Azerbaijan–Iran border

The Azerbaijan–Iran border (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan–İran sərhədi, Persian: مرز آذربایجان و ایران) is 689 km (428 mi) in length and consists of two non-contiguous sections separated by the Armenia–Iran border.^[1]

Map of Azerbaijan, with Iran to the south

Azerbaijani and Iranian boundary markers

Description

Western (Nakchivan) section

The border starts in the north-west at the tripoint with Turkey on the Aras river, continuing along this river south-eastwards, through the Aras reservoir (created by the Aras Dam) and down to the western Armenian tripoint.

Eastern section

The border starts in the west at the eastern Armenian tripoint on the Aras river, and then follows this river as it flows north-eastwards. The border leaves the river at a point south of Bəhramtəpə, turning sharply south-eastwards and proceeding across the Mugan plain to the Bolgarchay river. The border then follows this river south forming a broad S-shape. The river ends near Yardımlı, with the border then curving south-eastwards, proceeding overland in that direction through the Talysh Mountains, then turning east along the Astarachay river, following its course all the way to the Caspian Sea.

History

During the 19th century the Caucasus region was contested between the declining Ottoman Empire, Persia and Russia, which was expanding southwards.^[2] By the Russo-Persian War (1804–1813) and the subsequent Treaty of Gulistan, Russia acquired the bulk of what is now Azerbaijan and parts of Armenia; a border was drawn which is the modern border between Iran and Azerbaijan (excluding the Nakhichevan section) and Iran and Armenia.^[2][3][4] Following the Russo-Persian War (1826–1828) and the Treaty of Turkmenchay Persia was forced to cede Nakhchivan and the rest of Armenia to Russia; the Aras was extended as the border up to the Ottoman tripoint, thus finalising what would become the Azerbaijan–Iran border.^[2][5][4]

The Aras border, looking from Iran into Azerbaijan

During the First World War Russian Communists staged a successful revolution in 1917, whilst the peoples of the southern Caucasus had declared the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic in 1918. Internal disagreements led to Georgia leaving the federation in May 1918, followed shortly thereafter by Armenia and Azerbaijan. By its very name the newly independent Azerbaijan caused tensions with Persia, as it seemed to imply a claim to Iran's Azerbaijan region.^[6][7][8][9] In 1920 Russia's Red Army invaded Azerbaijan and Armenia, ending the independence of both, followed shortly thereafter by Georgia. All three states were incorporated into the Transcaucasian SFSR within the USSR, before being separated in 1936. A Soviet-backed separatist state in Iranian Azerbaijan was established 1945 but was soon quashed by Iranian forces.^[10]

An Iran–USSR border convention in 1954 made some minor adjustments along the frontier in the Mugan plain and near Deman and Namin, to Iran's benefit.^[2] On-the-ground demarcation then followed, with a final agreement being agreed upon in 1957.^[2] In 1970 some further adjustments were made to the Nakhchivan section of the border following the creation of the Aras dam.^[2]

Following the collapse of the USSR in 1991 Azerbaijan gained independence and inherited its section of the Iran–USSR border. Iran quickly recognised the new state, though relations cooled over Iranian fears of Azerbaijan's potential claims to its territory as part of a 'Greater Azerbaijan', with Iran championing Armenia in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.^[11][12] Following the war Armenia was left in control of the westernmost section of the 'mainland' Azerbaijan–Iran border. Relations between Iran and Azerbaijan have improved somewhat since the accession of Hassan Rouhani in Iran.

During the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, Azerbaijan gained complete control of the western section of the border with Iran within one month from the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh, ultimately restoring Azerbaijani control over the border.^[13]

Border crossings

There are crossings between 'mainland' Azerbaijan and Iran at Bilasuvar and Astara.^[14] Crossings between Iran and Nakchivan are at Jolfa/Julfa and Poldasht–Shahtakhti.^[14]

See also

• Azerbaijan–Iran relations

References

1. CIA World Factbook - Iran, archived from the original on 10 January 2021, retrieved 6 April 2020
2. International Boundary Study No. 25 – Iran-USSR Boundary (PDF), 28 February 1978, archived (PDF) from the original on 23 October 2020, retrieved 9 April 2020
3. John F. Baddeley, "The Russian Conquest of the Caucasus", Longman, Green and Co., London: 1908, p. 90
4. USSR-Iran Boundary (PDF), February 1951, archived from the original (PDF) on 10 April 2020, retrieved 9 April 2020
5. Gavin R.G. Hambly, in The Cambridge History of Iran, ed. William Bayne Fisher (Cambridge University Press, 1991), pp. 145-146
6. Tadeusz Swietochowski, Russia and Azerbaijan: A Borderland in Transition New York: Columbia University Press, 1995. pg 69
7. Atabaki, Touraj (2000). Azerbaijan: Ethnicity and the Struggle for Power in Iran. I.B.Tauris. p. 25. ISBN 9781860645549.
8. Dekmejian, R. Hrair; Simonian, Hovann H. (2003). Troubled Waters: The Geopolitics of the Caspian Region. I.B. Tauris. p. 60. ISBN 978-1860649226. Archived from the original on 19 January 2021. Retrieved 6 October 2020. Until 1918, when the Musavat regime decided to name the newly independent state Azerbaijan, this designation had been used exclusively to identify the Iranian province of Azerbaijan.
9. Rezvani, Babak (2014). Ethno-territorial conflict and coexistence in the caucasus, Central Asia and Fereydan: academisch proefschrift. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. p. 356. ISBN 978-9048519286. The region to the north of the river Araxes was not called Azerbaijan prior to 1918, unlike the region in northwestern Iran that has been called since so long ago.
10. Frederik Coene (2009), The Caucasus - An Introduction, Routledge Contemporary Russia and Eastern Europe Series, Routledge, p. 136, ISBN 9781135203023, As a result, the People's Republic of Azerbaijan and the Kurdish People's Republic (the Republic of Mahabad), two short-lived Soviet puppet states, were set up late in 1945...
11. James P. Nichol. Diplomacy in the Former Soviet Republics, Praeger/Greenwood, 1995, ISBN 0-275-95192-8, p. 150
12. Cornell, Svante (1 December 2000). Small Nations and Great Powers: A Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict in the Caucasus. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9780203988879. Archived from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved 28 September 2018 – via Google Books.
13. Kramer, Andrew E. (10 November 2020). "Facing Military Debacle, Armenia Accepts a Deal in Nagorno-Karabakh War". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
14. Caravanistan – Azerbaijan-Iran border crossings, archived from the original on 2 June 2020, retrieved 9 April 2020