The Azerbaijani government is fundamentally hostile to the
idea of religious freedom, seeking to control faiths it regards as a potential
challenge (especially Islam), to co-opt faiths it sees as useful (Judaism,
Russian Orthodoxy, Lutheranism and Catholicism) and to restrict as far as it
can other faiths that it dislikes (Evangelical Christians, Jehovah's Witnesses,
Hare Krishna). Only faiths with a small following and who function
unobtrusively, such as Molokans (an early Russian Protestant group), Georgian
Orthodox and Baha'is, tend to escape government attention.
In the absence of hard evidence, government harassment of minority religious communities
which violates Azerbaijan's commitments as a member of the Council of Europe
and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe - appears to stem
from officials' fear of social change they cannot control and dislike of
pluralism.
The prime instrument of control is official registration: without it,
individual religious communities cannot act as a body, including owning or
renting property, or holding bank accounts. Although the 1992 religion law
(amended in 1996 and 1997) does not make registration compulsory, government
officials at all levels often act as though it does. Police and local
authorities have raided many religious communities that have chosen not to
register or have tried to register but have been refused.
The powerful State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations, which has
overseen the registration process since it was established in 2001, has a wide
range of techniques for dealing with registration applications it regards as
unwelcome: it pressures religious communities to withdraw those applications,
ignores them, returns them repeatedly for "corrections" of
"errors" or rejects them. Indeed, as registration applications need
prior approval from local authorities before they even reach the committee, the
scope for unpopular religious communities to be barred from registering is
wide.
The claim by committee chairman Rafik Aliev to Forum 18 on 5 March that
"all those who applied for registration have received it" is patently
untrue: of the 2,000 religious communities that are believed to function, of
which 406 had registration with the Ministry of Justice before the State
Committee was set up, only "about 175" have achieved reregistration
with his committee, he reported in April.
The official list of 168 registered religious communities, dated 1 April and
published on the State Committee website www.addk.net, testifies to how
difficult it is to register non-Muslim communities outside the capital Baku:
one Jewish community is registered in Kuba region, one Georgian Orthodox parish
in Gakh region, an Adventist and a Baptist church in the city of Gyanja and a
Molokan, a Baptist and a Baha'i community in Sumgait.
Only the Russian Orthodox diocese has gained reregistration, though this is by
choice: diocesan secretary Fr Aleksei Nikonorov told Forum 18 that the State
Committee wanted the Church to register its six parishes independently, but the
Church refused, insisting that all are subject to the diocese and need
registration only as branches of the diocese.
Baptist communities in Neftchala and in the town of Aliabad in the northern
region of Zakatala, the Adventist community in Nakhichevan, the Greater Grace
Protestant church in Ismaili, an independent Lutheran congregation in Baku, as
well as a variety of Protestant churches in Sumgait are among those to have
been denied registration either at local or national level. The authorities
particularly dislike Protestant churches that attract a mainly ethnic Azeri
membership. Rafik Aliev had Baku's Azeri-language Baptist church closed down by
court order in April last year after alleging that the pastor, Sari Mirzoyev,
had insulted Islam. Mirzoyev was "banned" from preaching and
subjected to a harsh media campaign.
Although religious communities denied registration have the possibility of
challenging the denial through the courts, most prefer not to take that step,
fearing that corruption in the court system and the closeness of the judicial
system to the government will prevent a fair verdict. When the Baku Baptist community
challenged the court-ordered liquidation it failed to have the liquidation
order overturned. Communities denied registration also fear that if they make
waves they will only attract further "punishment", such as police
visits.
The State Committee, like many government agencies, acts mainly behind closed
doors, releasing little information about how it reaches decisions. Communities
have scant opportunity to challenge how long the committee lingers over
applications or how it decides which documents to challenge. Symptomatic of
this lack of transparency is the committee's refusal to allow itself to respond
to questioning by independent groups: Rafik Aliev has instructed his officials
for example not to give interviews to Forum 18 as he believes it publishes
"inaccurate information" (though neither he nor his officials have
ever specified which information is inaccurate).
Rafik Aliev's untrammelled powers allow him to make public statements through
the media based on questionable legal foundations which can worry religious
communities. Last year he arbitrarily ordered closed 22 of the country's 26
madrassahs (Islamic schools), announcing the move through the press.
Last October he declared in an interview that he would seek the liquidation
through the courts of the Jehovah's Witness community in Baku, alleging that it
had engaged in holding "illegal meetings" and involving children in
"unhealthy religious services". Although Jehovah's Witness sources
have told Forum 18 that no such court action has been initiated and that the
Baku community retains its registration, repeated claims in the media that the
Jehovah's Witnesses are "illegal" create a mindset among officials
and the public that the group is dangerous and a potential threat to society.
Speaking on Lider television on 6 May, Rafik Aliev said his committee is
drawing up a list of religious communities that violate the law, with Baku's
Greater Grace Protestant church "top of the list". He claimed that
his committee and the interior ministry had given the church several warnings
and warned of "serious measures" if the church did not modify its
behaviour. Greater Grace leaders declined to comment on these statements,
telling Forum 18 that the church has received no written warnings and is continuing
its work. Again, such media claims, with no evidence of wrongdoing, add to a
general climate of suspicion of religious communities many regard as
"non-traditional".
In the same interview, Rafik Aliev complained that "over 600"
Azerbaijani students (presumably mostly Muslim) are receiving religious
education in foreign countries "illegally". He said his committee
would draw up a list of them and recall them to Azerbaijan. It remains unclear
why Azerbaijani citizens are breaking the law in travelling to other countries
for religious education. Azerbaijan has abolished the Soviet-era system of exit
visas for local citizens and the government has no authority to interfere in
citizens' foreign travel, provided there are no criminal or national security implications.
While Protestant communities have been subjected to police raids, beating of
church members, denial of registration and harassment of individual church
members, it is the Muslim community that faces the greatest state meddling. The
government doubtless fears that it might become a source of opposition, with
the power to mobilise large numbers of people.
The religion law requires all Muslim communities to be part of the
state-sanctioned Caucasian Muslim Board, despite claims that the state does not
interfere in the internal activity of religious organisations. Independent
mosques controlled by Wahhabis, or other groups which dislike the control
imposed by the Caucasian Muslim Board, have faced government pressure and
interference. Imams the authorities do not like have reportedly been removed.
Rafik Aliev has declared that the State Committee will take part in drawing up
and enacting "attestation tests" for imams, a clear violation of the
autonomy of religious communities.
Censorship of religious literature which existed during the Soviet period
was continued in the 1992 religion law and its subsequent amended versions. The
law requires permission from the State Committee before a religious community
can publish, import or distribute any religious literature, in clear violation
of Azerbaijan's commitments to freedom of speech. Article 9.2 of the July 2001
regulation covering the duties of the committee clearly spells out its
censorship tasks: "Take control of the production, import and distribution
of religious literature, items, other religious informational materials and
give its consent on the bases of the appeals of the religious institutions and
relevant state bodies in accordance with the established procedure."
The State Committee also insists that the number of copies of each work to be
imported or printed locally must also be approved. A special department of the
State Committee headed by Jeyhun Mamedov oversees this censorship.
Numerous believers of all faiths including Muslims, Protestants and others
have seen religious literature confiscated at customs. One Baptist pastor had
his twenty-year-old personal Bible confiscated as he returned to the country
last year.
Symptomatic of officials' fear of religious freedom are the attempts to
suppress accurate reporting of events through intimidation of believers and
obstruction. Rafik Aliev has warned a number of religious groups not to
complain to foreigners about the violation of their rights. The local chapter
of the International Religious Liberty Association, founded with interfaith
backing last autumn, has seen its registration application languish unanswered
at the justice ministry for the past seven months, while the Devamm group,
which has campaigned for believers' rights, has failed to get any response to
its application for more than two years, despite a court ruling in its favour.
Officials like to claim that Azerbaijan is a country of religious tolerance a
view sedulously promoted by government-favoured groups like the Russian
Orthodox Church, the Jewish communities (Mountain, Georgian and Ashkenazi
Jewish) and the Catholics (the papal visit in May 2002 offered the tiny
Catholic community the opportunity to join in this dubious campaign).
Orthodoxy's worldwide leader, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, repeated the
same message during his high-profile visit in April. "All people in
Azerbaijan, regardless of whether they are Jews, Christians or Muslims, live
comfortably," President Heidar Aliev declared during the visit, ignoring
the plight of members of religious minorities.
Under an authoritarian regime, which has continued many of the old communist
mechanisms of control but with a highly-developed and corrupt cult of
personality around the president, Azerbaijan has yet to introduce an open,
democratic society where religious freedom can flourish. Overlaid on the
anti-democratic mindset of many officials is a lingering feeling that it is
"inappropriate" for ethnic Azeris to "convert" to other faiths.
While the spring 2002 wave of raids on religious meetings, with believers being
beaten and places of worship sealed, seems not to have been repeated, a
disturbing number of incidents still continue. As Azerbaijan prepares itself
for what many believe will be President Aliev's imminent death and the
inevitable subsequent struggle for power among rival clans, religious
minorities fear that the fragile existence they have been able to sustain may
be curtailed if officials even more hostile to the limited toleration of religious
minorities take control.