The state visit of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to Tajikistan was considered very successful in Dushanbe. Tajik political scientist, orientalist Parviz Mullojanov stated this to Oxu.Az.
“State structures, media, the expert community agreed, giving a very positive assessment of the results of the visit of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev . At the same time, it should be noted that this is not the first visit of the Azerbaijani leader to Tajikistan,” our interlocutor noted.
According to him, the geopolitical situation in the region and the world has changed a lot compared to previous years, which attaches particular importance to this visit:
– The leaders of Azerbaijan and Tajikistan have mutual understanding in the field of international relations, the importance of cooperation in the field of transport communications.
– Tajikistan is a country that is part of the CSTO. And in this organization, as it is believed, the Turkic countries – Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as Belarus are more sympathetic to Azerbaijan, and not to Armenia, which is part of this military alliance. Is the “Club of Friends of Azerbaijan” in the CSTO increasing at the expense of Tajikistan?
– Tajikistan traditionally adheres to a neutral position, tries to maintain equal relations with everyone. This is our concept of a multi-vector policy. But Dushanbe has always been a friend of Baku. And in the CSTO, Tajikistan has never shown any negativity towards Azerbaijan, on the contrary, it has always shown a positive attitude towards your country.
If we have already touched upon the CSTO, then I will note that this organization will change, its transformation is inevitable. And this is partly due to unsettled Armenian-Azerbaijani relations.
– Probably, you know about difficult relations between Tehran and Baku. At the same time, Tajikistan and Iran are connected by linguistic affinity, although relations between the countries were very tense until recently, and even now they cannot be called very warm…
– Indeed, since 2014-2015 there was a period of very strong cooling of relations between Tajikistan and Iran. Since 2021, warming has begun, this was due to the situation in Afghanistan. And another factor that influenced is the rapprochement between Iran and Russia, and the Russian Federation is a partner of Tajikistan. But it cannot be said that the tension between our countries has been completely removed. The “coolness” persists.
There are issues related to cultural heritage, although Dushanbe and Tehran are trying to find a consensus. In Tajikistan, it is customary to talk about “Tajik-Persian” literature, or heritage. When other formulations are heard from Iran, this causes irritation in Dushanbe. But, I think that it will still be possible to come to a common denominator, relations are improving. And it is possible that in the future Tajikistan can play the role of an intermediary between Baku and Tehran. In any case, I see that such a possibility exists.
– Isn’t Dushanbe afraid that the visit of the President of Azerbaijan to Tajikistan will cause discontent in Tehran?
– Yes, we have cultural affinity with Iran, but there is no economic and political dependence. The possible dissatisfaction of Iran will not affect Dushanbe’s position in any way. And it should also be noted that in Tajikistan they are quite critical of the form of government that is now in effect in Iran, the power of the ayatollahs.
Source: media