AZERBAIJAN FACED an escalating diplomatic dispute with neighbouring Iran and arrested 11 people on suspicion of disseminating “anti-Eurovision” Islamist literature ahead of last night’s first semi-final of the song contest.
Iran’s ambassador to Baku was recalled to Tehran due to alleged “insults to the sanctities of Islam” in Azerbaijan, which has been subject to sharp Iranian criticism for hosting Eurovision.
The nature of the alleged “insults” to Islam was not clear, but Tehran was angered by a recent protest outside its Baku embassy, and Iranian clerics have repeatedly denounced Eurovision and claimed that Azerbaijan is holding a gay parade – something that has never happened in the oil-rich state, which is tightly controlled by President Ilham Aliyev’s regime.
Relations between the Caspian Sea nations have deteriorated sharply in recent months, with Iran accusing Baku of helping Israel assassinate nuclear scientists in Tehran, and Azerbaijan arresting more than 20 suspected Iranian agents. Tehran was also irked by Baku’s recent €1 billion arms deal with Israel and US media reports that the ex-Soviet state could act as a staging post for an Israeli air strike on Iranian nuclear sites.
Azeri officials, for their part, say Iran is fomenting radical Islam in its secular northern neighbour. “Iran is telling us to sever our relationships with Israel and the West,” senior Azeri presidential aide Ali Hasanov said this week.
“But we have our own independent foreign policy. It is not essential that Iran’s friends and enemies are our friends and enemies. At the same time, we are not taking part in the anti-Iranian policies of the West.”
Azeri officials have repeatedly accused Iran and Armenia – with whom Baku is still technically at war following a 1988-94 conflict – of trying to undermine and destabilise Azerbaijan ahead of Eurovision, which officials see as a vital chance to promote their country to the world.
“Unfortunately hosting a contest like Eurovision in Azerbaijan, and the arrival of many foreigners to our country, has aroused a feeling of envy among many, including Iran,” said Azeri foreign ministry spokesman Elman Abdullayev.
Azeri officials said yesterday that police had arrested 11 people for disseminating radical Islamist literature denouncing the Eurovision.
Last week security services said they had killed two Islamist militants in a shoot-out in Baku.
Some 70 political prisoners, including 7 seven journalists, are currently being held in Azerbaijan, which does not have an independent judiciary system, according to human rights activists who held a press conference in Baku yesterday.
In stark contrast to official government figures, which have the cost of staging Eurovision as €78 million, campaign group Sing for Democracy claims the costs are nearly 10 times that figure – €628 million – which includes the construction of the Crystal Hall, the multipurpose venue which was completed in mid-April.