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The Washington Post publishes article on Iran-Azerbaijan relations

15 October 2012 09:36 (UTC +04:00)

APA reports that the author of the article Joby Warrick notes that Azerbaijan as a Western-leaning country irritates Iran:â€Azerbaijan is working mightily to become everything that Iran is not. As Iran sinks ever deeper into isolation and economic distress, its northern neighbor is sprinting in the opposite direction, building political and cultural ties to the West along with new pipelines connecting energy-hungry Europe with the countryâ€™s rich petroleum fields on the Caspian Sea. Where Iran is repressive and theocratic, Azerbaijan is socially and religiously tolerant, offering itself as a model of a nonsectarian, Muslim-majority society that champions womenâ€™s athletics and embraces Western music and entertainers.

The article reads that Azerbaijan also enthusiastically pursues diplomatic and business ties with Israel, the Jewish state that Iranian officials have threatened to destroy.
The article also features former U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan Matthew Bryzaâ€™s comments on Azerbaijan. â€œEvery day that Azerbaijan grows stronger economically and more connected to the Euro-Atlantic community â€” thatâ€™s another day in which the Iranian regime grows weakerâ€, said the former Ambassador.
â€œRelations between the two capitals cratered. But the worst crisis was yet to come, and it was over a cultural event: Azerbaijanâ€™s election to become the host of this yearâ€™s televised and highly popular Eurovision Song Contest. Azerbaijanâ€™s leaders insist that such policies have nothing to do with Iran, and they point to a record of mostly cordial relations with the vastly larger, notoriously peevish republic to the south. Yet, with each stride toward modernity â€” and with every Western diva who arrives to croon and titillate on Bakuâ€™s expanding international stage â€” Azerbaijan chips away at the legitimacy of Iranâ€™s government and fuels discontent among ordinary Iranians, say Western officials who study the region,â€ says the article.