Category: Authors

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) issued on April 29, 2019, its Annual Report listing the “world’s most egregious violators of religious freedom,” among which, not surprisingly, are Azerbaijan and Turkey. Both states are categorized as “Countries of Particular Concern.”

USCIRF, as an independent, bi-partisan commission, advises the President, Congress and the Secretary of State on international religious freedom issues. In its Annual Report, USCIRF describes threats to religious freedom around the world and recommends to the State Department countries for designation as “countries of particular concern” for engaging in or tolerating “systematic, ongoing, egregious violations.”

Contrary to Azerbaijan’s leaders’ repeated false claims of “tolerance” in their country and propaganda by various foreign Rabbis and Protestant leaders, the USCIRF Report asserted that the “government continued to control religious activities through the 2009 Law on Freedom of Religion and related amendments of the administrative and criminal codes, which require religious communities to register with the government and criminalize all unregistered religious activity. In a positive development, four non-Muslim religious communities received registration from the government. However, throughout the year, local police forces continued to harass, raid, detain, and fine religious communities that did not comply with registration requirements and various restrictions on the production, possession, and dissemination of religious literature, although one community did report a lessening in police harassment. During the year, Protestants, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and some Muslim groups were targeted, with some members of the Muslim community being forced to endure an additional layer of scrutiny by authorities who suspect and seek to limit Iranian-government influence or subversive activity in the country.”

The Annual Report also stated that “Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) contended that approximately 68 prisoners of conscience — many of whom are members of the Muslim Unity Movement (MUM) — remained imprisoned in Azerbaijan on religious grounds. Throughout 2018, claims of “systemic and endemic” torture persisted, particularly against members of the MUM.”

Azerbaijan’s dictatorial regime controls the activities of religious groups by requiring them to register. USCIRF reported that those “denied registration or refuse to register on theological grounds are considered ‘illegal’ and may face police raids, detainment, arrests, or fines.” Several Christian groups active in Azerbaijan, such as Baptists and Jehovah’s Witnesses “continue to be unable to register.” In some cases, the government delays the process of registration for years due to “technical flaws” in their applications. “For example, Jehovah’s Witnesses have sought registration in the city of Ganja since 2010 and have yet to receive a response on their most recently submitted application from May 2016. Baptists in the village of Aliabad outside of Zaqatala have similarly sought registration since 1994 and been denied. They have reportedly been informed that they cannot even meet to celebrate Christmas together!”

The USCIRF reported: “In 2014, the European Court of Human Rights noted that the law gives officials ‘unlimited discretionary power’ to define and prosecute ‘illegal’ religious activity.”

Furthermore, “in 2018, Azerbaijan underwent its Universal Periodic Review at the United Nations. Several countries expressed concerns about religious freedom conditions in Azerbaijan — such as mandatory registration requirements; restrictions on nontraditional religious communities and the ability, generally, of religious groups to practice in private and in public; and individuals imprisoned and tortured for their beliefs. In addition, civil society organizations submitted similar information and recommendations about religious freedom concerns in Azerbaijan,” according to the USCIRF Report.

Surprisingly, even the possession of the Holy Qur’an could be illegal in Azerbaijan. “In February 2018, MUM [Muslim Unity Movement] leader and Shi’a Muslim theologian Taleh Bagirov (also known by the surname Bagirzade) received an additional five-month sentence for allegedly possessing micro-discs containing the text and audio recordings of the Qur’an,” as USCIRF reported.

Another major religious violation is the closure of places of worship. “In 2018, mosques that the government purportedly had closed for repairs remained shut down years after their closure and with no official timeline for the completion of the renovations or the mosques’ reopening. Critics of the closures believe it is part of a government effort to target Muslims who are considered ‘radical.’ The Ashur Mosque, also known as the Lezgi Mosque, located in the Old City of Baku, was closed in July 2016 despite protests from the local Muslim community, which expressed concern that the repairs were an excuse and part of an attempt by the government to disperse the community. At the end of the reporting period, the mosque remained closed. During the year, numerous other “nontraditional” home mosques throughout Baku and other regions, including one that was apparently connected to the Naqshbandi Sufi community, continued to face raids and closure…. In April 2018, the new building of the Haji Javad Mosque in the Yasamal District of Baku was completed. The original mosque had been destroyed amid protests in July 2017,” the USCIRF reported.

The Report also covered raids on homes and centers where religious services were being held without the group being registered by the government. The Report cites the harassment of the members of the East Pentecostal Church and Jehovah’s Witnesses. In addition, several members of Jehovah’s Witnesses were prosecuted for their objection to serve in the military, despite a provision in the Azerbaijan’s constitution that allows alternate service for conscientious objectors.

Finally, the Aliyev government has confiscated all religious materials that had not received approval prior to being produced or imported into Azerbaijan. “The sale and distribution of religious literature can only be carried out at preapproved stores or sites,” according to the USCIRF.

Next week, we will cover the violations of religious freedoms in Turkey.

Last week, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made his first appearance at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg, France.

Pashinyan gave an impressive speech to the representatives of 47 European countries. Even more impressive were the Prime Minister’s answers to their dozen questions. While his speech was prepared in advance, the questions were impromptu and the answers had to be delivered on the spot.

Pashinyan began his speech by thanking the Council of Europe for repeatedly saving him from being imprisoned by the previous Armenian regime or reducing his sentence. He was being prosecuted for articles he had published as editor of the Orakir newspaper.

The Armenian Prime Minister then proceeded to recount the impressive democratic advances his country has made since last year’s peaceful “Velvet Revolution.”

Pashinyan took advantage of the opportunity to criticize the PACE members for not supporting the democratic developments in Artsakh. Even though “Nagorno-Karabakh is still not recognized internationally as a sovereign state, but is there international debate on whether the people living there are human beings?” Pashinyan asked.

In response to a question from French Parliamentarian Ms. Dalloz about corruption, Pashinyan stated: “Personally, the greatest thing I can do against corruption is for me personally to remain outside corruption. …The very first thing is that I, my family and my relatives must be scrutinized even more closely than others, and it is very important to me that transparency should be a key aim in Armenia. I will not say that it is 100% successful, but it is leaping forward with giant steps. About 10 days ago a criminal case was initiated against one of my close relatives. I do not want to jeopardize their right to the presumption of innocence, but the fact is that the case is going to be investigated entirely lawfully and impartially….”

Ms. Aghayeva of Azerbaijan asked when would Armenia comply with resolutions and documents of international organizations on Artsakh? In his response, Pashinyan urged “the participation of the representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh in the peace process. It is hard to imagine how we can resolve the conflict without the main party to the conflict being involved in the peace talks and without talking to them. As I said in my statement, we will continue to try to reinstate the dialogue within the OSCE Minsk Group between Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh. Many of you might not know this, but there was a direct meeting between a leader of Nagorno-Karabakh and a leader of Azerbaijan in the past, so there is precedent. Elected representatives from Nagorno-Karabakh were almost always involved in the negotiations. It is said that, that was the case up to 1998, but I can tell you that up until 2018 Karabakh’s representatives were present in the peace talks. Let us not forget that Robert Kocharyan, before he became President of Armenia, was elected president of the republic of Nagorno-Karabakh. Thereafter Serzh Sargsyan represented Armenia but he was also one of the leaders of Karabakh. So Nagorno-Karabakh was represented at the negotiating table throughout the negotiations, and it is our objective today to create the conditions for this dialogue between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan not to be interrupted….”

In response to a question by Ms. Tomic from Slovenia about the rights of the LGBT community in Armenia, Pashinyan responded: “Armenia is committed to the rule of law and all citizens have the same rights and obligations in the Republic of Armenia.”

Mr. Aydin of Turkey expressed his concern about Pashinyan’s recent statements on changing the negotiating format on Artsakh under “pressure from the Diaspora and the oligarchs within the country.” Pashinyan repeated the answer he had given to the Parliamentarian from Azerbaijan, adding that: “I have already explained that we are absolutely not expecting or demanding to change the format. …How do we see the Nagorno-Karabakh issue being resolved without the involvement of Nagorno-Karabakh? The word ‘occupation’ is used quite frequently, but the people who live in Nagorno-Karabakh were born there. They live there, as did their parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents – I could go on! How can someone occupy the land where they, their children and their ancestors were born, and where their ancestors are buried? … I recently did something that might seem strange. In a press conference, I publicly asked a rhetorical question: do Azerbaijan’s President and leadership have nothing to say to the people of Nagorno-Karabakh and the people of Armenia? I would like the opportunity to speak to the people of Azerbaijan. I can do that today, but I do not want it to be one-sided and I want to ensure that it is not perceived as an act of provocation. I want to initiate such discourse with government, people and young people. Our agenda is one of peace, and we do not propose to change the format.”

Regarding a question asked by Mr. Ariev of Ukraine on “who does Crimea belong to?” Pashinyan answered: “… We often find that our friends are on different sides of a conflict, and it is hard for us to choose between two friends. We are sometimes forced to make a choice, but globally our choice is pro-peace, pro-dialog, pro-stability and pro-development.”

In response to the final question from Mr. Masiulis of Lithuania regarding whether Armenia would be more pro-European and less pro-Russian, Pashinyan responded: “When I was a member of the opposition, I declared that I did not accept that Armenia or any other country ought to be pro-Russia, pro-Europe, pro-America or whatever. I consider myself to be a pro-Armenia politician. I think that French politicians are pro-France, Ukrainian politicians are pro-Ukraine and Russian politicians are pro-Russia….”

Armenia’s Prime Minister skillfully responded to all the questions and sometimes, cleverly avoided answering them. This was the first test of his political competence in the international arena which he passed with flying colors!