Baku. Shamil Alibeyli – APA. “Turkey is engaged in spreading pan-Turkism ideology. In the relations with Asian countries, this country behaves like an elder brother. But there is a difference of faiths between the Turkish and Azerbaijani people. Turks are Sunni, while Azerbaijanis Shiites. Those who are spreading this ideology are also functioning in Azerbaijan and sometimes their promotion puts into question the territorial integrity of other countries,” said Iran’s ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohsen Pak Ayeen in his interview with “khabaronline.ri”.
In his interview, the ambassador touched on Azerbaijan-Israel relations and their impact on the relations with Iran: “Azerbaijan and Israel have good relations and Baku has announced several times that these relations are not against Iran. We believe the Azerbaijani officials. These are standard relations between the two countries.”
Touching on Azerbaijan-Iran relations, ambassador said sometimes there is misunderstanding between the two states, but such cases should not turn into obstacle between the two neighbouring and peoples.
“There were such cases. For example, there was some misunderstanding during Eurovision song contest, but this problem was solved due to the diplomatic efforts. Our relations with Azerbaijan were established on confidence and we still have much to do,” he said.
Asked about Nagorno Karabakh conflict, ambassador said Iran is ready to offer the role of mediator in this conflict.
“Azerbaijan and Armenia differ from each other. Iran has 15 neighbours. Despite the contradiction between Pakistan and Afghanistan, we are cooperating with both countries. We also have good relations with Iraq and Turkey, though there are contradictions between these countries, too. Iran is ready to mediate in the dialogue between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but the sides have chosen Minsk Group format. We think that OSCE Minsk Group’s efforts will fail, the co-chairing countries have been making efforts to solve the conflict for many years, but they lack strong will. Maybe the Minsk Group co-chairing countries want to protract the process of negotiations in order to seize certain privileges from Azerbaijan and Armenia,” he said.
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