Foreign

Home page

Foreign

Draft law banning activity of unregistered religious communities recommended to Azerbaijani Parliament

06 May 2009 13:39 (UTC +04:00)

Chairperson of the committee on human rights Rabiyyat Aslanova said that the law on â€œFreedom of religionâ€ was adopted in Azerbaijan in 1992, eight amendments and annexes had been made to the document. According to her, there were 18 mosques in the country during the period of USSR, while there are 1750 mosques now. Aslanova said Caucasian Muslims Office was the centralized body leading the Islamic religious communities.
â€œBut there is a paradox here. How can Caucasian Muslims Office, which was registered like other religious communities, control the activity of other communities? I think the authority of the Caucasian Muslims Office should be increased in order to eliminate this misunderstanding,â€ she said.

Chief of the Parliamentâ€™s Department of Legislation Latif Huseynov commented on the amendments and annexes proposed to the law. He said some of the amendments were connected with the issues arising from the referendum. Huseynov said according to the proposed amendments, religious communities can function only after being registered.
â€œReligious communities are allowed to function in the place shown during the registration,â€ he said.
According to Huseynov, if the activity of religious community, or their goals contradict Azerbaijani Constitution, when the organization is not recognized as religious body and in other cases, their registration may be cancelled.
â€œThe registration of religious communities may be cancelled only under the court decision. The registration of the religious body can be cancelled when its activity impedes secular education, when the religion is promoted by violating public safety and public order, taking actions directed to terrorism, financing of terrorism, provocation or extremism, by force, threatening to use force, stirring up racial, national, religious, social enmity, by insulting people and contradicting the principles of humanity,â€ he said.

According to the amendments, religious books, things and other materials are sold in the shops opened by the permission of local executive authorities.

Chairman of the State Committee for Work with Religious Associations Hidayat Orujov called the amendments the dictates of the time. He said the amendments to the law would contribute to the freedom of religious faith.

Gudrat Hasanguliyev said there were communities, which were conducting large religious campaign, but didnâ€™t provide radical activity. â€œWe were invited recently to an event in Gulustan Palace dedicated to Heydar Aliyev. They presented a journal, which was popularizing the movement of nurchu and Fetullah Gulen. Nurchu was not registered as a religious community, but provides activity via some organizations, including Cagh Ogretim Company. It is important that the religious communities have same legal addresses with the places of their activityâ€.
Deputy Chairman of the Caucasian Muslims Office (CMO) Salman Musayev proposed to establish special commission for withdrawal of registration of the religious organizations. Musayev also considered it necessary to make clear the issue of headscarves in the legislation. â€œThere are some complaints about this issueâ€.

Musayev said CMO authorities should be extended. He said recently some TV channels popularized the fortunetelling, which is contradictory to the national-spiritual values.

MP Fazil Mustafa also supported the proposal to extend the CMO authorities. He said there were contradictions in the attitude toward the religious communities. â€œThe status of holy places in Azerbaijan should be determined. There are nearly 500 holy places in Azerbaijan nowâ€.

Hidayat Orujov said the holy places were also registered as a religious community, but only seven holy places were registered so far.

After the discussions the amendments to the law were recommended to the parliament.