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On April 15 the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Azerbaijan launched another operation against Nurs.

As it is stated in the article published in the Azerbaijani newspaper Zerkalo, when the staff of Police department of Geychay searched the house of Mamedov, where the meeting of Nurs was held, 545 copies of the forbidden book Risale Nur, brochures, 61 discs, 1 optical gun sights , 1 souvenir cutlass , one bullet from the submachine gun cartridge, 1 memory card, 2 memory cards for mobile phones, 27 targets for shooting, 1 set of military clothing and 1 physical map of the world were found and confiscated. When the house of Gamidov was searched 20 copies of the banned book Risale Nur were seized.

The newspaper notes that the day before the aforementioned events Azerbaijani MIA detained Nurs in Baku.

According to the article, in recent years in Azerbaijan state-controlled mass media have launched a panic over “conspiracy” of Nurs and their ties with certain forces inside and outside Azerbaijan. However, it doesn’t say whether these same Nurs have committed or plan to commit a wrong thing.

As it is stated in the article, it has become known that the former head of the Political Analysis and Information Provision department of the Presidential Administration Elnur Aslanov underwent 6 hours of questioning at the Ministry of National Security of Azerbaijan. According to the source, Aslanov told everything he knew about the network of Turkish preacher Gülen . Only after that Aslanov was appointed as a head of Strategic planning, Investment and Scientific capacity at the Ministry of Communications and High Technologies of Azerbaijan.

Due to the information provided by them an investigation of the young people who got education in Turkey and in recent years have been moving up by the governmental leader have been launched. One of them is 30-year-old deputy chief executive of Ganja, chairman of an organization in Ganja belonging to the ruling party Yeni Azerbaijan, Nagif Gamzaev, the newspaper reports.

On its turn, Azerbaijani news portal Haqqin.az reports that Caucasus Muslim Board requires banning the activities of Nurs, Wahhabis and Khavarij in Azerbaijan though legal means. CMB as well demands to bring to justice those individuals who promote these trends.

As it is stated in the article of an American organization EurasiaNet Azerbaijan apparently joined the campaign launched by the PM of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, against the religious movement headed by Muslim Spiritual leader Fethullah Gülen who currently lives in U.S.

According to the article, in the course of the recent years the Azerbaijani authorities have been attempting to restrict the activities of Muslim organizations but until recently haven’t made any public steps against Gülen movement followers. While over a past couple of weeks a number of signs have appeared indicating that Baku toughened its position against the movement.

Thus, in recent weeks an idea of who from the members of Azerbaijani government can be the follower of Gülen movement is actively circulated in social network and pro-government mass media. One of such persons, namely an official representative of Presidential Administration Elnur Aslanov on March 17 was dismissed from his position. The Azerbaijani government didn’t comment on this. However, some people believe that the events already speak for themselves, the article reads.

As well in early March the vice president of the State oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) Khalik Mammadov announced that the energy state concern runs 11 Turkish language schools, 13 courses to prepare students for university entrance exams and a private university Kavkaz situated in Baku, controlled by the Turkish company Era Education.

“The company Era Education has never recognized its connection with the Gülen movement, however most of Azerbaijani specialists in the field of education and political scientists believe that its institutions are part of the school network of Gülen movement in 140 countries worldwide,” the article reads.

According to the Bayram Balci who is specialized on Turkish Studies, it is likely that the Turkish government has urged fraternal Azerbaijan “to pay attention” to those schools. “For the government of Azerbaijan this is a good opportunity to show its solidarity with Ankara.”

The director of Azerbaijani East-West analytical center Arastun Orujlu believes that some officials use those events around the movement in Azerbaijan “to weaken each other’s positions”.

Besides Aslanov, Minister of Defense Zakir Hasanov, chairman of the State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations Elshad Iskandarov and Khalik Mammadov of SOCAR are included in the list as assumed followers of Gülen movement, the author notes.