Azerbaijan, Baku, May 31 / Trend M. Aliyev /
There is unreal, spurious clergy in Iran, which tries to blame Azerbaijan in the affairs not inherent to it, Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Social and Political Department Chief Ali Hasanov said at the conference on the topic "Role of NGOs in civil society development", organized on Thursday.
"They bring charges of homosexuality," he said. "We refute this and tell the Iranian clergy that it is a shame that you pray, stretch out your hands to God and begin to lie immediately after leaving the mosque. Of course, the individuals, telling a lie and deceiving people, are false. People do not need such unreal clergy."
"The Azerbaijani people will not cooperate with such clergy," he said.
"The person stretching his hands to God, reading the Koran, inspiring people to Islam, must not lie after leaving the mosque," he said. "Now they say that they frightened Azerbaijan and prevented holding a gay parade, as if we were preparing to hold such a parade."
The Azerbaijani-Iranian relations have been recently deteriorated.
Everything started with the rumors that a group of foreigners is going to organize a gay parade in Baku during Eurovision song contest. Afterwards, the anti-Azerbaijani demonstrations were held in neighboring Iran urging to ban a gay parade and not to conduct the contest, which allegedly contradicts Islamic values.
Despite Baku has repeatedly stated that it will not allow holding such a parade in Baku, the anti-Azerbaijani campaign in Iran did not stop. The protest rallies were held in front of the Azerbaijani consulate in Tabriz. In response, similar rallies were held in front of Iran's diplomatic mission in Baku to stop the anti-Azerbaijani campaign.
Following this, Iran withdrew its ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohammad Bagher Bahrami in Tehran for consultations on May 22.
The situation further exacerbated after two Azerbaijani citizens got lost in Iran. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has already sent three notes to Iran's Foreign Ministry demanding to clarify the situation with the missing compatriots.