Azerbaijan, Baku, March 17 / Trend M.Aliyev /
The information publicized by the Azerbaijani Ministry of National Security is absolutely not an action directed against the Iranian state, Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Social and Political Department Chief Ali Hasanov told reporters on Saturday.
He was expressing his attitude toward detention in Azerbaijan of a group of people accused of espionage activity against Azerbaijan on the instructions of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
"The main goal of each state is to protect its security, prevent negative case within its territory. The MNS is doing its job, it has nothing to do with the Iranian state," Hasanov said.
He believes it will not have a negative impact on the Iranian-Azerbaijani inter-state relations, on the contrary, if these cases are prevented in the future, Iranian-Azerbaijani relations will be even better.
Hasanov said Iran and Azerbaijan are neighboring countries with common history and culture.
"Iran is home to tens of millions of our countrymen. We do not want problems with this country, and we try to keep good relations with Iran, we seek not to interfere in the internal affairs of each other, to prevent the use of our territories against other states, and also against each other," he noted.
At the same time Hasanov stressed that sometimes, both in Iran and Azerbaijan, the various circles, some members of society take steps affecting the relations between the two countries. He called materials of some journalists as an example of such activities.
This week as a result of a special operation conducted by the Azerbaijani Ministry of National Security, a group of 22 individuals was revealed and detained. It is accused of espionage activity against Azerbaijan on the instructions of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).