OFFICIAL DENIES BAKU SHUTTING DOWN TURKISH MOSQUES

Today’s Zaman
May 22 2009
Turkey

A government official has denied media reports that Azerbaijan is
closing down mosques built by Turkey’s Directorate of Religious
Affairs.

During a meeting with Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan Hulusi Kılıc
this week, Hidayet Orucov, the head of Azerbaijan’s state committee for
religious institutions, said he had made several statements stating
that reports to that effect were not true, the Anatolia news agency
reported yesterday. In his earlier statements, Orucov said Azerbaijani
authorities were only closing buildings that were built and operate
as mosques illegally.

But Anatolia also said a Turkish mosque, built by the Religious Affairs
Foundation, an affiliate of the Directorate of Religious Affairs,
was about to be closed by Azerbaijani authorities. Officials at the
Ä°lahiyat Mosque said they were notified by Azerbaijani officials that
the mosque, operational since 1996, was illegal and will therefore
be closed following today’s Friday prayer.

Kılıc met with Orucov to discuss the issue after hearing reports
about the Ä°lahiyat Mosque.

Azerbaijan demolished a mosque last month, saying the building was
not officially registered and that its architecture was incompatible
with Azerbaijani architecture. Another Religious Affairs Foundation
mosque, the Å~^ehitlik Mosque, has been closed since last month,
with authorities saying it is under renovation.

The mosque controversy comes as Azerbaijan protests Turkey’s efforts
to reconcile with Armenia without any Armenian concession on its
Nagorno-Karabakh dispute with Azerbaijan. Turkey closed its border
with Armenia in 1993 in a show of solidarity with Azerbaijan during the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. But Ankara and Yerevan announced last month
that they had reached a framework agreement to normalize relations.