Azerbaijan ministry tells Iran not to interfere in its affairs

A statement by Iran’s Minister of Science, Research and Technology Hossein Simaei-Sarraf on education in Azerbaijan has caused surprise and regret.

The Ministry of Science and Education provided the information to Operative Information Center-OMM.

“This is an entirely inappropriate statement and nothing more than an attempt to interfere in Azerbaijan’s internal affairs. No one is permitted to interfere in our country’s domestic affairs, including its education policy, and such attempts will be firmly rejected.

We would advise Iranian officials to deal with their own country’s problems instead of interfering in the internal affairs of other countries.

As a result of Iran’s policies, there is not a single school in the country where instruction is provided in Azerbaijani. Higher education institutions also do not offer instruction in Azerbaijani. Yet around 40 million people in Iran are ethnic Azerbaijanis with deep roots in the country, and they have been denied the right to education in their mother tongue for decades.

Iran’s Minister of Science, Research and Technology, as well as others in Iran who speak on this issue, would do well to address these matters instead of interfering in Azerbaijan’s internal affairs and to take steps to end this unprecedented injustice that has continued for decades,” the ministry said.