Iranian-Armenian relations

[Persopolis]

Re: Iranian-Armenian relations

Iran recently hosted the first Kish Island Film Festival to promote Cinema from Asia and North Africa. I was surprised to come across some great film makers from Armenia, Georgia, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan.

http://dearcinema.com/article/a-jurors-diary-from-film-festival-in-iran/1023

[Persopolis]

Re: Iranian-Armenian relations

Iran-Armenia: Geopolitics no impediment to mutually beneficial partnership

Diplomats call Iran’s position in the Karabakh conflict a balancing act. The Islamic Republic that has in its northern parts a 20-million community of Turkic-speaking Shia Azeris with separatists tendencies has managed to maintain good relations with Christian Armenia as well. A recent statement by a representative of the Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Khamenei in Ardebil, however, has somewhat marred the relations between the two neighboring states. Friday prayer imam Seyyid Hasan Ameli stated Iran helped Azerbaijan during the Karabakh war. * * *

Not sure how true this is - the statement might have been made simply to quell Pan-Turkic sentiment on Iran's Northern Border.

There are no shortage of stories like the one below that indicate that Iran and Azerbaijan are not at all on friendly terms: hard to imagine Iran's military helping Azerbaijan against Armenia. Sounds like BS. And Armenia's leadership would show a different outward view of Iran if that was the case. The story above just reads like BS.

Azerbaijan has deported two Iranian clerics for their "subversive" activities in the country, the opposition daily Yeni Musavat reported on 26 May, quoting "a very serious source". http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-200652404.html

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Israeli–Azerbaijani trade, security, and diplomatic ties have raised Iran’s ire and exposed Azerbaijan and the Israeli assets there to terrorist threats. Azerbaijani security forces, in cooperation with Israel, have thwarted several Iranian-backed terrorist operations in that country, but there are reasons to believe that radical Islamic terrorist groups continue to operate in Azerbaijan at Iran’s behest. Israel should not only continue its successful joint security efforts with the government of Azerbaijan, but should also employ ‘soft power’ to enhance its positive image among the population and to counter Iranian influence. http://www.biu.ac.il/SOC/besa/docs/perspectives110.pdf

So Iran + Israel + Turkey + the US were all allied with Azerbaijan against Armenia at the same time? Doesn't make sense.

Officials in Azerbaijan are carrying out an anti-Iran campaign on state-controlled news outlets. http://www.eurasianet.org/node/62889

Iran has put Ghadir class Submarines and frigates in the Caspian sea ... given that Armenia doesn't have a Navy, the only rational conclusion is to threaten Azerbaijan (not to help Azerbaijan). News stories like the one above are more fluff than anything -- let's be serious: If Iran had directly intervened in the NK war, 1 division of the Iranian army would have wiped out the losing side in a week.

[Artsakh]

Re: Iranian-Armenian relations

Iranian Envoy Again Visits Armenia

A special envoy of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited Armenia and held talks with its leaders for the second time in less than three months on Friday.


Official Armenian sources said Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad-Reza Sheibani discussed with President Serzh Sarkisian and Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian the current state of Armenian-Iranian relations as well as regional security.

Sarkisian was cited by his press office as telling Sheibani that frequent negotiations held by senior Armenian and Iranian government officials testify to “high-level relations existing between the two neighboring states.”

According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Nalbandian welcomed the “dynamic development” of those relations at a separate meeting with the visiting Iranian diplomat. A ministry statement said he stressed the importance of bilateral economic cooperation on energy, transport and “a number of other areas.”

Both sources said the talks touched upon the implementation of agreements reached by Ahmadinejad and Sarkisian. They gave no further details.

The Armenian and Iranian presidents most recently met in Tehran in late March during official celebrations of the ancient Persian Nowruz holiday. Ahmadinejad was reported to have told Sarkisian that Tehran “has placed no limits on the development of cooperation with Yerevan” and wants to deepen ties between the two “friendly neighbors.”

Both leaders reaffirmed their governments’ plans to press ahead with more joint energy and transport projects. Those include the construction of two hydro-electric plants on the Arax river marking the Armenian-Iranian border and a pipeline that will ship Iranian fuel to Armenia.

Sheibani reportedly discussed these projects during his previous visit to Yerevan that took place in mid-February. Sarkisian’s office said at the time that unspecified “regional issues” were also on the agenda of his talks with the Armenian president.

Sheibani’s latest trip came ten days after another senior Iranian official, Deputy Defense Minister Reza Mozafari Nia, met with Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian in Yerevan. Few details of that meeting were made public.

An Armenian Defense Ministry official told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that it focused on the implementation of unpublicized agreements reached during Ohanian’s July 2010 visit to Tehran.

Relations with the Islamic Republic is a rare matter of national consensus in Armenia, reflecting its unresolved conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh and strained relations with another Muslim neighbor, Turkey. With Amenia’s borders with Azerbaijan and Turkey closed for almost two decades, Iran remains one of the landlocked country’s two conduits to the outside world.

http://www.armenialiberty.org/content/article/24107841.html

[Persopolis]

Re: Iranian-Armenian relations

The Arabs are a very diverse peoples and most Arabs where not originally 'Arabs' and where Arabized, such as the Arabized Berbers (Moors), Egyptians and the Syro-Lebanese.

100% agree.

It's also worth noting that Western Semitic peoples of the fertile crescent and Mesopotamia, such as the Assyrians. Have little in common with the Arabs in Arabia.

100% agree.

At least to my knowledge the Tajik's are by the most ethnically intact of the Persian peoples and rumors of the eurasiatic Aryan hordes, demise have it seems been greatly exaggerated.

The singing in the video you posted is not Persian: not sure what it has to do with Tajiks. And I don't know what you mean by "ethnically intact" - but Persians are alive and well in Iran - Iran is huge, it's mountainous, and even when it suffered invasions its population was vastly spread-out, protected by heavy mountain ranges, and Iran ultimately vanquished invaders. The Tajiks in Afghanistan are doing well and want to rejoin Iran; and the Tajiks in Tajikistan want to reunite with Iran.

These are Tajik (Persian) women in Afghanistan - as you can see they are civilized and not like the Taliban savages: compare it to the Taliban cutting ears off, burning women alive, and forcing them to wear a giant blue blanket over their faces. The best thing that can happen is for Persian culture to reassert itself in Afghanistan and for the extremist elements to be ousted.

If you look at youtube, you will see many videos from the Tajiks stating want to reunite with Iran (I'm sure Mos will love this idea ) My guess is that in the next 50 years you will see Iran's eastern border stretch to China. I can honestly say that the majority of the people I encounter from Tajikistan and the Persian controlled portions of Afghanistan want that, and want to be a part of the developed world.

TRANSLATION: He reads a poem in Persian that says "My mother land is Aryan land."

[Artsakh]

Re: Iranian-Armenian relations

Iran-Armenia: Geopolitics no impediment to mutually beneficial partnership

Diplomats call Iran’s position in the Karabakh conflict a balancing act. The Islamic Republic that has in its northern parts a 20-million community of Turkic-speaking Shia Azeris with separatists tendencies has managed to maintain good relations with Christian Armenia as well.


A recent statement by a representative of the Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Khamenei in Ardebil, however, has somewhat marred the relations between the two neighboring states. Friday prayer imam Seyyid Hasan Ameli stated Iran helped Azerbaijan during the Karabakh war.

“So far politicians in Iran have not spoken about their aid [to Azerbaijan] and, possibly, because of certain diplomatic considerations will never raise these issues in the future. But not me. I am a Friday prayer imam and, speaking from the podium, I must answer questions and suspicions of Muslim brothers. We were supplying arms by convoys to soldiers who fought for Shusha and experienced shortages of weapons. With the consent of the government and at the request of Rahim Gaziyev (Azerbaijan’s defense minister in 1992-93) a common Azerbaijani-Iranian defense staff had been set up and as part of that staff Tabriz and Ardebil generals were helping their Azeri brethren, day and night, doing everything possible to preclude Armenian aggression,” the senior Iranian cleric claimed.

According to Ayatollah Ameli, Iran also provided logistical support in the delivery, if necessary to the front lines, of thousands of fighters from Afghanistan. “We were supplying arms and ammunition not to Armenians, but to our Azeri brothers. Our military training bases were located not in Armenia, but in Azerbaijan,” the imam said, according to SalamNews.

Armenia’s reaction to the statement was rather reserved. Speaking in the Armenian parliament Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan confirmed the statement made by the Iranian spiritual leader that Afghan gunmen were fighting on the Azerbaijani side during the Karabakh war. “At a certain period Afghan fighters were indeed on the territory of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic,” said Ohanyan.

Meanwhile, Armenian Ambassador to Iran Grigor Arakelyan described Iran’s mediation in the settlement of the Karabakh conflict as useful, according to Iranian news agency ISNA. “Over the past 20 years Iran has proved its honesty and friendly attitude towards Armenia,” the diplomat said during a recent discussion in Tehran on topics of regional policy and Karabakh settlement.

And the Armenian press reminds that Iran is the only neighbor of the current Karabakh conflict zone and contends that during the Karabakh war it was Iran that ensured Armenia’s food security.

At present, the relations between Armenia and Iran are on the rise: Armenia is locked by neighboring Turkey and Azerbaijan, and its only gateways to the rest of the world are Georgia and Iran. Armenia has a narrow 40-kilometer border strip with Iran in the south, while Karabakh, which is a bone of contention between Armenia and Azerbaijan, has a lengthier border with the Islamic Republic - nearly 140 kilometers.

NATO and U.S. forces are stationed in virtually all countries that border on Iran, except for Armenia and Karabakh. This circumstance is very important to Iran, which tries to funnel its efforts into ensuring that the Karabakh conflict zone remains free from foreign peacekeeping troops. Iran has repeatedly made strongly worded statements in this regard.

Muslim solidarity is part of Iran’s politics, but on the other hand in Tehran they realize the potential threat from Azerbaijan, which vows fraternal relations with Sunni-dominated, secular Turkey that seeks leadership in the Islamic world.

http://www.armenianow.com/commentary/analysis/29656/iran_armenia_karabakh_borders

[Persopolis]

Re: Iranian-Armenian relations

The wiki article on Karabakh war has decided to include 'Iran' as supporter of azerbaijan:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagorno-Karabakh_War

Wikipedia is cesspool of Israeli misadventure ... the Azerbaboon government hires Israelis to write whatever crap they want - all bankrolled with Baku's oil money.

Be certain that if an Iranian got within 2 meters of Aliyev, they would tear his mustache off.

[Mos]

Re: Iranian-Armenian relations

old article but good one:

YEREVAN, 9 Sept. (IPS) President Mohammad Khatami described the relationship between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the orthodox Christian Armenia as a benchmark of peaceful co-existence and cooperation between neighbours.
Arrived on Tuesday for a two days official visit, Mr. Khatami was greeted at Yerevan airport by virtually all members of Armenia's ruling cabinet and paid a warm tribute to Tehran-Yerevan axis, saying the relationship between the Armenian and Iranian peoples can serve as "the best example for all those who want to live side by side and respect each other's sovereignty".
"Armenia’s long history as well as its talented, diligent and self-confident people has had a great impact on the human civilisations”, he added at the end of the first round of meeting with his Armenian host, Robert Kucharian.
Speaking to reporters, he referred to Iran’s glorious civilization of the past eras and the Armenians’ pivotal role in its development and said that even today the Iranian Armenians keep on attempting towards Iran’s independence and progress along with their Muslim compatriots.
"We respect our neighbours and are keen to cooperate with them. We place special focus on Iran-Armenia ties, which can serve as a model for those countries intending to establish relations on the basis of mutual respect.
"We have felt obliged to establish and deepen relations with Armenia since its independence"
"We have felt obliged to establish and deepen relations with Armenia since its independence", he said. "Every year that followed 1991 saw a further development of our relations. The agreements signed today give us hope that they will continue to deepen in the future".

"I declare that this relationship is to the benefit of the sides but not to the detriment of anybody else", Khatami added in an apparent bid to allay concerns expressed by other regional states.
The warm reception of the Armenians and the eloquence of Mr. Khatami’s statements at meetings with Armenian officials contrasted sharply with the rather cool atmosphere of the visit the Iranian President paid to Baku, Yerevan’a arch ‘enemy, last month.
Azerbaijan has been the most vocal critic of that somehow strange friendship, with many Azerbaijani politicians openly accusing the Islamic Republic of effectively siding with Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Although Iran has always denied such claims and Khatami stressed that Iran has tried hard to help the two sides finding a peaceful solution to the crisis, confirming during his visit to Baku that Tehran recognises Azerbaijani sovereignty over the disputed region, yet, relations with Azerbaijan remains tense.
What puzzles many observers is that considering cultural, historical and religious bounds that exists between Tehran and Baku, but the fact is that the clerical-ruled Iran is probably the land locked Armenia’s best friend and major supporter, to the point that very often, Azerbaijan accusing Iran of being Yerevan’s most important provider of arms.
Analysts say Baku’s "slide” towards Washington and Tel Aviv, Iran’s main enemies, mutual claims on parts on the oil-rich Caspian Sea, secret activities of Iranian religious circles aimed at turning this Shi’a-dominated Muslim, but secular neighbour into an Islamic Republic are some of the topics explaining the conflicting nature of Tehran-Baku relationship.
"We are ready to make every effort to help resolve crises existing in the region, including Nagorno-Karabakh, and to contribute to the establishment of a lasting peace and stability in the region", Khatami said in a speech at the Armenian Parliament.
"Our region is very sensitive and there is no alternative but to jointly shoulder responsibility..."
Iran is widely regarded in Armenia as a vital geopolitical partner and having close ties with the Islamic Republic is among few subjects of consensus in the Armenian political arena. The Armenian opposition underlined this fact when deputies representing it briefly suspended their boycott of parliament sessions to hear Khatami's speech, the Prague-based Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty reported in a dispatch from the Armenian Capital.
The chief executive reiterated the need to promote security and tranquillity in Iran and Caucasus and said that security and stability in the two sensitive regions will guarantee scientific and cultural development, according to the official Iranian news agency IRNA.
For his part, President Kocharian referred to President Khatami’s trip to Armenia as the first visit by an Iranian president to the country and said that it is therefore a significant historical event.
"Our region is very sensitive and there is no alternative but to jointly shoulder responsibility for the development and stability of the region", he said, adding that regional countries share ample commonalties, which could help remove existing problems and thwart probable dangers.

The two leaders signed a framework treaty on bilateral cooperation, which they said would further strengthen political and economic links between the two nations.
The president said that most of the inked documents focused on energy and communications and their exchange. "Given that Armenia is located along the North-South Corridor, the closer the communication between the two countries, the better we can serve the entire region and the global economy", he added.
Voicing satisfaction with expansion and deepening of all-out relations between the two countries, he said "I hope to witness further promotion of mutual relations in economic, cultural and political areas".
Kocharian, meanwhile, said that Armenia and Iran should pay particular attention to developing their economic cooperation. He singled out the energy sector where the two nations plan to implement multimillion-dollar joint projects.
The biggest of them is the construction of a pipeline that will ship Iranian natural gas to Armenia and possibly other countries. An agreement on the implementation of the $120 million project was signed by the two governments in Yerevan last May, under which Iran will supply Armenia with a total of 36 billion cubic metres of gas over a 20-year period, expected to start in early 2007.

Armenia's ambassador to Tehran, Gegham Gharibjanian, told RFE/RL this week that work on the Iranian section of the pipeline is already underway and will soon begin on the Armenian side. Energy Minister Armen Movsisian had said earlier that the Armenian government would receive a $30 million (25 million Euros) loan from Iran to finance the construction of the Armenian section.
The construction contract has been awarded to Iranian company Sanir.
The loan should enable Yerevan to finance the 41 kilometres of the 141-kilometre (88-mile) pipeline that cross Armenian territory, Kocharian told journalists after a meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Khatami.
Despite the energy projects, the volume of Armenian-Iranian trade has steadily declined in recent years and made up only 3.5 percent of Armenia's external commercial exchange last year.
Khatami and his delegation left Yerevan on Thursday, heading for Minsk and then to neighbouring Tajikistan. ENDS IRAN ARMENIA 9904

http://www.iran-press-service.com/ips/articles-2004/september/khatami_armenia_9904.shtml

[Mos]

Re: Iranian-Armenian relations

The wiki article on Karabakh war has decided to include 'Iran' as supporter of azerbaijan:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagorno-Karabakh_War

[retro]

Re: Iranian-Armenian relations

Someone here once asked me: How do you know that Persians are not Turks - It's because we kept many pictures; writings; artifacts, and documented history: we know what our characteristics were then, and we know what our characteristics are now.

Whilst the Triple Crescent moon is something of a insignia of the Turks and Kurds. The Arabian Crescent moon symbol is pre-Islamic and intrestingly Allah had three daughters el-Lat, el-Uzza, and Manat. As the Triple Crescent is a symbol of the triple goddess in Celtic mythology and it very likely has ancient Indic/Indo-European associations.

Whilst Persia contributed greatly to the development of Mathematics, Science, Philosophy and to the Arts. The Arabs are a very diverse peoples and most Arabs where not originally 'Arabs' and where Arabized, such as the Arabized Berbers (Moors), Egyptians and the Syro-Lebanese.

It's also worth noting that Western Semitic peoples of the fertile crescent and Mesopotamia, such as the Assyrians. Have little in common with the Arabs in Arabia. As west Asians and South west Asians form two fairly distinctive groups.

What is done is done and it's a mistake to wage some kind of vendetta, against your enemies and far better to unite and rebuild your nation.

At least to my knowledge the Tajik's are by the most ethnically intact of the Persian peoples and rumors of the eurasiatic Aryan hordes, demise have it seems been greatly exaggerated.

[Eddo211]

Re: Iranian-Armenian relations

http://www.panorama.am/ru/politics/2...12/imam-ameli/

the article was originally in Russian and i used google translate

and here is the Iranian website
http://www.arannews.ir/fa/

Thanks a lot....you are the man ninetoydome.