Russian paper says Islamic groups pose “serious” problems for Azerbaijan

Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Moscow
25 Apr 05

A Russian newspaper has said that various religious missionaries
have stepped up their activities in Azerbaijan which poses “serious
problems” for the country. Nezavisimaya Gazeta said that Azerbaijan
might turn into “an arena for struggle between various models and
movements of Islam – Arab, Turkish and Iranian” religious groups. It
said that the most radical of all is Wahhabism which could turn
into “a force capable of influencing the socio-political life of
the country”. The following is the text of Sohbat Mammadov’s article
headlined “Into the Mosque out of Hopelessness” report by the Russian
newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta on 25 April; subheadings have been
inserted editorially:

The National Security Ministry [NSM] of Azerbaijan recently made a
statement that a criminal group had been neutralized, which had been
preparing terrorist acts against areas where many foreigners live and
work. In the apartments of group participants the ministry discovered
a great quantity of dynamite charges, grenades, detonators, explosives,
and literature and audiocassettes promoting terrorism and jihad.

Local analysts are certain that Azerbaijan will become an arena for
struggle between various models and movements of Islam – Arab, Turkish
and Iranian ones, and this will quickly develop into serious problems.

The religious boom in Azerbaijan began almost immediately after
the fall of the USSR. First of all Islamic ritual and educational
activity started. After long years of ban in the republic, the Koran
was translated and published in Azerbaijani. Within a short time a
madras, a department of Islamic theology, was opened at Baku State
University, a Caucasian Islamic university. They began to construct
and to reconstruct mosques, which according to certain information,
now exceed 1,400 in number. The appearance on the streets of Baku of
women wearing the hijab, which was a rarity 10 years ago, is a sign
of the new times.

Wahhabism

The greatest danger today is posed by forces, which are attempting
to spread Islam in its worst form in the republic. “Benefactors”
from Arab countries, in particular from Saudi Arabia, as well as
from Iran and Turkey, have been particularly active in this. Under
the guise of philanthropic activity they have been carrying out
active work in refugee camps and among the part of the population
living in poverty. In addition they offer free education in their
countries. After having received a religious education there, the
Azerbaijani graduate imports the knowledge and views received to his
homeland. All of this plus unlimited financial inflows contributes
to the spread of radical Islamic movements in the republic.

Out of all this, the Wahhabis are especially radical. Skilled at
being secretive, they operate under the aegis of various philanthropic
organizations and religious movements and press organs. According to
certain information, today the number of followers of this movement
in the republic has reached 15,000. The Wahhabis are mainly found in
northern districts of the republic, especially in those bordering on
Russia, with a predominately Sunni population.

Local newspapers claim that the Baku center of Wahhabism is the
Abu Bakr mosque, built with petrodollars from Saudi Arabia. It is
curious that a considerable portion of members of this mosque is
made up of Russian citizens – ethnic Chechens temporarily living
in Azerbaijan. In the opinion of political analyst Rafael Hasanov,
“today Wahhabism is turning into a force capable of influencing the
socio-political life of the country.”

Other religious movements

Religious movements like “Nurculuq,” whose founder is considered
to be Academic theologian Said Nursi, are also gaining ground. The
followers of the Nur leader Fetulah Gulen, whose stated goal is
the establishment of a single Islamic Shari’ah state in the region,
have imported his teachings into Azerbaijan from Turkey. According
to Nezavisimaya Gazeta information, Nur today is a very strong and
secretive organization, having branches in Russia, Kosovo, Macedonia,
Albania and the Central Asian countries.

Teachers of Nurculuq [Nursism] appeared in Azerbaijan in 1992. One
of the reasons for the heightened interest in Azerbaijan may be
their striving to counterbalance the increasing activity of radical
Iranian Shi’i organizations. In contrast to Wahhabism, Nur ideology
prefers a peaceful assumption of power, therefore they actively push
their people into government structures. In addition, according to
information from the Baku mass media, almost half of the Turkish
business in the Azerbaijan market in concentrated in the hands of
this religious movement. They have already opened more than a dozen
educational schools and higher schools here.

Islamic radicals

Openly Islamic radicals have also become active in Azerbaijan, in
particular the Iranian Shi’i organization Jayshallah and the terrorist
group Hezbollah. Several years ago the Azerbaijani intelligence
services exposed their activity. In the course of the investigation
they learned that Jayshallah had operated illegally on Azerbaijani
territory since 1995 and it was led from Iran.

The Hezbollah group in its 12 years of secret existence in the republic
had succeeded in recruiting many young Azerbaijanis into its ranks,
who had gone for training in terrorist preparation camps in Iran. This
organization had many prominent killings to its credit, including
that of the well-known academic and orientalist, Ziya Bunyadov.

Christian missionaries

Against the background of the struggle of radical Islamic organizations
for Azerbaijan the activation of various Christian missionary
communities has also been observed. The religious sects Life-giving
Grace, Living Stones, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Church of Praise,
Seventh Day Adventists and others have been the most active. Many
of them distribute books that they have published themselves, are
proselytizing Christianity and are calling on Muslims to accept the
Christian faith. Material considerations here play far from the least
role here. Some Azerbaijanis living in poverty willingly agreed to
accept Christianity for 200-250 dollars.

By the way, sources in the force structures of the republic believe
that the danger of sectarianism at the present time is obvious. Even
more because missionaries do not conceal plans for transforming
Azerbaijan into a kind of beachhead for large scale sectarianism. By
the way, no one today can guarantee that tomorrow one of the Islamic
fanatics won’t attempt to even scores with missionaries who are
feeling free and easy in Azerbaijan.

Studying the tendency for a growing portion of the republic’s
population, especially young people, to be religious, analyst Sultan
Cavansir believes that the main reason for this phenomenon is an
increase in the portion of uneducated and despairing young people
who do not have any possibility for realizing themselves, and the
poverty and social discontent of a major portion of society, of the
refugee camps, where under the guise of humanitarian assistance,
various foreign forces are operating.