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
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Wednesday 8 December 2004
AZERBAIJAN: “WE DON’T NEED BAPTISTS HERE,” SHOUTS OBSTRUCTIVE OFFICIAL
“We don’t need any Baptists here,” Najiba Mamedova, the notary of
Azerbaijan’s north-western Zakatala [Zaqatala] region shouted at Forum 18
News Service, asked why she has for more than a year refused to notarise
the signatures on the registration application of a local Baptist
congregation. “We don’t want a second Karabakh,” Najiba Mamedova
screamed, adding “Who financed you? Go to them,” before throwing
Forum 18 out of her office and threatening to call the police. The church’s
pastor, Hamid Shabanov, told Forum 18 that “She always spoke to us
like that.” The church began applying for registration in 1994, making
it the religious community which has been denied registration in Azerbaijan
for the longest period. The head of the Aliabad administration, Gasim
Orujov, has refused to allow the Baptists to build a church in the village.
“There is Islam here and we have our mosque,” he told Forum 18.
AZERBAIJAN: “WE DON’T NEED BAPTISTS HERE,” SHOUTS OBSTRUCTIVE OFFICIAL
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service
“We don’t need any Baptists here,” the notary of Azerbaijan’s
north-western Zakatala [Zaqatala] region shouted at Forum 18 News Service
on 27 November when it tried to find out why for more than a year she had
refused to notarise the signatures on the registration application by a
local Baptist congregation. “We don’t want a second Karabakh,”
Najiba Mamedova screamed, referring to the Armenian-populated region that
broke away from Azerbaijani control more than a decade ago in a brutal war.
“Who financed you? Go to them,” she added before throwing Forum
18 out of her office in Zakatala’s court building and threatening to call
the police. “She always spoke to us like that,” the church’s
pastor, Hamid Shabanov, who had witnessed Mamedova’s response, told Forum
18 sadly.
Shabanov’s church – one of three Baptist congregations in the village
of Aliabad, two of which are members of the Azerbaijani Baptist Union
– lodged its latest registration application for notarisation with
Mamedova some fourteen months ago, but she has consistently refused to
process it, church members complain. Without the notarised signatures of
the church’s founding members the application cannot be processed and the
congregation cannot get legal status.
The church began applying for registration in 1994, making it the religious
community which has been denied registration in Azerbaijan for the longest
period.
Ali Abasov, a professor at the National Academy of Sciences and president
of the Azerbaijani branch of the International Religious Liberty
Association, said he could well understand how the authorities in a place
like Aliabad could “illegally obstruct” the registration of a
minority religious community. “It is a question of ten minutes at the
notary’s office,” he told Forum 18 in the capital Baku on 29 November.
“Officials should do their job in accordance with the law.”
“It is wrong for the notary to refuse to notarise the documents,”
Azer Sharafli, head of the general department of the State Committee for
Work with Religious Organisations, told Forum 18 in his office in Baku on
24 November. “It’s their job to do so.” He said although his
committee is in charge of the registration of religious organisations, it
is not its responsibility if other officials refuse to do their job.
“No-one appealed to us,” he claimed. He said if the Baptists have
any complaint they should take their case to court.
“If all the paperwork is in order, notarisation is a question of no
more than 30 minutes maximum, that’s my view,” the head of the Aliabad
administration, Gasim Orujov, told Forum 18 under outsized portraits of
President Ilham Aliev and his late father Heidar Aliev in his office in the
village on 27 November. Although no fan of the Baptists, he said he was
unable to tell if the authorities want to register the Baptists or not.
“It’s not my responsibility. I won’t interfere.”
Orujov readily admitted that the Baptists – like believers of any
other faith – have the full right to practise their religion.
“There’s democracy here.” He claimed to be ready to give the
Baptists any documents they require to complete the registration process.
However, he resolutely refused to allow them to build a church in the
village. “There is Islam here and we have our mosque,” he told
Forum 18, gesturing to the nearby minaret. “People wouldn’t allow a
church nearby. There would be conflict.” (He did not mention that
Aliabad used to have a Georgian Orthodox church, which was closed during
the Soviet period.)
Orujov brushed aside suggestions that one group of citizens cannot prevent
another group of citizens exercising their rights. “Can we allow a
church to be built after they have been here for only ten years?” he
asked. “Let them pray at home.” Told that registered places of
worship of a wide variety of faiths exist in Baku he responded: “Baku
has people of many faiths and different backgrounds – it’s OK for
churches to exist there.”
For more background information see Forum 18’s Azerbaijan religious freedom
survey at
A printer-friendly map of Azerbaijan is available at
las/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=azerba
(END)
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