Since acceding to the position of Iranian head of state, Rouhani met with Ilham Aliyev in Davos, Tehran, Astrakhan and, now most recently, in the Azerbaijani capital, the article said.
“The meetings between the two presidents became important steps in improving bilateral relations of Azerbaijan and Iran,” the author of the article said.
“Rouhani emphasized that he was keen on developing the relations between the two countries in all directions. While major stumbling blocks persist, such as questions on the utilization of the Caspian Sea, Aliyev echoed Rouhani’s hopes that dialogue between the two countries would continue moving forward in a positive direction.”
Turkey has played a key role in helping Iran and Azerbaijan overcome the tensions in their bilateral relationship, Gafarli said.
The author of the article said that Ankara has been instrumental in establishing and mediating a tri-partite diplomatic dialog. The first such tri-partite meeting was held in Urmia, Iran, on April 16, 2011, and the second one took place in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan, on March 7, 2012.
The scope of these inter-governmental gatherings was to take shared action on issues concerning all three countries and to start negotiations on outstanding conflicts among them, the author said.
The final trilateral meeting took place in Van, Turkey, on March 14, 2014, at the invitation of Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu with the participation of his Azerbaijani and Iranian counterparts, Elmar Mamadyarov and Cevad Zarif, respectively, the website said. “After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the breakout of war in Karabakh, the countries in and surrounding the South Caucasus roughly split into two competing, opposed groups: Russia, Iran and Armenia versus Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia,” Gafarli said.
The first group, according to the author, was often considered an anti-Western coalition, whereas the latter three states were encouraged by the West to cooperate more closely to become an alternative energy corridor for Caspian oil and natural gas exports to Europe. The author said that although for decades finding themselves on opposing sides of the geopolitical struggle for influence in the South Caucasus, the most stressful period in Azerbaijani-Iranian relations arguably occurred during the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005–2013).
This latest trend of warming bilateral relations, therefore, appears to be important to Baku for both domestic as well as foreign policy reasons, the article said. “Azerbaijan intends to benefit from the normalization of relations with Iran,” Gafarli said. “In moving closer to Tehran, Baku also hopes to prevent the further intensification of Iranian-Armenian ties. Notably, Iran has continued to assist Armenia in circumventing the economic blockade imposed jointly by Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey following the Karabakh war.”
The author of the article said that by straightening out its relation with Iran, Azerbaijan wishes to end the radical activities of domestic, Tehran-backed Shiite groups who oppose the secular regime in Baku. In the past, during periods of heightened bilateral tensions, Iran has acted to create instability in Azerbaijan, Gafarli wrote.
Recent diplomatic successes notwithstanding, further zigzags in Iranian-Azerbaijani bilateral relations are likely to continue since Iran is unlikely to completely alter its foreign policy orientation in the South Caucasus over the short term, the article said. Moreover, it remains to be seen whether US-Iran relations, which have a direct impact on relations between Baku and Tehran, will continue to improve, or whether they are destined to be short lived, Gafarli said.
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