I'm in agreement with India but not because of Pakistan. Azerbaijan is a snake that's collaborating with Israel, Turkey and Ukraine and has no place in the SCO as things stand. They let Israel's F35s fly over their airspace to attack Iran without protest and Aliyev regularly makes anti-communist statements about the USSR.
this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2025
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Any statement they've made about Iranian Azerbaijan will make your eyes roll into your head. Though I do wonder if membership within the SCO could do work in disloding them from the imperialist camp? India has been a Western collaborator for years now yet a combination of factors like BRICS and Trump’s tariffs have led to them recently shifting their policy into something more agreeable. Could the same not occur for Azerbaijan? If not I'd be interested in why exactly, as I'm not too informed about Azerbaijan besides a few of their vassal tendencies and their actions against Armenians.
That's a fair point but I feel like Russia and Iran have already been fairly accommodating towards Azerbaijan with all things considered, to no avail. When Azerbaijan attacked Armenia, Russia let them without any real consequences despite Armenia being a CSTO member (at the time). If Azerbaijan really wants to be a SCO member, I say that they are going to have to make some concrete concessions.
Honestly I feel Iran has been too accommodating to Azerbaijan, however that's a regional dispute about how Baku continues to undermine Iran's sovereignty. I also don't inherently oppose India's decision (not their reason obviously) I'm just musing on whether or not it's most productive yo actually dealing with the problematic nature of Azerbaijan's policies. I could also see the argument for excluding them on the basis of pressuring them to change course if they'd like to get closer with the rising powers.
I guess I'm wondering if this is like India in BRICS. They're obviously the most reactionary core member buy their involvement has led to potentially positive outcomes compared to if they were excluded. However I'm not sure of Azerbaijan holds anywhere near the same significance as India wrt West Asia or the caucuses.
I'm honestly just trying to evaluate whether my distaste for Azeri compredor behavior is blinding me from recognizing a politically disadvantageous move, or if I'm correct in the thought that Baku shouldn't be let in the SCO.
Apologies for the unuly length of my reply, just attempting to engage in some self crit with help from comrades on this forum.
No it's alright, I do agree with you that it's something worth carefully considering and weighing both options.
I feel like this statement is a thinly veiled white lie. We all know why Azerbaijan are being blocked. It wasn't long ago that the same criticisms of playing both sides were leveled at India. India is taking the blame for Azerbaijan's rejection in public because they have to prove their new found loyalty to the anti-imperialist block.