THE BAHA’IS OF THE CAUCASUS: AN INDEPENDENT AZERBAIJAN
By Bayram BALCI (Director of the French Institute for Central Asian Studies IFEAC, Tashkent) and Azer JAFAROV (Baku)
Translated by Kathryn GAYLORD-MILES
Caucaz, Georgia
March 20 2007
As for other religions, the end of the Soviet era is for the Baha’is
a synonym for a rediscovered religious liberty. However, the campaign
against religion during the Soviet period was such that the number
of Baha’is at the beginning of the decade was barely two thousand.
Fifteen years later, their number is essentially the same. Like other
religions, the Baha’i faith is seeing a rejuvenation that comes from
a combination of internal and external influences.
In the interior of the country, residents more easily express their
faith and their religious practices, all the more reason because the
power and the authorities seem to encourage this phenomenon-the public
expression of religious sentiment. As for the exterior influence,
it has come essentially from Turkey. One could expect that it would
come from Russia and Iran, where important, long-established Baha’i
communities live but it is actually the Turkish influences what were
the most rapid and the most efficient, doubtless because of the good
relations between Ankara and Baku, united around the discourse on
Turkishness and a re-found brotherhood.
The phenomenon of conversion occupies a considerable place in this
revival. It is estimated that more than 80% of Baku’s Baha’is are
converts, often Shiite Muslims in quest for spirituality at the
moment of the break-up of the Soviet Union. The arrival of foreign
missionaries, Turkish missionaries especially, facilitated the
conversion of certain people, Muslim or Christian by culture, to the
Baha’i faith. Ethnically, the majority of Baha’is from Azerbaijan
are Azeri, but there are also Russians and Northern Caucasians,
especially Lezgins {1}.
On the same model, in other Caucasian regions, where communities
exist, notably in Batumi and in Dagestan, a certain revival has also
taken place. As for the Baha’is in Armenia, most of them have left
the country since the beginning of the confrontation with Azerbaijan
over Nagorno-Karabakh.
One of the traditions of the Baha’i faith is the assembly of the
community of each city every year on 21 April to choose its nine
leaders. An impossible practice during the Soviet period, it was
revived starting in 1991. At that time, nine people were chosen
democratically by the faithful hold the decision-making power for
the community in Baku. The groups in Ganja, Sumqayit and Salyan each
have their own nine representatives charged with administering the
life of the community. In other cities, the reduced number of Baha’is
does not allow the election of representatives that can always go to
Baku for the important Baha’i holidays.
In contrast to other religions, the Baha’i faith doesn’t place
a central importance on the place of worship. Most of the time,
meetings and religious ceremonies take place in family houses.
Nevertheless, in Baku there is a seat of the association that serves
as the conference center, the school and the meeting room. Religious
education there is assured by the leaders of the community. Religious
literature is often imported from Russia, where paper is less
expensive. Every 19 days, the community meets in a plenary session
for collective prayers, often readings of sacred texts, especially
the works of Baha’ullah and of Abdu’l-Baha.
The community of Baku is accepted world-wide by Muslims and perfectly
integrated into the country and society. In accordance with the law,
its two religious associations are registered with the State Committee
for Religious Affairs. It also has two members who are part of a forum
created by the state, the Union of Religious Organizations for Peace.
This official recognition of its status permits the community to
freely practice its religion and to peacefully live its religious
live. On the other hand, in the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic where,
in principle, the laws of the Republic of Azerbaijan should apply,
the small Baha’i minority is constantly harassed by the authorities,
who don’t give it any freedom of association.
However, the Baha’is aren’t the only ones to be bothered for the
religious beliefs. Followers of Christian denominations, especially
Adventists, Pentecostals, and Baptists, are also constantly bothered
by the authorities of the Autonomous Republic.
{1} See
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