BAKU - Azerbaijan is expecting a formal apology from Iran for its recent statements over Baku hosting the Eurovision song contest, Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry spokesman Elman Abdullayev said on May 24.
"We are expecting apologies from Iran for the unfavorable and insulting statements addressed to the Azeri people and statehood. We are expecting the apologies to be made within the shortest possible period of time," he said.
Last week several protests were held by the opposition and Azeri diaspora organizations outside the Iranian Embassy in Baku in sign of protest against Tehran’s policy with respect to Azerbaijan and the discrimination against millions of ethnic Azeris living in Iran. Protestors used pictures of the president and the Iranian spiritual leader with critical comments.
The protests were held in response to regular and still ongoing protests in Tehran, Tabriz and other Iranian cities, in which protestors criticize the Azeri authorities for cooperation with the West and Baku hosting of the Eurovision, which, protest organizers believe, is against the Islamic principles.
The events prompted Iranian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohammed Baqir Bahrami to go back to Iran on May 21 for consultations.
