“The objective interests of Turkey, Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran coincide. This interest lies, first of all, in preventing the intervention of external forces into the region, in particular the Western interference, and avoiding provocations of the Atlantic world in the region.”
United World International expert Mehmet Perinçek gave an interview on recent developments in the Caucasus to Azerbaijani news website Minval.az. Below, UWI presents the interview as published by Minval.az.
“New era of regional cooperation and integration has begun”
According Perinçek, in order to achieve stability in the region, it was first of all necessary to solve the Karabakh issue, because this conflict had been the main source of destabilization and chaos in the region. Ensuring the territorial integrity and the victory of Azerbaijan played a very important role in this issue, benefitting all regional countries including Iran.
“The victory of the Azerbaijani army opened a new era for the region – economic and political integration of the countries of the region. Therefore, Iran should be frankly happy with these events, because the region has received a great chance for a durable peace, while the West’s instruments for intervention in the region have been eliminated,” the political scientist assures.
“Azerbaijani army defeated the ‘Sons of Soros’ – Iran’s direct enemies”
According to him, the Azerbaijani army, as it was emphasized in the speech of Ilham Aliyev, fought and defeated the “sons of Soros”.
“And the United States and the ‘sons of Soros’ are the direct enemies of Iran. Thus, we can say that the Azerbaijani army shed its blood for the sake of Iran’s interests, and Tehran cannot but appreciate this fact. And therefore, the Iranian leadership, in my opinion, should support all actions of Azerbaijan in this direction against Western interference in the affairs of the region. As for the recent tensions between Tehran and Baku, these are beneficial only to the enemies of Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Russia”, Mehmet Perinçek noted.
Any conflict between Azerbaijan and Iran, as the Turkish political scientist is sure, only pleases the enemies of these countries. Therefore, in such conflicts, neither Azerbaijan nor Iran can win a geopolitical victory.
“Cooperation between Ankara and Baku benefits Tehran from the very beginning”
“Therefore, the Iranian leadership must understand that neither Azerbaijan nor Turkey has expansionist goals. Military cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkey is not directed against neighboring countries, but at protecting regional interests against the interference of external forces. Thus, we can say that military, economic, political cooperation between Ankara and Baku is beneficial to Tehran from the very beginning. And therefore Tehran should only welcome this. Turkey hopes that this is clear to all regional countries. Even now, cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkey helps to develop regional integration, and the 3 + 3 formula also includes cooperation with Iran,” the Turkish political scientist said.
The creation of such a platform, the political scientist is sure, will help to solve practically all problems in the South Caucasus.
“Western countries provoke conflicts in the South Caucasus”
“I am sure that Western countries and the United States provoke conflicts between the countries of the South Caucasus region and it is important not to fall into this trap. And we need to be vigilant about the insidious plans of the United States,” the political scientist added.
Perinçek notes that Turkey can act as a mediator to resolve the current misunderstanding between Baku and Tehran.
“I say ‘misunderstanding’ because I don’t want to call what is happening ‘conflict’. Because there are no obvious reasons that could spoil the relations between Tehran and Baku, especially now, after the victory of Azerbaijan. I think Turkey, Azerbaijan and Iran can soon meet at the same table and understand each other within ten minutes,” our interlocutor concluded.