The incident happened between the Tractor Sazi FC football club of Tabriz where mainly Azerbaijanis live and Persepolis FC of Tehran while both clubs competing at “Azadi” stadium in Tehran, 25th November.

Before the game, 3 hooligan of Persepolis sent a video prepared by themselfs to azerbaijani fans showing off the “Artsax Armenia – that’s the real name of Karabakh” slogan in response to the slogan of “Arab gulf – that’s the real name of Persian Gulf” of Tractor.

Additionally, these 3 men have come into the stadium with the banners which the name of so-called Karabakh written on it. Those kinds of acts caused indignation among Azerbaijan people.

This is not the first time that we have witnessed unrespectful behaviour while both teams are competing. But those incidents have nothing to do with “love of a team” and there is no coincidence. “Tractor Sazi” football club has meant a lot to our compatriots, Iranian Azerbaijanis that live in Notherpart of Iran.

Actually, this team has one another significance that goes beyond the sport, having reached the symbol of preserving the national identity of Turk. Having the most Turkish fans of the world puts the club in a front line with 48 years of history.

In 1970 the club funded and named after Iran Tractor Manufactoring Company in Tabriz. During the first years of establishment, the team players were also the workers of ITMCO and time by time the club became preofessional.

And the club “Persepolis” had its name came from the capital city of Ahamaniler which is merely a ruins at the moment.

In fact, from this national-ideological point of view, it can be said that "Tractor Sazi" is similar to the Barcelona club, which is the phenomenon of the national feelings of the Catalonia region.

In Spain, football has always been a kind of protesting the regime for Catalans and Basques:

Barcelona, Spain

Tabriz, Iran

Tractor holds the record audience gathering at it’s own satdium Sahand numbered 110-150 thousands in a game against “Muqavimet Sipasi” of Shiraz city. According to some sources, huge number of fans outnumbered the capacity of Sahand stadium, but this didn’t keep the fans supporting their team, even if it forced them to support "Tractor Sazi" in the surroinding hills.

Fans of Traktor have always been demanding not only the rights of women in Iran, ecological problems, but advocating the ideas of Turkism, Azerbaijanism and the territorial integrity of Karabakh and Azerbaijan.

The driving force of the mass protests against the drying of the Urmia lake (deliberate drainage) was the fans of the Tractor Sazi FC:

The incident at the Azadi stadium that took place on Sunday reflects the rivalry and confrontation between the two clubs' fans, not the political position of Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan.

However, as world-renowned British writer Simon Cooper writes on the anthropological perspectives of the sport, "Football is never only football." Facts shows that from the 19th century until today, football has played one of the most important roles in the formation of the world system.

The Iranian police have repeatedly demanded the fans of Tractor FC to put down the flag of the Republic of Azerbaijan to not politicize football. With the same argument, Persepolis fans could get this banner, which was a provocation against the independent Republic of Azerbaijan, and thus Iran was going to gain the respect of citizens of both South Azerbaijanis and citizens of the Republic of Azerbaijan by not allowing the fans of Persepolis to do the same.

By doing this the Iranian police give their "contribution" to the deepening of the internal conflict - it is their own job, it's their own government, but it is their duty to respect the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Thus, the incidents must not be allowed to cause conflict between the two states and the nations.

For this reason, Axar.az has sent an official letter to the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in connection with the incident, asking for the punishment of the stadium administration in which the incident took place and for taking stronger measures in future matches.