when it is expressed by a so-called "politician". Artsakh had never been part of Azerbaijan simply because it has a history of 1000s of years, whereas Azerbaijan has been in existence since 1918. It was an integral part of the historic Armenian Kingdom (the tenth province of Armenia from 189 BC until 387 AD), and part of the Eastern Armenian Kingdom, both under the Persian and Arab rule as a part of the Armenian administrative unit. During the Russian-Persian war (1804-1813) the Russian Empire annexed Karabakh in 1805 which was de jure confirmed by the Gulistan treaty of 1813, and subsequently by the Turkmenchay treaty which concluded the Russo-Persian war (1826-28). On July 4, 1921, the Caucasian Bureau of the Communist Party of Russia convened a plenary session, in the result of which Nagorno-Karabakh, Nakhichevan, and Zangezur remained as a part of the Armenian SSR. However, on July 5th in an effort to placate the oil-producing Azerbaijan and Bolshevik Russia’s Kemalist allies in Turkey, the initial decision was reversed, by decree of Joseph Stalin, Russia’s commissar for nationalities who placed Artsakh under the administration of Soviet Azerbaijan as an autonomous region. Therefore, the "internationally recognized" territory of Azerbaijan was a "generous donation" to Azerbaijan by despot Stalin. In this regard, the approach of the so-called "superpowers" (especially the West) is so disgusting.

Write a comment

If you found a typo you can notify us by selecting the text area and pressing CTRL+Enter