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Azerbaijani Bahais Religious Center issues statement on their refusal of funds allocated by state

03 January 2012 08:49 (UTC +04:00)

The statement sent to APA by the religious center says that under the instructions of Azerbaijani President, basing on the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers, the State Committee on Work with Religious Organizations allocated one-time allowances to the religious communities registered in Azerbaijan, including Baku and Sumgayit bahai religious communities.
â€œAzerbaijani Bahais Religious Center expresses its deep respect and gratitude to Azerbaijani President and the State Committee on Work with Religious Organizations for the care and attention. Referring to the principles and administrative laws of Bahaism, Baku and Sumgayit bahai communities can not accept this assistance to meet their needs, and even if they could, they would spend it only for charity. Therefore, these communities did not accept the allowance. We sent a letter to the State Committee on Work with Religious Organizations saying that we could not accept the allowance only in terms of our religious principles.

Our decision did not cause misunderstanding with our government, concretely with the State Committee on Work with Religious Organizations, it was regarded as normal. This statement is issued because a number of information agencies and newspapers pay special attention to this issue, make attempts to investigate it and sometimes to misrepresent it. According to the Bahai principle, only bahais can make donations for the activities of Bahaism, we obey this principle and do not accept funds from outside sources.â€

On the initiative of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, the Cabinet of Ministers passed a decision to allocate funds for the Caucasian Muslims Board and 20 non-Islamic religious communities. AZN 2 million was allocated for the Caucasian Muslims Board, AZN 400 000 for 20 non-Islamic religious communities. As two bahai communities refused the allowance, AZN 400 000 was distributed among 18 non-Islamic communities.