Summoning of Iran's Chargé d'Affaires in Azerbaijan in Protest Against Remarks by a Mourner Against Aliyev

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan summoned the Chargé d'Affaires of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Baku to protest against the remarks of a mourner in Ardabil, which Baku described as "a sign of increasing anti-Azerbaijani sentiments." According to Azerbaijani media, Jafar Aqaee Maryan, the temporary chargé d'affaires of the Iranian embassy in Baku, was called to the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday, January 12. The government of Ilham Aliyev considered the statements made during a ceremony held on the evening of January 8 this year in Ardabil and broadcast by the Islamic Republic of Iran's news network to be "offensive." Hassan Ameli, the Friday prayer leader of Ardabil and representative of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic in Ardabil province, participated in the mentioned mourning ceremony at the Grand Mosque and opened the event with a speech. Several government-affiliated mourners from Iran, who usually participate in religious ceremonies at the residence of the Supreme Leader, attended the Ardabil event titled "Commemoration of the Martyrs of the Chaldiran War and the Resistance Front." One of the local speakers in Ardabil at that event made statements against Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the President of Turkey, and Ilham Aliyev, his Azerbaijani counterpart, saying: "The day will come when the descendants of Shah Ismail Safavi will raise the flag of Imam Zaman in Baku and cities that were part of Iran until about two centuries ago." Ali Akbar Raefipour, a speaker at religious events and close to the Supreme Leader, referred to the remarks of the aforementioned speaker on the social media platform X as the words of "a little lion from Ardabil in front of the descendants of Abu Sufyan" and stated: "If you want to know how a proud Azerbaijani stood against at least 100,000 Ottoman mercenaries with 30 to 40 thousand forces in the epic of Chaldiran, see the descendants of Shah Ismail today in Ardabil." The Battle of Chaldiran occurred 510 years ago between Shah Ismail Safavi and Sultan Selim of the Ottoman Empire, in which the Ottoman ruler was victorious and Shah Ismail was wounded, resulting in the Ottomans occupying Tabriz, which was the capital of the Safavids at the time, for a period. The statements made seem to indicate the severe anger of the Islamic Republic's forces over the collapse of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria, which forced him to flee to Russia quickly. The Islamic Republic of Iran had spent billions of dollars for decades to maintain Assad's regime. According to Azerbaijani media, officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan told the Iranian chargé d'affaires that this "propaganda" contradicts the spirit of bilateral relations and undermines efforts to strengthen relations between the two nations and countries. Azerbaijan also demanded an "immediate cessation" of any "provocative actions" and considered this approach by the Islamic Republic of Iran to create "hostility and hatred" against this country. The statement from the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized that the propaganda conducted in Iran is contrary to the goals and duties set by the two countries. The Islamic Market Association and the Board of Trustees of the Grand Mosque of Ardabil stated in a statement on January 12 that the remarks of the speakers at the ceremony "had nothing to do with the approved programs" and especially the statements of an "irresponsible individual" were "out of emotion." The relations between Baku and Tehran, which had severely deteriorated after an armed attack by an Iranian citizen on the Azerbaijani embassy in Tehran two winters ago, resulting in the killing of a security officer of the embassy, had improved after prolonged efforts. Ebrahim Raisi, the former president of Iran, had attempted to improve relations during his last visit to Azerbaijan in May of this year. His helicopter crashed on the way back to Iran that day, and he was killed.