The statements made by Iran's Minister of the Interior have caused a reaction among activists in Azerbaijan

 Hamid Melikoglu, Voice of America, March 18, 2022

 Iran's Minister of the Interior, Ahmad Vahidi

The statements made by Iran's Minister of the Interior, Ahmad Vahidi, during a meeting of the East Azerbaijan Planning and Development Council in the East Azerbaijan province have sparked reactions among the media in Iranian Azerbaijan and national activists.

According to Tasnim News Agency, Ahmad Vahidi stated during the meeting that the officials in East Azerbaijan should not rely on the "limited" credits and budgets provided by Tehran. The Interior Minister claimed that the "private sector" in the province has vast potential, adding that "the development potential in the region is very large."

He also noted that the officials of East Azerbaijan should "make efforts to attract private and foreign investments." He emphasized that the government's financial resources are "very limited" and are not sufficient for accelerated development.

It is not only Abidin Khorram, the governor of East Azerbaijan, who has complained about the limited powers of provincial governors.

Mohammadreza Purmohammadi, who was the governor of East Azerbaijan during Hassan Rouhani's presidency, stated at the ceremony for the new governor's introduction that 85% of the budget is in the hands of the ministries and that governors are mainly "employers" in this system.

Abidin Khorram, who was appointed as the governor of East Azerbaijan by Ebrahim Raisi, criticized the Interior Minister in a meeting, arguing that provincial governments were not granted any authority concerning national development and construction projects.

On March 9, Masoud Pezeshkian, a deputy from Tabriz, told the semi-official ISNA News Agency that the total credit for East Azerbaijan in the budget was one trillion tomans, but he claimed that only 500 billion tomans of this amount had been allocated to them. Pezeshkian also argued that the budget did not include funds for the construction of the Zab Tunnel in Urmia Lake and metro projects in Tabriz.

Social media users reacted to the Interior Minister's statements, criticizing the transfer of the income from the Azerbaijani provinces to Tehran. One Twitter user, referencing the minister's statement, asked, "Could this be the beginning of depriving the Azerbaijani provinces of their national budget and abandoning them?"

Another Twitter user, noting that the minister's remarks were appropriate, put forward three conditions. The user stated, "The directors of the province should be elected directly by the people, without the approval of the center or the Monitoring Council. The Azerbaijani provinces should be allowed to independently export and import, and Tehran should not have its hand in Azerbaijan's pocket."

#وزیر_کشور گفته #آذربایجان (شرقی) از دل بستن به بودجه مرکز و تهران اجتناب کنند!!به نظرم بسیار بجاست به شرط آنکه:1. انتخاب مدیران مستقیما توسط مردم و بدون اعمال نظر مرکز و شورای نگهبان باشد.2. آذربایجان مستقلا اجازه صادرات و واردات داشته باشد.3. مرکز دست در جیب آذربایجان نکند.

— Ali Rezaei (@Ali_Rezaei_ard) March 15, 2022

National activists in Iranian Azerbaijan criticize the country’s centralized governance system, arguing that the government treats Azerbaijan and other non-Persian communities in the border regions unfairly.


Link to the original text in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
İran Daxili İşlər nazirinin ifadələri fəallar arasında reaksiyaya səbəb olub