The armed attack on the embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the Islamic Republic of Iran on January 27, 2023 is a terrorist act directly aimed against the state of Azerbaijan and is a violation of international law. Documents such as the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, and the 1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunity of the United Nations apply to a representative of a foreign state for his protection.
Article 22 of the Vienna Convention of 1961 states that “the receiving state must take all appropriate measures to protect the premises of diplomatic missions from any interference and damage, and to prevent any violation of the comfort of the mission.”
This terrorist act showed that Iran did not fulfill its obligations under the Vienna Convention to ensure the security of the embassy and its employees. As a result of the incident, the death of an employee of the Azerbaijani embassy and the injury of other employees deeply shocked the entire Azerbaijani people.
The terrorist act was committed according to a pre-planned scenario. Although the official Tehran claimed that the terrorist attack took place on personal grounds, this was later exposed to be wrong.
The fact that a terrorist with an automatic weapon assaulted the Iranian police “guarding” the Azerbaijani embassy, that the police did not react to it, and that the terrorist entered the embassy building freely and unimpeded means that the plan was thought out.
Tehran police claims that the terrorist arrived in front of the embassy with his children in order to strengthen the “household ground” opinion: although, in the video footage, it is clear that there was no one in the car, the terrorist’s behavior also confirms that he did not have a dispute to be settled as he broke into the embassy and started indiscriminate firing.
The person drives the car quickly and crashes into the car in front of the embassy building. If the person had really attacked “on family grounds” as the Iranian police claimed, and had come with his children, he would not have rammed his car into another car at high speed.
If we clarify the possibilities a bit, the version of the direct involvement of the Sepah in the organization of the attack is stronger, and in this context it is not accidental why the attack was carried out now.
A few days ago, in front of the police, that terrorist opened fire on the building of our embassy with a machine gun and hit the door with a hammer. This suggests that the terrorist was instructed in advance and the police were instructed not to prevent him from committing the terrorist act.
It is known that after gaining independence, Azerbaijan preferred the principles of good neighborliness with all its neighbors, including Iran. Iran has never been sincere in its attitude towards Azerbaijan. This situation became even more acute after Azerbaijan won a brilliant victory over Armenia and liberated its occupied lands.
In this country, anti-Azerbaijani propaganda has been given a lot of space, it can be said that the image of the enemy has been created. Even a number of institutions and religious circles of Iran, as well as the media, have made threatening statements against our state.
All appeals addressed to the Tehran regarding the protection of Azerbaijan embassy remained unanswered. It is clear once again that the bloody terrorist incident is a continuation of the ugly propaganda.
We demand the immediate investigation of this terrorist act against our embassy and the swift punishment of the terrorists. If the Iranian state continues to take steps to evade responsibility, it will mark Iran as irresponsible state and lead to corresponding legal and political consequences.
Javid Shahverdiyev Chairman of Azerbaijan Democratic Reforms Development Center, journalist (Azerbaijan)
(The views of the authors are their own. Conformity of “Pakistan in the World” with the author is not necessary : Editor)
Javid Shahverdiyev
