VZCZCXRO0384
PP RUEHBC RUEHDBU RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHMOS
DE RUEHKB #0661/01 1220812
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
P 020812Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY BAKU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0262
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
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RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 BAKU 000661 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/02/2016 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR ECON EPET AJ IR
SUBJECT: THE IRANIANS ARE COMING 
 
REF: BAKU 443 
 
Classified By: CHARGE D'AFFAIRES JASON P. HYLAND FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AN 
D (D). 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY:  According to rumors, press reports and 
Azerbaijani government officials, an increasing number of 
Iranians are moving to Azerbaijan and buying property here. 
Most -- but not all -- of these Iranians are ethnic Azeris. 
Although some portray this as nothing more than Iranians 
trying to make money in Azerbaijani real estate, or perhaps 
to enjoy a more liberal environment than Iran, many attribute 
the alleged migrations to rising tensions between Iran and 
the United States and the fear that the United States will 
attack Iran.  Evidence for this slow migration is largely 
anecdotal, but the number of apartments in Azerbaijan 
purchased by Iranians has increased.  It has become less 
difficult for Iranians to come to Azerbaijan, as travel 
requirements and visa restrictions had been eased, and 
flights and passenger sailings have increased, and projects 
aimed at connecting the two countries have continued.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
------------------------------------- 
MORE IRANIANS MOVING TO AZERBAIJAN... 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (S/NF) Deputy Prime Minister Ali Hasanov told emboffs that 
a large number of Iranians, largely ethnic Azeris, were 
traveling to Baku because they feared U.S. attacks on Iran. 
Hasanov said that ethnic Azeris were among the first groups 
drafted for the Iran-Iraq war and fear that they will be the 
first called up to defend Iran against any U.S. attack.  When 
pressed for more information, Hasanov would not provide 
numbers.  SIMO contacts at the Ministry of National Security 
have reported similar information but also have been unable 
to provide concrete numbers.  An independent political 
analyst estimates that there are currently 50,000 Iranian 
families resident in Azerbaijan (reftel). 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Other information points to an increase in the 
number of Iranians present in Azerbaijan.  A Technikabank 
(local private bank) representative told us that wealthy 
Azeri-Iranians have been coming to Azerbaijan, and Baku in 
particular, over the past several months to buy land.  Some 
buy apartments as investments, either reselling them as the 
real estate market continues to appreciate or leasing them 
out since the rent in Azerbaijan is higher than in Iran.  The 
local press has reported this information as well, 
speculating that the rush of Iranians buying apartments has 
driven the average price of a three-room apartment in Baku 
from USD 22,000-23,000 to USD 35,000-40,000 over the last 12 
months.  Separately, the website of the London-based 
Institute for War and Peace Reporting quoted several experts 
as saying that in 2005 the number of Iranians applying for 
refugee status in Azerbaijan was ten times the 2004 figure, 
rising from 14 to 147. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) While the media also has reported that Iranians are 
buying up real estate in the Azerbaijani exclave of 
Nakhchivan, the UNHCR Senior Protection Officer, who recently 
returned from a trip to Nakhchivan, said that based on his 
visit to the main border checkpoint, Iranian travel to the 
region is "normal" and that he did not notice an increase. 
He also stated that the Nakhchivan authorities claim there is 
no new influx from Iran. 
 
--------------------------- 
...AS TRAVEL BECOMES EASIER 
--------------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) Recent improvements in travel links between Azerbaijan 
and Iran, as well as a changes in the visa regime, have made 
it easier for Iranians to travel to Azerbaijan.  A new 
seaport passenger terminal will open in Baku on May 10 and is 
expected to handle two or three passenger ships per week, 
both to and from Iran.  Iran Air has increased the number of 
flights between Tehran and Baku from one flight weekly to 
two, based on indications that the passenger flow on the 
route is rising sharply.  (AZAL airlines currently operates 
four weekly flights between Baku and Tehran.) 
 
¶6.  (U) In a recent interview with ANS Television, Iranian 
Ambassador to Azerbaijani Soleymani previewed further 
 
BAKU 00000661  002 OF 002 
 
 
improvements in the two countries' transportation network. 
According to Soleymani, the Gazvin-Rasht railway is under 
construction and both countries are trying to speed up 
completion of the rail line from Astara, Azerbaijan to 
Astara, Iran (currently the Azerbaijan portion of this 
railway ends 15 km short of the border).  An additional USD 
10 million is needed to complete this project.  Iran has also 
provided USD 2 million to Azerbaijan for developing a 
Baku-Astara Highway.  Soleymani said that sixty percent of 
the planning has been completed thus far and the remaining 
forty percent will be completed in five to six months. 
Furthermore, there is a working group which will discuss the 
opening of new customs posts in the Azerbaijani town of 
Bilasuvar, another Iran-Azerbaijan border crossing point. 
 
¶7. (U) Soleymani also confirmed that visa requirements have 
been eased.  In his ANS interview, Soleymani said that during 
the Iranian Foreign Minister's last visit to Azerbaijan, the 
Government of Iran and the GOAJ signed an agreement 
simplifying the entrance and exit visa procedures between the 
exclave of Nakhchivan and Iran.  Under this agreement, 
Nakhchivanis will receive a free three-month, multiple entry 
visa to Iran and vice versa.  Also, citizens of either 
country who live 45 km or less from the border towns will be 
able to cross at least four times a year without a visa and 
up to six times a year.  Lastly, every Azerbaijani who is 
traveling to Tehran will be able to obtain an airport visa on 
arrival.  However, Azerbaijan will continue to require visas 
in advance for Iranians flying into Baku.  Soleymani 
clarified that in order for the agreement to be implemented 
Iran needs an official note from the Azerbaijani MFA. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶8.  (C) While we have been unable to pin down concrete 
information on the numbers of Iranians traveling to 
Azerbaijan, it is clear that there has been an increase 
recent months.  At this point, it is impossible to know 
whether that increase is due to the many family and business 
ties between these neighboring states, fears of military 
action in Iran, or simple eagerness to make a quick profit in 
Azerbaijan.  The growing transportation links and eased visa 
regimes, however, will ensure that this trend continues. 
HYLAND