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“As soon as the Wahhabis fighting in Syria, Pakistan and Afghanistan get an order from their sheikhs, they will conduct the same activities in Azerbaijan,” said the former head of Islamic Part of Azerbaijan Haji Aga Nuriyev to Faktxeber Azerbaijani news portal.

Commenting on widespread penetration of non-traditional religious movements into Media, schools and places of worship Nuriyev said, “Non-traditional religious sects are a longstanding problem in Azerbaijan. Those movements have started their activities after independence. Among them are Christians, idolaters, Krishnas and those who consider themselves to be followers of Islam (Wahhabis, Nur movement and Khawarij).”

According to the former head of Islamic Party the problem has become so serious that even the Caucasus Muslim Board of Azerbaijan and the State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations in regard to this have started to carry out conferences and other events.

Nuriyev believes that the non-traditions movements don’t pursue religious interests rather the interests of the West, U.S.A. and the “International Zionism”. “They want to take power in Muslim countries with violence, terrorism and coups. This is confirmed by the events of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, as well as recent events in Turkey which take place under the auspices of religious slogans and profane religion,” Nuriyev said.

Earlier the portal wrote that during last 3 years more than 200 Wahhabis were killed in Syria.

The relationship between international terrorist groups and Azerbaijan originated in the early 1990s. That time, the Azerbaijani army, having failed in the aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), retreated with losses. Trying to save the situation, the Azerbaijani leadership, headed by Heydar Aliyev attracted to the war against the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh international terrorists and members of radical groups from Afghanistan (groupings of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar), Turkey ("Grey Wolves", etc.), Chechnya (groupings Basayev and Raduyev etc.) and some other regions.

Despite the involvement in of thousands of foreign mercenaries and terrorists in the Azerbaijani army during the war, the Azerbaijani aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh Republic failed, and the Baku authorities were forced to sign an armistice with the NKR and Armenia. However, international terrorists found ties in Azerbaijan, and used them in the future. Recruitment was conducted among Azerbaijanis, who then were sent to Afghanistan and the North Caucasus, where participated in the battles against the forces of the international coalition and Russian organizations.

In recent years, the citizens of Azerbaijan are actively involved in terrorist and extremist activities in Russia, Afghanistan and Syria. In Azerbaijan the citizens are brought to criminal liability for participating in "illegal armed groups" in Afghanistan, sentenced to minor terms of imprisonment.