Iran has recalled its envoy to Azerbaijan, amid a dispute between the neighboring countries as Baku prepares to host the Eurovision song contest.

Iran's embassy in Baku says Ambassador Mohammad Bagher Bahrami left for Tehran on Monday for talks on what the embassy called the “insult of religious saints.”

Azerbaijani protesters rallied outside the Iranian Embassy in Baku last week to denounce Iran's perceived anti-Azerbaijani policies and the violation of the rights of the Azerbaijani people in Iran.

During the rally, demonstrators held up photos of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the country's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, in efforts to mock the two men.

Separately, Azerbaijani police arrested several protesters trying to draw attention to human rights violations in Azerbaijan, during a march on Monday in Baku.

Azerbaijan comes under global scrutiny on Tuesday with the start of Eurovision, Europe's biggest songfest.

Baku is seeking to use the contest to boost its image. An estimated 120 million people worldwide will watch Eurovision.

Meanwhile, Armenia says it is boycotting the Eurovision song contest.

Azerbaijan and Armenia have long engaged in a dispute about the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, a majority ethnic Armenian region deep inside Azerbaijan.

The region declared independence from Azerbaijan in 1988, triggering a six-year war that claimed 35,000 lives and left more than 1 million people homeless.

International efforts to broker a peace deal have failed, and border tensions between Armenian-backed forces and Azerbaijani troops remain high.

The Eurovision semifinal competition is on Tuesday and the final is on Saturday.

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