FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway
The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one's belief or religion
The right to join together and express one's belief
=================================================
Thursday 10 February 2022
AZERBAIJAN: State takes direct control of mosque leadership
The State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations will take over
naming imams in all mosques from the Caucasian Muslim Board if amendments
to the Religion Law awaiting their second reading in Parliament are
approved. The amendments would also give the State Committee the leading
role in re-appointing all imams every five years. Commentator on religious
issues Kanan Rovshanoglu notes that the Caucasian Muslim Board "will
completely lose control over mosques", just as it has already lost control
over Islamic higher education. He argues that Islamic communities
themselves should choose their own imams. Another amendment would remove
the possibility for non-Muslim communities to have a "religious centre" or
headquarter body.
AZERBAIJAN: State takes direct control of mosque leadership
By Felix Corley, Forum 18
Further amendments to the much-amended Religion Law now in Parliament will
– if adopted in current form – hand responsibility for naming prayer
leaders in all mosques from the Caucasian Muslim Board to the State
Committee for Work with Religious Organisations. The State Committee
already oversees all Muslim educational establishments, censors religious
literature of all faiths and approves or bans the building or renovation of
any place of worship. "The State Committee is collecting all the power it
can over the Muslim community," exiled human rights defender Arif Yunus
told Forum 18.
Kanan Rovshanoglu, a journalist and commentator on religious issues, argues
that Islamic communities themselves should choose their own imams and then
inform officials of who they have chosen. He noted that the Caucasian
Muslim Board "will completely lose control over mosques" when the
amendments are adopted. He told Qafqazinfo news website that the state
takeover of the Board's powers has been underway for several years (see
below).
The amendments would also give the State Committee the leading role in
re-appointment of all imams every five years, with only the "involvement"
of the Caucasian Muslim Board. This is a reversal of the State Committee
and Muslim Board roles when the state mandated re-appointment of all imams
in June 2021 amendments to the Religion Law (see below).
The amendments would re-designate the Caucasian Muslim Board not as the
"organisational" centre but the "religious" centre for Azerbaijan's
mosques. The regime does not allow independent mosques to exist (see
below).
Another amendment would remove the possibility for non-Muslim communities
to have a "religious centre" or headquarter body. However, this term is
poorly defined in the current Religion Law and the implications of the
change remain unclear (see below).
The latest Religion Law amendments were announced only on 27 January, when
they were discussed in the Milli Majlis (Parliament) Public Associations
and Religious Organisations Committee. The text of the amendments was then
published on the Milli Majlis website. The amendments were adopted in their
first reading on 1 February. No dates have been set for the second and
third readings (see below).
The state-controlled Caucasian Muslim Board
(
) appeared to accept
the stripping of further responsibilities from it. The Board "calls on
believers and clergy to unequivocally comply with all provisions of the Law
in case of adoption of new amendments" to the Religion Law, it declared in
a 27 January statement (see below).
Forum 18 was unable to reach Public Associations and Religious
Organisations Committee Chair Fazail Ibrahimli or other Committee members
on 9 February. Staff of the Committee refused to discuss anything with
Forum 18. Another Milli Majlis deputy, Siyavush Novruzov, former Chair of
the Committee who now chairs the Regional Affairs Committee, declined to
comment on the amendments. "I haven't read them," he told Forum 18 (see
below).
Gunduz Ismayilov, a Deputy Chair of the State Committee, addressed the 27
January Milli Majlis Committee about the amendments and was present during
the first reading on 1 February. An aide to Ismayilov refused to put Forum
18 through to him on 9 February (see below).
On 16 June 2021, President Ilham Aliyev signed into law earlier Religion
Law amendments
(
) which
introduced a new requirement for the State Committee for Work with
Religious Organisations to approve the appointment of all non-Islamic
religious leaders.
It appears that the Moscow Patriarchate chose a candidate to succeed the
late Archbishop Aleksandr (Ishchein) as Russian Orthodox bishop of Baku in
2021, but failed to get approval from the State Committee. "The rejection
came from the Presidential Administration," Arif Yunus told Forum 18 (see
below).
Meanwhile, the United Nations Human Rights Committee made public two
further rulings in November and December 2021 finding that Azerbaijan had
violated the rights of Jehovah's Witnesses to freedom of religion or belief
(see forthcoming F18News article).
Increasing number, expense of state religious affairs officials
State funds spent on the growing network of officials employed by the State
Committee to control the exercise of the right to religion or belief
continue to increase. State funding is now more than three times the level
of eight years ago.
Under a 3 December 2021 Presidential Decree, state funds allocated to the
State Committee for its own activities in 2022 amount to 4,014,799 Manats
(21 million Norwegian Kroner, 2 million Euros or 2.4 million US Dollars).
In 2014, the state had allocated 1,228,964 Manats to the State Committee
for its own activities.
The State Committee employs a growing number of staff (174 at the latest
count) to control the exercise of the right to religion or belief, both at
its headquarters and its regional branches.
In 2014, the State Committee headquarters in Baku had 4 senior officials
overseeing its activity. Under them it had 6 departments each with their
own activity. It had 9 local branches, employing 29 officials in 7 of them,
plus further officials in Baku and Sumgait.
In February 2022, the State Committee headquarters in Baku has 6 senior
officials overseeing its activity. Under them it has 9 departments each
with their own activity with a total of 79 officials. It has 15 local
branches, employing 89 officials.
Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, an exclave of Azerbaijan, has its own
State Agency for Work with Religious Organisations with its own staff.
Ever-increasing state control of Islam
While the regime keeps all religious communities under control, it has been
particularly tightening its control over mosques in recent years. Almost
all the remaining Sunni mosques were closed, including in Baku and Ganca.
In 2018, the State Committee took over control of higher Islamic education
from the state-controlled Caucasian Muslim Board
(
). The Azerbaijan
Theological Institute, established by a Presidential Decree of 9 February
2018, is the only higher educational establishment the regime allows to
operate.
The regime closed Baku Islamic University, operated by the Caucasian Muslim
Board, later in 2018. The state does not recognise as valid the 3,500
diplomas the University awarded between its foundation in 1989 and its
closure.
The first graduates of Azerbaijan Theological Institute are due to complete
their studies in 2022 and the state will then appoint them to lead mosques.
Since Religion Law amendments in December 2015
(
), Article 21 has
banned both Azerbaijani citizens who had studied abroad and non-Azerbaijani
citizens from conducting Islamic rituals. (From 2018 the State Committee
could give foreign-educated clergy permission to conduct Islamic rituals.)
A new Criminal Code Article 168-1 ("Violation of the procedure for
religious propaganda and religious ceremonies") was also introduced at the
same time
(
).
Imam Sardar Babayev was the first and only person known to have been
punished under Article 168-1. He was jailed between February 2017 and
February 2020
(
).
Imam Babayev was among five prominent Shia preachers detained on 19 October
2021. He is now facing further criminal prosecution. The other four were
freed after questioning, one after several hours and three after a week.
Another Shia preacher was detained and questioned on 29 October 2021 (see
forthcoming F18News article).
A court jailed a Muslim from Lokbatan for two weeks in November 2021 after
police halted a protest against the replacement of an imam (see forthcoming
F18News article).
Amendments prepared as usual in secret, no legal review sought
As with the June 2021 Religion Law amendments
(
) and those in earlier
years, the regime prepared the latest Religion Law
(
) amendments in secrecy
and with no public consultation.
The regime did not seek a review of these amendments
(
) from either the
Council of Europe's Venice Commission or the Organisation for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human
Rights. The two inter-governmental organisations, often together, provide
reviews of laws and draft laws on request.
Inter-governmental organisations have repeatedly criticised the regime's
restrictions on freedom of religion and belief and other human rights
(
). Both the Council of
Europe's Venice Commission and the OSCE have drawn extensively on their
highly critical October 2012 Joint Opinion on the Religion Law
(
)
in the OSCE/Venice Commission Joint Guidelines on the Legal Personality of
Religion or Belief Communities
(
).
Amendments awaiting second reading
No election in Azerbaijan – including February 2020 Milli Majlis
(Parliament) elections - has ever been found to be free and fair
(
) by Organisation for
Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) election observers.
The latest Religion Law amendments were announced only on 27 January, when
they were discussed in the Milli Majlis Public Associations and Religious
Organisations Committee. The text of the amendments was then published on
the Milli Majlis website.
The 27 January Milli Majlis Committee meeting, chaired by Committee chair
Fazail Ibrahimli, was also addressed by Gunduz Ismayilov, a Deputy Chair of
the State Committee. The head and another official of the State Building,
Administrative and Military Legislation Department were also present.
Among Milli Majlis Committee members present for the discussion was
Javanshir Pashazade, younger brother of the head of the state-controlled
Caucasian Muslim Board
(
) Sheikh-ul-Islam
Allahshukur Pashazade.
"The deputies said the amendments would serve to improve activities in this
area," the Milli Majlis claimed about the 27 January Committee discussion,
"and spoke about their importance in terms of state-religion relations."
Forum 18 was unable to reach Committee Chair Ibrahimli or other Committee
members on 9 February. Phones of aides went unanswered or, in the case of
Malik Hasanov, his aide said he was out of the country. Staff of the
Committee refused to discuss anything with Forum 18.
Siyavush Novruzov, former Chair of the Public Associations and Religious
Organisations Committee who now chairs the Regional Affairs Committee,
declined to comment on the amendments. "I'm no longer chair of that
Committee," he told Forum 18 from Baku on 9 February. Asked whether he will
vote for them on second reading, he responded: "I haven't read them. I will
decide then." Phones of other deputies went unanswered the same day.
After the Milli Majlis Committee approved the amendments, they were sent
for consideration by the full parliament. They were adopted in their first
reading on 1 February, according to the Milli Majlis website. Ismayilov of
the State Committee was also present for the first reading.
The Public Associations and Religious Organisations Committee held a
meeting on 9 February to prepare for the second reading of the amendments.
No dates have been made public for the second and third readings.
In an interview with news website Report on 4 February, Ismayilov of the
State Committee claimed that the Milli Majlis had initiated the amendments.
An aide to Ismayilov at the State Committee put the phone down on 9
February after Forum 18 asked to speak to him about the amendments.
State to directly control all mosque leader appointments
The further amendments to the much-amended Religion Law awaiting their
second reading in Parliament will – if adopted in current form – hand
responsibility for naming prayer leaders in all mosques from the
state-controlled Caucasian Muslim Board
(
) to the State
Committee for Work with Religious Organisations. The State Committee would
then inform the Board of who it has appointed.
In Article 8 of the current Religion Law, the Board names imams and then
informs the State Committee of their appointment.
Gunduz Ismayilov, a Deputy Chair of the State Committee, defended the
proposed role of the state in naming imams. "It is true that according to
our Constitution, religion is separate from the state and Azerbaijan is a
secular state," he told Report in his 4 February interview. "However, the
appointment of a cleric by a state body does not contradict the principles
of secularism and secularism."
Ismayilov claimed that setting out the provisions of Sharia law and naming
imams are different. "The state does not interfere in the Sharia and
doctrines by appointing a cleric," he claimed. He cited the state
appointment of imams in Turkey. "Muslim clerics have been appointed by the
Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) since Ataturk. Mosque imams are
civil servants in Turkey."
Kanan Rovshanoglu, a journalist and commentator on religious issues, argues
that Islamic communities themselves should choose their own imams and then
inform officials of who they have chosen. He noted that the
state-controlled Caucasian Muslim Board
(
) "will completely lose
control over mosques" when the amendments are adopted.
Rovshanoglu pointed out to Qafqazinfo news website on 28 January that first
the Caucasian Muslim Board named imams, then it named the imams but had to
inform the State Committee or all appointments, and now the State Committee
will make the appointments.
The amendments to Article 8 of the Religion Law would also give the State
Committee the leading role in re-appointing all imams every five years,
with only the "involvement" of the Caucasian Muslim Board. This is a
reversal of the State Committee and Muslim Board roles when the state
mandated re-appointment of imams in June 2021 amendments to the Religion
Law
(
).
Another amendment to Article 8 of the Religion Law would re-designate the
state-controlled Caucasian Muslim Board
(
) not as the
"organisational" centre but the "religious" centre for Azerbaijan's
mosques. This would mean in effect that the Board no longer has any power
over how individual mosques are run, with all decisions taken by the State
Committee.
The State Committee already controls all Muslim educational establishments,
imposes state censorship of all religious literature of any kind, and
approves or bans the building or renovation of any place of worship
(
). "The State Committee
is collecting all the power it can over the Muslim community," exiled
historian and human rights defender Arif Yunus
(
)
told Forum 18 from the Netherlands on 8 February.
Rovshanoglu told Qafqazinfo that the state takeover of the Board's powers
(
) has been underway for
several years and pointed to the State Committee's 2018 decision to take
direct control over Islamic education. "From now on, the Caucasian Muslim
Board will be a public organisation that only issues religious fatwas and
significant calendar items."
Caucasian Muslim Board appears to accept stripping of further
responsibilities
The state-controlled Caucasian Muslim Board
(
) appears to accept the
stripping of further responsibilities from it. The Board "calls on
believers and clergy to unequivocally comply with all provisions of the Law
in case of adoption of new amendments" to the Religion Law, it declared in
a 27 January statement on its website.
"As a religious centre," the statement added, "the CMB, in cooperation with
the relevant executive body of the state [State Committee], is always
closely involved in the implementation of state policy in the religious and
spiritual sphere and will continue to contribute to ensuring a high level
of religion-state relations."
Gunduz Ismayilov, a Deputy Chair of the State Committee
(
), welcomed the Board's
27 January statement accepting the stripping of responsibilities from it.
"With this statement, the Caucasian Muslim Board demonstrated its
commitment to our statehood and national interests," he told Report in his
4 February interview.
No official of the Caucasian Muslim Board was available on 10 February to
discuss with Forum 18 the impact of the new amendments now in the Milli
Majlis.
No "religious centres" for non-Muslim communities
An amendment to Article 12 of the Religion Law, which covers how
communities apply for registration, would remove any role for "religious
centres" or headquarter bodies in registration applications by individual
communities.
Under Article 12, registered individual religious communities are allowed
to operate only at their legal address.
As at present
(
),
communities seeking state registration would have to prepare a statute
approved at a members' meeting, and collect the full details of their 50
adult founders, "indicating their citizenship, place of residence and date
of birth, copies of identity documents, basics of religious education,
including religious information on the history of the community, the forms
and methods of its activities, traditions, attitudes to the family,
marriage and education, and restrictions on the rights and responsibilities
of members of the community". The communities would then submit their
application with all this information directly to the State Committee.
The amendment to Article 12 also removes any specific mention of "religious
centres" when it sets out how religious organisations apply for state
registration. This appears to remove the possibility for non-Muslim
communities to have a "religious centre" or headquarter body. However, this
term is poorly defined in the current Religion Law and the implications of
the change remain unclear.
The Russian Orthodox Church has only one registered organisation – its
Baku diocese – which has seven constituent parishes. Russian Orthodox
clergy in Baku declined to discuss with Forum 18 on 9 February whether the
amendments might affect the functioning of their parishes.
Jeyhun Mammadov, a Milli Majlis deputy who is on the Public Associations
and Religious Organisations Committee, claimed to SIA news website on 28
January that the requirement that religious communities send their
applications directly to the State Committee "will speed up the
registration process".
Despite this claim, the State Committee has repeatedly rejected or ignored
registration applications
(
) from religious
communities it does not like. Independent mosques, Protestant Christian
communities and Jehovah's Witness communities are among those whose
applications have failed.
A Jehovah's Witness community in Azerbaijan's second city Ganca applied for
state registration in July 2010. In May 2016 the State Committee rejected
the application with objections "that were not legally valid in our view",
Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18 on 10 February 2022. A Jehovah's Witness
community in the northern town of Qakh applied for state registration more
recently. Both communities are still waiting for registration.
"We would like to have national registration in order to address the
problem of communities where the number of members does not meet the
numerical threshold to apply," Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18. They note
the almost complete removal of references to a "national centre" in the
latest Religion Law amendments.
Conflict over naming new Russian Orthodox bishop?
Under the Religion Law amendments signed into law in June 2021
(
), all non-Islamic
religious communities need to get approval for any new leader from the
State Committee.
The head of the Russian Orthodox Diocese, Archbishop Aleksandr (Ishchein),
died on 10 June 2021, six days before President Aliyev signed the new
amendments into law.
By the time of Archbishop Aleksandr's funeral on 13 June 2021, the Moscow
Patriarchate had named Archbishop Feofilakt (Kuryanov) of the Russian
diocese of Pyatigorsk in addition as temporary administrator of the Baku
diocese. Archbishop Feofilakt has also been temporary administrator of the
Russian Orthodox deanery of Turkmenistan since 2008.
It appears that the Moscow Patriarchate chose a candidate to succeed
Aleksandr as bishop in 2021, but failed to get approval from the State
Committee. "The rejection came from the Presidential Administration," Arif
Yunus told Forum 18.
Russian Orthodox clergy in Baku declined to discuss with Forum 18 what is
obstructing the naming of a new bishop to the Baku Diocese. (END)
Full reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Azerbaijan
(
)
For more background, see Forum 18's Azerbaijan religious freedom survey
(
)
Forum 18's compilation of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in
Europe (OSCE) freedom of religion or belief commitments
(
)
Follow us on Twitter @Forum_18
(
)
Follow us on Facebook @Forum18NewsService
(
)
All Forum 18 text may be referred to, quoted from, or republished in full,
if Forum 18 is credited as the source.
All photographs that are not Forum 18's copyright are attributed to the
copyright owner. If you reuse any photographs from Forum 18's website, you
must seek permission for any reuse from the copyright owner or abide by the
copyright terms the copyright owner has chosen.
© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855.
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