NCRI Staff
NCRI – The government and people of Azerbaijan are increasingly worried about the Iranian Regime’s manipulation of Shiite Muslims; with a report from the security forces stating that Iran has “increased its capabilities” across the country and that many people are under the Regime’s influence.
Many Azeris are disturbed by the rise in Shiite practices, including self-flagellation at Ashura ceremonies and wearing hijab. In 2013, as part of an effort to stop Azeris from joining ISIS, Azerbaijan eased its unofficial ban on Iranian religious figures preaching in public places but it seems that this had the unintentional consequence of giving the Regime control.
Iraqi author Raghd Abdel Rida al-Jaberi explained that Iraq saw a similar thing after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
She said: “Iran through its wit made Shiite clerics in Iraq turn the Iraqis’ lives into a shameful reality….The Iranians destroyed the Iraqi army which confronted them for eight years. They established an alternative army which consisted of two parts: one that protects Husayn’s visitors and another that carries food to those arriving from Iran to visit Husayn’s tomb and perform other rituals invented by their ayatollahs.”
It also appears that Azerbaijan’s effort to stop terrorism may actually have led to more terrorism, as the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Shiite Azeri militias affiliated with it have been recruiting Azeris to gather intelligence and create anti-government propaganda against Azerbaijan.
Huda al-Husseini, a political writer who focuses on Middle East geopolitics, wrote: “This threatens Baku’s interests and raises questions about Russia’s hidden role in these developments, particularly in Iran’s rapprochement with Armenia at Azerbaijan’s expense. Azerbaijan’s priority may be protecting Azerbaijan’s Shiites from religious habits and rituals which Iran wants to spread in their country.”
What is Azerbaijan doing to combat Iranian control?
• The State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs proposed a ban on allowing children to take part in religious rituals like Ashura, but this has yet to be voted on and is opposed by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
• Azerbaijan President Aliyev participated in the Jenadriyah festival as a guest of the Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz, to whom Iran is opposed.
• The Strategic Studies’ Center, a think tank affiliated with the Azeri government, has written a report about its fears of Iran’s relationship with Armenia and stated that the Iranian International Studies Association is just a platform to have Armenian scholars launch propaganda against Azerbaijan.
Otherwise, Azerbaijan remains cautious of Iran as it has since 1991.