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One more American politician calls US administration to protect Azerbaijan from Iranâ€™s threats

04 August 2012 11:02 (UTC +04:00)

Most of us agree that Iran, and its nuclear and missile programs, poses an existential threat to the US, Israel, Europe and Arab states. This fact seems clear, given the research, intelligence and reporting. However, most of the information focuses on the West, but conveniently negates Iranâ€™s neighborsâ€¦many major U.S. and Western allies. The focus outside of the West and Israel is largely on Saudi Arabia and other Arab states that are jockeying to keep Iran in check and begging for U.S. assistance.

Case in point is Iranâ€™s neighbor is the Republic of Azerbaijan, an oil and gas producing nation that also happens to be majority Shiite Muslim, yet staunchly secular, Western-oriented and progressive. Azerbaijan was, in fact, the first parliamentary democracy in the Islamic world and has a centuries-long tradition of religious, ethnic and gender freedom and tolerance.

Azerbaijan is â€œbothersomeâ€ to the Mullahs and president of Iran given the fact that there live roughly 25 million ethnic Azerbaijanis in Northern Iran, who look across the border to see their brethren living in a modern and Western nation. In Azerbaijan, most women do not cover themselves, the average person frequents restaurants and bars, and men and women walk hand in hand down the wide boulevards, squares and beach fronts of the capital, Baku, as well as throughout the nationâ€¦all anathema to the tenets and rule of the Mullahs and president of Iran.

In addition, Iran is crazed by the fact that two of Azerbaijanâ€™s closest allies are the United States and Israel. Azerbaijan has close diplomatic, security, military and economic ties to both nations. The fact that Israel is Iranâ€™s admitted mortal enemy exacerbates Iranâ€™s ire.

Recently Azerbaijan purchased nearly $2 billion worth of arms from Israel, an act that Iran handled by recalling their ambassador and blasting Azerbaijan in its official media. The fact that last year they signed deals to build armored personnel carriers and advanced unmanned aerial vehicles caused such uproar from the Iranians that even the Azerbaijanis were surprised. This is not to mention the continued consternation and threats from Teheran each time there is a state visit from an Israeli official.

It is important to note that Azerbaijan does not buy and build these arms with the aim of attacking a much larger and militarily stronger Iran, but to protect itself from an Iranian ally, Armenia, which illegally occupies about 24% of internationally recognized Azerbaijani territory. This ongoing situation in Nagorno-Karabakh is one of the most dangerous frozen conflicts today.

To combat this perceived heresy, Iran has embarked on a wide ranging effort to attack Azerbaijanâ€™s leaders personally, agitate Azerbaijani citizens in Iranian sponsored mosques, task their proxy Hezbollah to launch terror attacks and assassinations in Azerbaijan and generally meddle in Azerbaijani society, all for the express purpose of bringing Azerbaijan into the Iranian sphere.

Azerbaijan is necessarily hyper-vigilant in monitoring Iranian sponsored mosques; on occasion closing them when the rhetoric and recruitment of would be terrorists becomes too dangerous. It is interesting and quite tragic to note that the biggest critic of this policy is not Iran, but U.S. tax payer funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). Go figure. In addition, Azerbaijani security forces have foiled plots by Iranâ€™s Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah to blow up the embassies of Israel, the UK and the U.S., among other terrorist acts. This, while Iranian television and radio consistently beams anti-Azerbaijani rhetoric across the border with the aim of destabilizing the government and recruiting militants.

Azerbaijanâ€™s star is on the rise. The nation is increasingly important to the energy security and diversity of global markets, as it builds more pipelines to pump their oil and gas to Western markets while importantly bypassing Russia. In fact, Azerbaijan and Turkey just inked an agreement to build the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline, a major regional project to bring the Caspian natural gas closer to Europe. In addition, Azerbaijanâ€™s importance has steadily increased, as transit routes in Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan for American and NATO troops and material headed for Afghanistan are unreliable. Presently, roughly 40% of this material transits through Bakuâ€™s International Airport.

Perhaps most importantly, given what now seems like a deeply troubled Arab Spring, Azerbaijan is one of our few reliable, stable and normal Muslim friends and allies.

If I could offer my former colleagues in Congress some adviceâ€¦remember that although you represent constituencies in your respective states, Congress has a dual role. Congress must also represent the best interests on the U.S. In other words pay more attention to Iranâ€™s U.S. friendly neighbors and support them. It behooves us and is the right thing to do.

McMahon is a former Democratic member of Congress from New York who served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, subcommittee on Europe. He is a noted lecturer on Turkey and the Caucuses. In October he will be presenting at the Baku Humanitarian Forum in Azerbaijan. He is currently co-chair of the public policy practice at the New York based law firm Herrick Feinstein.

Before it, US Congressman Dane Rorabaher called support the struggle of the South Azerbaijanis for their independence. In his message to the United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, the Congressman said about the need to support the struggle for independence of southern Azerbaijan from Iran. â€œFor the United States it is important to support this cooperation, because tyrannical regime in Tehran is our common enemy. â€œThe people of Azerbaijan was geographically divided into two parts two hundred years ago, and many Azerbaijanis are calling for the reunification of the motherland,â€ the letter reads.

The Congressman also said that the number of ethnic Azerbaijanis in Iran more than twice in the Republic of Azerbaijan. â€œThis country gained independence in 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, now came the hour of Azerbaijanis of Iran also win their freedom,â€ the Congressman wrote. â€œSupport for the legitimate aspirations of the people of Azerbaijan in the struggle for independence-a noble cause in and of itself. At the same time, for the Tehran regime is the biggest danger, than the threat to bomb its underground nuclear bunkers, â€œthe prison Epistles