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Analitika.at.ua. The Interview of Analitika.at.ua with expert on South Caucasus geopolitics, political scientist Anzhela Elibegova.

- What is currently the situation of the freedom of religion in Azerbaijan?

- Many reports by international organizations and experts record worsening situation of the freedom of conscience in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani MPs have lately passed amendments to the law “On Freedom of Religion,” further abridging the rights of religious communities. The bans on Azan, hijab, destruction of mosques and other actions of the country’s authorities have resulted in the radicalization of society and burst of social activity of believers.

- Are there structures in Azerbaijan which are responsible for respect for the rights of believers?

- Besides the State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations, which is a public organization, there is the Caucasus Muslims Office (CMO) in Baku, headed by Allahshukur Pashazadeh, whose name is often mentioned in media lately, linked to scandals concerning the illegal activities of his businessman brother-in-law and his brother, an MP. This structure in fact champions the interests of the ruling regime and its influence on population is purely nominal. Around 70 percent of Azerbaijan’s population are Shiites, who are mostly oriented at Iranian Ayatollahs, who, unlike the Caucasus Muslims Office, protect believers which are arrested and beaten during hijab protests in Azerbaijan. The rest are Sunnits, with an orientation at the religious ideologists of the North Caucasus. The Caucasus Muslims Office did not justify its big name in uniting the Muslims of the region, and it became obvious already when the Georgian Muslims Office was established. Representative of the Caucasus Muslims Office in Georgia, Ali Aliyev announced that the plan to create Great Armenia is behind this. All this testifies to CMO’s unserious approach to the problems of Muslim believers, which forces them to orient themselves at Turkey and Iran.

- In that case, are clergymen authoritative among population?

- In Azerbaijan, religiousness is educated and spread by people who often have nothing to do with belief. For instance, a video is placed on the web featuring a man who calls himself the akhund of Geychay mosque, Asker Babayev, making love to a girl just in the mosque. A resident of Geychay who came to the mosque for prayer shot this video with his mobile phone. According to media reports, Haji Namig Aliyev, the akhund of the mosque of the city of Evlakh, raped first local resident Mamedova Khagiget in the mosque, just in his office, then her minor daughter. Mamedova had come to him to ask for healing of her daughter. Bloody fights between clergymen also often happen in Azerbaijan. For instance, mullah Sakhman Khamzayev stabbed mullah Rasim Abdullayev at the cemetery, during the funeral service in the Garajemirli village of Shamkir region of Azerbaijan, and when interrogated, he said that he flew into a temper seeing that Rasim, his pupil, was working in his district. In the city of Sherur, Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, mullah of Garkhun village’s mosque, Gasim Mamiyev stabbed to death akhund of Sharur region Hajji Akbar and mullah of Siyagut village Gazanfar Guliyev. Under the circumstances, it is clear that there is no respect for clergymen. Taking into consideration the above mentioned examples, Azerbaijani citizens’ orientation at foreign religious figures and non-willingness to submit to education not reflecting their interests are explicable.