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Situation remains tense in the Azerbaijani settlement Nardaran, where armed clashes between the police and local believers took place on 26 November, Azerbaijani website Haqqin.az reports.
The roads taking to Nardaran have again been closed since December 1 morning with security checkpoints and military equipment set at the entrances. Traffic police have blocked the highway taking there. Several ambulances and about 20 patrol cars of the Internal Ministry and Internal Troops departments arrived in the settlement. Natig Karimov, a village elder, said the soldiers of the Internal Troops are inside the village, while people are banned from leaving their houses. In addition, ships of the Azerbaijani navy are patrolling Nardaran coastline, while police officers armed with assault rifles control the roads to Nardaran.

After a while, the law enforcement released a statement to say that since 8:00 in the morning, special ops of confiscating firearms and explosives from locals have started in Nardaran. According to the statement, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev is controlling the special operation.

According to Turan agency’s report, the bodies of those killed in November 26 clashes with the police were supposed to be taken to Nardaran last night and their funeral was expected today, on 1 December. However, the village still has no electricity, gas, and mobile and landline communications. The authorities have reportedly taken up all those measures out of the fear that the funeral of the young people killed by the police may turn into a serious protest. To that end, the police limit the entrance of citizens from other places to Nardaran as much as possible. What makes the situation even more difficult is that the Shias observe the 40th day of mourning of Imam Hussain on 2 December. As Nardaran mosque is the biggest centre where Absheron residents traditionally observe the date, from 20 to 30 thousand people annually gather there for the ceremony. This year, the mourning day coincides with the funeral of the deceased, inspiring the locals to draw historical parallels comparing Imam Hussain’s mean murder committed 1400 years ago with the current incidents in the village.

Rights defender Novella Jafaroglu says the authorities should not torture the population of the village and finds it unacceptable to make the whole population suffer. “The authorities should first of all think why the population was not able to pay for the power supply services,” Jafaroglu said as cited by Turan.

Arzu Abdullayeva, the chair of Helsinki Citizens' Assembly (HCA) and head of its National Committee, believes the authorities are punishing the whole population by cutting off the electricity and gas supply. “There is not a concept of collective responsibility. That is why neither the Prosecutor General’s Office, nor the court can hold the whole settlement responsible,” she said and added that the debtors should face responsibility personally. The violence in Nardaran is the demonstration of the authorities’ fear of the events in the Middle East. The civil society has weakened, this enabling the authorities to act absolutely freely, she noted.

There are also reports about the detention of Elman Agazade, the akhoond of Hazrat Abbas Mosque, in Lankaran. He was taken to Baku. His supporters told Turan that several members of the same religious community were detained with him. According to preliminary information, Agazade and the others are members of the Muslims Unity movement. The first attempt to detain Agazade had taken place on 27 November, but he was released after hundreds of believers gathered in front of the executive authorities’ building demanding their leader’s release.

Citing the joint statement of the Prosecutor General’s Office, Internal and Security ministries, Haqqin.az reports that six Islamists supporting the Muslims Unity were detained in Ganja. One assault rifle, 12 hand grenades and a large amount of ammunition were found at the detainees’ houses during the searches and confiscated. Further, banned religious literature was confiscated from the detainees. 

Trend agency reports that enhanced security measured are taken up in all the metro stations in Baku with all the passengers continuing to be checked.

An article published on the website Politeka http://politeka.net/116536-azerbajdzhanskij-halifat-est-li-perspektivy-u-islamistov/ argues that Azerbaijan can potentially become one of the next states where the Islamists can base. The website backs this assumption by highlighting that the authorities are holding the country in mailed fist, and such a policy is the most favourable ground for the growth of extremist moods. Moreover, Azerbaijan could also become a good base for the Islamists also due to its geographic position and oil resources, which will serve as ‘lure for the armed groups.’ There have more than once been reports about the Jihadists’ plans for Azerbaijan.
According to the article, Islam developed as an underground movement and the promotion of Wahhabism has significantly contributed to that. Militants from the North Caucasus, where the radical ideas spread a little earlier, hid in Azerbaijan. Approximately 200 Azerbaijanis have been killed in Syria for the past three years. The estimates of the number of Islamists in Azerbaijan vary greatly. ‘Arran al Islamiya,’ a group which has sworn oath of faithfulness to the IS, announced about itself in autumn. Little is yet known about the group, as well as about the so-called ‘Forest brothers’ and ‘Army of Allah,’ which have declared starting an armed struggle against Ilham Aliyev’s regime. 

A month ago, the Security Ministry of Azerbaijan carried out a special operation detaining about 40 people, including the deputy imam of the Baku’s Abu Bakr mosque, Adil Rajabov. Various sources refer to them as Wahhabis or radical Islamists, which are all normally perceived as Salafists. Last September, the ministry conducted one of the most serious operations, which is already difficult to pick on. As a result of the operation, 26 Islamists fighting in Iraq, Syria and Pakistan were detained.

According to the article, Muslim parties and organisations are banned to carry out political and religious activities. The government of the country took up an anti-religious course back in the 1990s, after the fall of the Soviet Union. In particular, Ali Akram Aliyev’s Islamic Party was banned in 1996. Certain members faced trials or were forced to flee from the country. Madrasas were closed with the mullahs being expelled. “The population, which was displeased with the socio-economic situation, needed some compensation. All the government could offer was the cult of personality of Heydar Aliyev, the former president and the father of the current one,” the author of the article points out.

Without offering an adequate alternative to the religion, the authorities went on further pressuring on the Azerbaijani believers. In 2009, the government passed the law on freedom of religion, which prohibits the Muslim clerics, who have studied abroad, conduct prayers. This was a serious blow to the religious communities and an excuse for president Aliyev’s regime to occasionally close down mosques.

In addition, the article argues that there can be potential Jihadists supporting the IS among the Azerbaijani Wahhabis. Specialists state that Wahhabi ideas find supporters even among Shias; that is why the Wahhabis and Salafists already live in the whole territory of Azerbaijan, including Baku. The increase of radical moods can result in anti-governmental moods, and even more, an inter-Islamic confrontation between Sunnis and Shias in Azerbaijan. The methods of struggle the government has opted for will clearly be counterproductive, while taking Islam totally out of the permitted limits will only wipe off the border between Muslims and Islamists.

On 26 November, armed clashes occurred between the leader of the Shia Islamists of Azerbaijan, Taleh Bagirzade (Taleh Bagirov), and his supporters and the police in the settlement Nardaran 25 km to the north from Baku. Seven were killed during the clashes, including two police officers and five believers. Law enforcement agencies said police had detained 15 Islamists including Taleh Bagirzade during the special operation. Criminal case was initiated against all the detainees and four-month arrest was used as preventive measure against them. Reportedly, the police carried out the special operation during the daytime prayer inciting the believers’ strong discontent. A group of Special Forces in black masks broke into the shrine Huseyniyye, where Muslims were praying, and threw smoke bombs inside. Then they pushed black sacks on Taleh Bagirzade and some others’ heads and dragged them out of the place. In addition, some drugs were given to several people, which made them faint. Immediately after that, mass unrest broke out in Nardaran. The village had no electricity and telephone communication, police cars and armoured vehicles blocked the streets. The locals also started to complain of the lack of food supplies because of the limited access of trading companies’ cars into the settlement. Nardaran was practically in blockade.