Iran Influence in Azerbaijan May Unsettle Oil Investments
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Hajiaga Nuri, an elder in an impoverished village north of Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku, is part of the region’s first Islamic push against a pro-Western leader after similar regimes were ousted in the Middle East.
Nuri, 59, plans to join a march against the government next month led by a banned Islamic party that Azeri authorities say has Iranian links. The party’s stated goal: to fight against the regime of President Ilham Aliyev, a U.S. ally they accuse of suppressing Muslims. In Tunisia and Egypt, by contrast, demonstrators mostly called for secular democracy.