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Of the mosques built in Azerbaijan by Turkish Religious Foundation only one has an order â€“ INTERVIEW

Of the mosques built in Azerbaijan by Turkish Religious Foundation only one has an order â€“ <font color=red>INTERVIEW </font>

21 May 2009 11:33 (UTC +04:00)

-Reports have recently spread that Turkish mosques will be closed in Azerbaijan. Can you say how many Turkish mosques there are in Azerbaijan?

-Mosques can not be called â€œTurkishâ€, â€œAzeriâ€, it is not right to classify them in this way. But I can say that there are several mosques in Azerbaijan built by Turkish Religious Foundation. Some of them are in the regions, some around Baku and the rest in the capital. There is one mosque in Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.

-Can you say the exact number and location of these mosques?

- Nine mosques were built by Turkish Religious Foundation in Azerbaijan. One of them is in Nakhchivan and is called â€œKazim Gara Bakirâ€. One is the â€œShehidlerâ€ mosque located in the Martyrsâ€™ Alley. This mosque has been closed in connection with the repair. The mosque will open after the repair is over. One of them is â€œIlahiyyat fakultesiâ€ mosque of Baku State University. There is one mosque in Jeyranbatan, one in Garachukhur and one in Mehdiabad. They are named after these settlements. Moreover, we also built â€œLekiâ€ mosque in Leki settlement of Aghdash, â€œChorumâ€ mosque in Yevlakh and â€œMustafa Kazdalâ€ mosque in Gusar. We have representatives in all these mosques. But our representatives in the mosques in Yevlakh and Leki have recently returned to Turkey. No one has been sent to succeed them yet.

-They were reportedly built illegally. Do these mosques have documents?

-It is not right to cal these mosques illegal. They were built in 1993-1996. Executive offices of the relevant regions gave permissions to build those mosques. There was an order on construction of only â€œShehidlerâ€ mosque. Documents of other mosques are being prepared.

-How many people pray in these mosques?

-The mosques are full during Juma (Friday) namaz. Even in â€œIlahiyyat fakultesiâ€ mosque people perform namaz in the yard of the mosque. There are over 5000-6000 believers in some of the mosques. Totally, over 20,000 people perform namaz in the above-mentioned nine mosques.

APA yesterday reported that there were about 10 illegal mosques in Azerbaijan, two of them were named. The names of the other mosques are mentioned in this interview.