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How Azerbaijan Juggles Israel and Iran

(Washington Institute for Near East Policy) David Pollock - In the current conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Israel and Iran are both tilting toward Azerbaijan. Israel buys Azerbaijan's oil and sells it advanced weapons, now being used to deadly effect; while Iran proclaims its support for Azerbaijan's "territorial integrity" - code words for its claim to Nagorno-Karabakh and adjoining bits of territory held by Armenian separatists. Azerbaijan's government and elite, nominally Shia Muslim but almost uniformly secular in practice, generally despise Iran's oppressive theocracy, but they also fear Iranian agents and Hizbullah proxies on their soil, who have periodically attempted to hit Israeli or American targets there. Azerbaijani people care about their millions of ethnic kinsmen across the border who constitute Iran's largest minority and are double the number of Azeris in Azerbaijan itself. Thus, both governments take good care to maintain healthy diplomatic and commercial relations in order to protect both themselves and their distant relatives.
2020-10-08 00:00:00
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