According to Iranologist Emma Begijanyan, the interests of Armenia do not coincide with the interests of either Russia or the West, while our interests coincide with Iran’s. “I think yes under today’s conditions,” Iran expert Emma Begijanyan answered Aravot’s question about whether Iran can prevent the Turkish-Azerbaijani insidious plans in the South Caucasus, for which they started aggression against Armenia again on September 13. She highlighted the importance of the Russian-Iranian pact during this period, when Russian-Iranian relations tend to become closer against the background of the war in Ukraine.
Observing Russian-Turkish relations, Emma Begijanyan said, “No matter how friendly and fraternal agreements Russia has with Turkey, it is very well aware that Turkey is a member of NATO if necessary. This aggression against Armenia is completely Turkey’s project, it is its move. Azerbaijan does not exist. It can be said to be an autonomous vilayet of Azerbaijan.”
Emma Begijanyan also considers the statements addressed to Iran in the context of rapprochement with Russia.
According to an Iranian expert, the meeting and agreements between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization mean that Russia will not support Turkey in this case, but will support Iran in its interests. The Iranologist elaborated, “Especially very targeted and confident statements made by Iran are due to the fact that Russia will support in this matter, will give a green light to Iran, not to Turkey.”
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Emma Begijanyan replied, “Isn’t Iran also constrained from a religious point of view that its actions can be perceived as a war against Azerbaijan, which cannot be forgiven by the Islamic world? Iran is not constrained. Iran now clearly declares that during the 44-day war, taking into account the religious and cultural commonalities of both countries, we were in an impartial, neutral position, taking into account that aside from the autonomous region of Karabakh, we considered the other regions to be the territory of Azerbaijan and remained neutral, however now, we, having religious and cultural and other commonalities, being close to Azerbaijan, but we cannot ignore the interests of our other neighbor, Armenia. And if there is a change of international borders, we will stand by Armenia. What should Iran be constrained by? It will calmly go to war. Everything is so simple. They attack Iran’s geopolitical interests, they have ambitions and ambitions for Iran’s territorial integrity, they question Iran’s national security interests.”
Arguing that interests are important in all relationships in the world, Emma Begijanyan assured that the only country with which the security and interests of Armenia coincide is Iran. And he continued, “Although until now Iran has been constrained by religious commonalities in the Islamic world, but now they are already saying clearly. When the knife reaches the bone, they put it all aside.” During the first hours of the aggression unleashed by Turkey and Azerbaijan recently, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani emphasized that any change in the borders of Armenia and Azerbaijan is unacceptable for Iran.
Emma Begijanyan answered the question, in the context of the intensifying anti-Russian sentiments in Armenia after the UN Security Council session held on September 15 and the awarding of laurels to the West, particularly the USA, how do you imagine Iran’s position in supporting Armenia? “From the beginning, these Armenian authorities had a Western orientation. However, there is an important ‘but’ here. Israel stands by Azerbaijan. It helped Azerbaijan and played a big role. It is still very strongly interested today. Even in their press there are articles defending Azerbaijan, I read views of well-known commentators. Therefore, no matter how much the US wants to help us, Israel’s security and goals in the world come first for it. And Israel’s goal is to carry out its actions against Iran in the areas bordering Iran.
Meanwhile, in all cases, Russia needs Armenia in this region, even if it is very weak. If we look globally, the West needs Russia to leave the region, but what will Turkey do to Armenia, which only kills sleeping Armenians? We cannot hope that we can have security through the West. On the other hand, even though Russia has always tried to act for its own interests, which everyone does, the interests of Russia have not coincided with our interests. The same can be said about the interests of the West and ours, which do not coincide. Meanwhile, our interests coincide with the interests of Iran.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
