Die vier Familiendynastien spielen weltweit gegeneinander

Full article: Iran’s former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been succeeded by his son after being killed in US-Israeli air strikes. While [Mojtaba](https://inews.co.uk/opinion/irans-new-leader-message-trump-plan-backfired-4282546?ico=in-line_link) Khameni elected by Iran’s Assembly of Experts, not anointed by his father, some have suggested it points to a new dynasty forming in the Islamic Republic.

Iran is following a pattern in which powerful families across Asia have turned themselves into ruling clans that could go on and on. 

If South Korean intelligence is to be believed, [Kim Jong-un](https://inews.co.uk/topic/kim-jong-un?ico=in-line_link) has chosen the next ruler of [North Korea](https://inews.co.uk/topic/north-korea?ico=in-line_link), his teenage daughter Kim Ju-ae. This would mark the fourth generation of Kims in charge in Pyongyang. The Aliyevs in [Azerbaijan](https://inews.co.uk/topic/azerbaijan?ico=in-line_link), Berdimuhamedows in Turkmenistan and Huns in [Cambodia](https://inews.co.uk/topic/cambodia?ico=in-line_link) have also ensured their survival through ruthless domestic control.

These four families sit near the very bottom of [Reporters Without Borders’ press freedom rankings](https://rsf.org/en/index) and have a bad habit of repressing any domestic opposition – and knowing how to play rival world powers off against each other.

Each has thrived through an ability to navigate the rivalries between [Russia](https://inews.co.uk/topic/russia?ico=in-line_link), [China](https://inews.co.uk/topic/china?ico=in-line_link) and the West.

While there is no formal club of authoritarian families, they often share a common communist heritage. The irony is that these systems once encouraged citizens to put the state above family. Now, in these countries, one family has become the state.

# Azerbaijan charting a middle ground

Azerbaijan offers the most polished example. In the Soviet era, when it was part of the [USSR](https://inews.co.uk/news/world/ussr-fall-when-soviet-union-break-up-what-happened-former-countries-list-1480222?ico=in-line_link), it was led for more than a decade by KGB colonel Heydar Aliyev. When he returned to power in 1993, during the post-Soviet turmoil, it was seen as the old order reasserting itself in an independent state.

[Vladimir Putin](https://inews.co.uk/topic/vladimir-putin?ico=in-line_link) visited Baku, its capital, in 2000 and notably brought with him Heydar Aliyev’s original graduation certificate from the Leningrad KGB academy as a symbol of the old ties.

In addition, [Heydar’s son Ilham](https://inews.co.uk/news/world/pandora-papers-leak-list-names-secret-property-financial-secrets-exposed-1230467?ico=in-line_link) was educated in Moscow and was primed for power by being appointed to roles in key companies, notably Socar, Azerbaijan’s state oil giant. He succeeded his father in 2003, a few months before the latter’s death, and has remained in power ever since.

Despite ties to Moscow, Azerbaijan has long courted the West. British energy giant BP struck what Aliyev Senior called the “contract of the century” in the 1990s, to develop Caspian oil and gas, and today Azerbaijani gas accounts for around eight per cent of EU gas imports.

The country is also seen as a vital transport hub linking Asia and Europe, meaning it has had to walk a tightrope between Putin and the West.

In the past year, Washington has taken an active role in [brokering peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia](https://inews.co.uk/topic/azerbaijan-armenia-conflict?ico=in-line_link), which have fought two wars over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, with Vice President JD Vance in [Baku last month](https://oc-media.org/explainer-what-you-need-to-know-about-jd-vances-historic-visit-to-armenia-and-azerbaijan/) to discuss how the US can facilitate trade in the region. The two countries also signed a strategic partnership agreement, which Vance said would “make it very clear that the United States-Azerbaijan relationship is one that will stick”.

Azerbaijan also maintains a deep security relationship with Israel and [Turkey](https://inews.co.uk/topic/turkey?ico=in-line_link), a Nato member state.

“The transition has clearly worked in Azerbaijan,” Luca Anceschi, a senior lecturer in Central Asian Studies at the University of Glasgow, told *The i Paper*. “They’ve got more options because they’re closer to markets that are not Russia.”