AZERBAIJAN: Pastor threatened with jail for allowing children in church

20 December 2007
Forum 18, Norway
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service

Police in Azerbaijan's second city Gyanja have threatened Adventist pastor Elshan Samedov with prison, if he refuses to ban children from attending worship services and does not halt worship in two church-owned properties. "People don't have the right to meet for religious purposes just where they want," Major Alovset Mamedov told Forum 18 News Service, "they need to have permission." Mamedov "threatened to imprison me for turning people into Christians," Samedov stated. "He violates our rights to worship God – and he insulted my personal dignity. Who gave him the right to violate my rights?" Major Mamedov demanded that Pastor Samedov sign a statement that he would prevent children from attending services in future, but he refused to do this. Following a separate raid in the capital Baku, police tried to pressure eight Adventists into giving up their faith and fined them under the Administrative Code for holding meetings "not connected with the conducting of religious rituals with the aim of attracting young people and youth."

Police in Azerbaijan's second city Gyanja [Gäncä] have threatened a Seventh-day Adventist pastor Elshan Samedov with prison, if he refuses to ban school-age children from attending worship services and does not halt worship in two of the three church-owned properties in the city. "People don't have the right to meet for religious purposes just where they want," Major Alovset Mamedov of the police Criminal Investigation Department told Forum 18 News Service from Gyanja on 19 December, the day after he interrogated and threatened Samedov. "They need to have permission – and this needs to be recorded in the religious organisation's statute."

Pastor Samedov complains of the threats from Major Mamedov during the interrogation. "He threatened to imprison me for turning people into Christians," he told Forum 18 from Gyanja on 19 December. "He said he could find 'witnesses' to testify against me, plus they have photo and film 'evidence'. Maybe this wasn't a real threat, but he certainly wanted to intimidate me. He violates our rights to worship God – and he insulted my personal dignity. Who gave him the right to violate my rights?"

However, Major Mamedov vigorously denied making any threats. "I didn't threaten the pastor – I have no complaints against him," he claimed to Forum 18. "I just told him to act in accordance with the law."

The threats to Pastor Samedov followed a visit to his church by a police captain on 8 December, the same day that 13 police officers raided an Adventist service in the capital Baku. In the wake of the Baku raid, eight church members were held for five hours, insulted, threatened and fined (see F18 News 10 December 2007 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1059) .

"We don't know if the raids in Baku and Gyanja on the same day are connected," Adventist leaders told Forum 18 from Baku on 19 December. "However, it is notable that two days later, the opposition paper Yeni Musavat and the television station ANS both had libellous material accusing us of being connected with Armenians." Azerbaijan and Armenia are involved in a long-running conflict over the sovereignty of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Adventists told Forum 18 that they have been present in Azerbaijan for about 110 years and currently have about 700 baptised adult members in the country. They say they have about 200 baptised adult members in Gyanja, with children of members also attending worship. They say that all children who attend worship services have permission from their parents to be there and in the overwhelming majority of cases the parents are present in services also.

As is their normal practice, no officials of the State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations in Baku were available on 19 December to explain to Forum 18 why a second Adventist community is now facing threats.

The police captain who visited the Gyanja church during worship on 8 December later wrote a report to the head of the city police's Criminal Investigation Department alleging that the presence of children at the service was illegal, Pastor Samedov told Forum 18.

During the three-hour interrogation on 18 December, Major Mamedov accused Pastor Samedov of allowing children to attend church. "Children should be attending school on Saturday," Mamedov told Forum 18. "There's a city instruction that children aren't allowed to attend the mosque or any other religious venue in school time."

However, Pastor Samedov insisted to Forum 18 that as elsewhere in Azerbaijan, only about a tenth of Gyanja's schools still have lessons on Saturdays, the day Adventists mark as their holy day. "All those who attended on 8 December when a police captain visited were children who did not have school on a Saturday."

Major Mamedov demanded that Pastor Samedov sign a statement that he would prevent children from attending worship services in future, but he refused. "I explained to him that parents bring their children along with them – they do this voluntarily," he explained to Forum 18. "How can we ban them from doing this?"

Police have previously directly targeted children who attend the church. In a November 2004 raid on a worship service, police arrested and interrogated two leaders, fining and threatening one with deportation, and connived at a local TV crew conducting hostile interviews with children against the protests of their parents. Firdovsi Kerimov, local representative of the State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations, who took part in the interrogations and hostile TV interviews of children, claimed to Forum 18 at the time that "everything was done in accordance with the law" (see F18News 22 November 2004 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=458) .

Major Mamedov told Pastor Samedov that services can only take place in the property where the church's legal address is registered, not in two other church-owned properties. Mamedov claimed that this is because the church has not listed all three addresses of its churches in the city in its statute registered with the State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations. "I've read their statute and it doesn't give this information," Mamedov told Forum 18.

The Adventists say that the Gyanja church's statute was registered in 2002 and that the church bought the two other properties in 2003. They say the statute defines the territory of the church's activity as "the city of Gyanja" and that the local authorities know that the church holds services at all three church-owned meeting places. The Adventists also point out that under Azerbaijani law, they also have the right to hold meetings in private homes and at other locations such as cemeteries.

In a charge frequently levelled at Protestant Christians in Azerbaijan, Mamedov also accused the Adventists of paying people to convert to Christianity. "The Adventists give 35 shirvans to each person who attends – they have massive funds," he claimed to Forum 18. (A shirvan is a popular name for 2 Manats, thus the sum represents 70 Manats [462 Norwegian Kroner, 58 Euros or 83 US Dollars].) Asked what proof he had, he responded: "There are people who have proved this – and I have photos." However, he refused to give Forum 18 any names or contact details of individuals who say they have received money to attend Adventist services.

Pastor Samedov vigorously refutes the accusation that his church gives money to anyone to attend. "First of all, and most importantly, it is not true and they have no facts that back up their claim," he told Forum 18. "Secondly, it is not against the law even if anyone does want to pay people to attend religious services."

Pastor Samedov said that also present during the 18 December interrogation was Ferdovsi Kerimov, who took part in the November 2004 raid, interrogations and hostile TV interviews of children against the protests of their parents. Kerimov is the Gyanja representative of the State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations. "However, he failed to defend me – and refused to explain this to me," Pastor Samedov told Forum 18.

Reached several times on 19 December, Kerimov refused to answer Forum 18's questions about his involvement in the case.

Adventist leaders told Forum 18 that in the wake of the 8 December raid on the Baku church, Pastor Rasim Bakhshiyev and seven other congregation members were fined under Article 299 part 3 of the Code of Administrative Offences. This states that "the holding by clergy and members of religious associations of meetings and the creation of labour, literary and other circles and groups not connected with the conducting of religious rituals with the aim of attracting young people and youth carries a fine of 10 to 15 times the minimum monthly wage for responsible figures."

"This doesn't even apply to us, as the four children present on 8 December were Pastor Rasim Bakhshiyev's own children," Adventist leaders said. "In addition, the police issued no documents about the fine – they just took the money."

In an account of her five-hour detention on 8 December, seen by Forum 18, one of the eight Adventists from Baku describes how police treated the group. "Police officers and people in civilian clothes asked us questions about our faith," Samira Karaeva reported. "When we answered they laughed at our responses, and they asked me to sing for them some religious songs. They tried to convince us that our religious convictions are untrue, that we are on the wrong path and that we should abandon this path."

Karaeva said she and her fellow-Adventists protested at the "insulting" way the police addressed their pastor and one elderly church member. "The police officers used disrespectful expressions about our freedom of belief and choice." She complained that books and church documents confiscated during the raid had not been returned.

Adventist leaders told Forum 18 that in the wake of the Baku raid they had written a letter of complaint to Hidayat Orujev, chair of the State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations. "However, we have had no response," they lamented. (END)

For a personal commentary, by an Azeri Protestant, on how the international community can help establish religious freedom in Azerbaijan, see http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=482

For more background information see Forum 18's Azerbaijan religious freedom survey at http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=92 .

More coverage of freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Azerbaijan is at http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?query=&religion=all&country=23&results=50 .

A survey of the religious freedom decline in the eastern part of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) area is at http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=806 .

A printer-friendly map of Azerbaijan is available at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=azerba .

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

AZERBAIJAN: "If you meet again you'll be imprisoned," Adventists told

10 December 2007

By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service

Neighbourhood police officer Elhan Sokhbetov, who took part in an 8 December raid on a Baku Adventist congregation's worship service, denied that it was a raid. "It was just a check-up," he insisted to Forum 18 News Service. Asked why 13 police officers had raided the service, why eight church members had been held for five hours, insulted, threatened and fined he responded: "No-one was threatened. It was just a check-up." Pastor Rasim Bakhshiyev told Forum 18 he was warned they would be imprisoned if they meet again for worship. "They tried to make us sign statements that we had been led astray in coming to services and that we were renouncing our faith," he added. "This was a crude violation of the law," another Adventist leader told Forum 18. "All our documents are in order and they have no reason to raid the congregation or to fine our members." No official of the State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations was available to tell Forum 18 why the service had been raided. Officials have told the Adventists they are "too busy" to receive them.

Police who raided a worship service of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the capital Baku on Saturday 8 December told the congregation's leaders that they will be imprisoned if they meet again, Pastor Rasim Bakhshiyev told Forum 18 News Service from the city on 10 December. "They told us verbally they will check up to make sure we don't meet." He and seven other congregation members were held for five hours at the local police station and fined. However, reached by Forum 18 on 8 December shortly after the group had been fined and released, the duty officer at the Nizami district 25th police department denied that any raid had taken place or that any Adventists had been held.

Reached again on 10 December, the duty officer at the 25th police department was also unable to explain why the Adventist congregation had been raided. "Why?" he asked Forum 18, laughing, but failed to answer the question. He referred all enquiries to the station head, but his telephone went unanswered on 10 December.

But the neighbourhood police officer Elhan Sokhbetov, who took part in the raid and in an earlier unsanctioned search of the premises where the congregation meets, denied to Forum 18 that it was a raid. "It was just a check-up" he told Forum 18 on 10 December. Asked why 13 police officers had raided the church service, why eight church members had been held for five hours, insulted, threatened and fined he responded: "No-one was threatened. It was just a check-up." He then hung up.

Despite repeated calls on 10 December to the State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations, none of the officially-authorised spokespersons for the committee was available to tell Forum 18 why a religious community's worship service had been raided. The receptionist said that committee chair Hidayat Orujev was in a meeting, while reached later she said he had left the office. The telephone of deputy chair Elchin Askerov went unanswered. Staff who answered the phones of spokespersons Yagut Alieva and Jeyhun Mamedova said neither was there.

Adventist leaders in Baku told Forum 18 that they had telephoned the State Committee on 10 December to try to arrange an urgent meeting to discuss the raid, but officials told them they were "too busy" to receive them. "They said perhaps they might be free on 25 December, so we should ring them on 24 December to find out," one Adventist told Forum 18 on 10 December. "They just want to avoid talking with us about it." He declined to speculate whether 25 December had been chosen specially, given that this is the day Adventists in Azerbaijan celebrate Christmas.

"This was a crude violation of the law," the Adventist added. "All our documents are in order and they have no reason to raid the congregation or to fine our members."

Bakhshiyev told Forum 18 that at 11.30 am on 8 December, some 13 police officers arrived as he was leading about 20 people in the congregation's worship service (the Adventists' holy day is Saturday). He said the group – half of whom were in uniform and half in civilian clothes – were from the 25th police department.

"They surrounded us and wrote down all our names," Bakhshiyev told Forum 18. "They insulted us, asking why we had no books about [the Muslim prophet] Muhammad and why we preach Jesus without informing them. I calmly told them that we preach Jesus Christ and that our faith commands us to be peaceable in our preaching. They said we shouldn't preach Jesus Christ."

Bakhshiyev said that he and seven members of the congregation were taken to the local police station. "There were about 20 officers there. They didn't beat us, but they constantly insulted us in words." He said they accused the church of meeting without state registration.

The Azeri-language Adventist congregation Bakhshiyev leads meets in a privately-owned building in Baku's Nizami district, but acts under the umbrella of the city's central Adventist Church, which has state registration. Bakhshiyev said he explained this to the police but they failed to accept this.

Bakhshiyev said the detained Adventists were taken to separate rooms, where officers tried to force them to write statements. "They tried to make us sign statements that we had been led astray in coming to services and that we were renouncing our faith," he told Forum 18. "They accused me of receiving money from Armenia, as though we support Armenia." (Azerbaijan and Armenia have long been in conflict over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.)

Bakhshiyev said that he was fined 16.50 Manats (106 Norwegian Kroner, 13 Euros or 20 US Dollars). The other seven Adventists were each fined 11 Manats. He said police did not explain exactly which article of the Code of Administrative Offences they had violated. He said one of the detained Adventists had been allowed out to collect together some money and they all paid the fines. But were told receipts for the money would only be given out on 10 December. All were freed after five hours' detention.

During the summer the same congregation faced an unsanctioned raid led by Sokhbetov, the neighbourhood police officer who took part in the 8 December raid. "I suddenly saw him and about another seven police climbing through the gates to get in," Bakhshiyev reported. "They searched the place right through and then went away – all without any documents at all."

Bakhshiyev said his congregation wants to gain separate legal status, but that the authorities "don't want to register a second Adventist congregation in Baku". He believes controls on religious communities have become tighter since Orujev took over in July 2006 as chair of the State Committee from the former chair Rafik Aliev.

Meanwhile, imprisoned Baptist pastor Zaur Balaev is still waiting to hear when his appeal to the Supreme Court will be heard. Balaev led a Baptist congregation in Aliabad in the far north-west of Azerbaijan, close to the border with Georgia. Like most of the population of the village, he is from the Georgian-speaking Ingilo minority. The congregation has repeatedly over many years had its applications for legal status refused and has faced years of harassment from the local authorities.

Arrested in May, Balaev is serving a two year sentence on charges of resisting the police, charges eyewitnesses and church members insist are "trumped-up". He is now being held in Ordinary Regime Prison Colony No. 10, located in Darnagul in Baku's Narimanov District (see F18News 16 November 2007 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1049).

"Zaur's health is worsening in prison," Ilya Zenchenko, head of Azerbaijan's Baptist Union, told Forum 18 from Baku on 10 December. "Some church members were able to visit him yesterday and he needs more medicine." He said the Supreme Court has until 15 January to decide when his second appeal against his sentence will be heard.

In early November, police in the southern port town of Neftechala on the Caspian Sea, threatened local Baptist Jabbar Musaev with the same fate as that of Balaev (see F18News 16 November 2007 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1049).

"Jabbar was dragged out of his home directly in the eyes of his mother and taken to the police station," Zenchenko complained. "Although he was freed that evening he was so intimidated – and so was his mother."

Other Protestant congregations and Jehovah's Witnesses have also faced harassment in recent months. "Sometimes pressure is open, sometimes it is covert," Zenchenko told Forum 18. (END)

For a personal commentary, by an Azeri Protestant, on how the international community can help establish religious freedom in Azerbaijan, see http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=482

For more background information see Forum 18's Azerbaijan religious freedom survey at http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=92

More coverage of freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Azerbaijan is at http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?query=&religion=all&country=23&results=50

A survey of the religious freedom decline in the eastern part of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) area is at http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=806 .

A printer-friendly map of Azerbaijan is available at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=azerba


Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

Jewish community of RA: God forbid Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh from Azeri goods

16.06.2007
PanARMENIAN.Net

"... even during the heaviest times of the community regime Armenia was among the few republics, where there wasn’t any place for anti-Semitism and where people treated well the national minorities –Russians, Jews, Kurds, Ezyds, Greeks, Assyrians and other nations, among them Azeris."

The Jewish community of Armenia has published an open latter, expressing its deep anger in it at the statements of Meir Bruk, the Chief Rabbi of European Jews of Azerbaijan. Head of the Jewish Community of Armenia Rimma Varzhapetyan, Chief Rabbi of Armenia Gershon Meir Burshtein and President of “Menora” cultural center Villy Veiner have undersigned the latter. The PanARMENIAN.Net brings the whole text of the letter.

“Baku based “Zerkalo” newspaper published G. Inandj’s article in its June 12, 2007 edition, where the other cites his interview with Meir Bruk, the Chief Rabbi of the European Jews of Azerbaijan. The above-mentioned article was also posted on the Internet. “Armenia is weak spiritually and economically, since there is no place for tolerance and indulgence there,” these are his words, which are placed in the preamble of the article.

“If the “opus” were introduced only on behalf of Inandj, we would not pay attention to it. There is a lot of dirt in Azeri press addressed to Armenia and it is impossible to react all of them.

It is another question, when the spiritual leader of Jews of Azerbaijan is busy with it, and not for the first time, by the way. It is not proper for him to talk profusely about political subjects, including the situation of Jews in Armenia and the State’s attitude towards them. He speaks about such subjects, where he is quite an ignoramus, of course if he does not realize a certain well-paid order from above. However, let’s analyze concrete statements made by Mr. Bruk.

1…”Heidar Aliev is the author of the modern ideology of tolerance in the process of building the state,” end of the quote. It looks like, because of his young age or may be inadequate education Mr. Bruk does not remember or does not know that continuing the policy of his predecessors on the leading posts of the country the “father of tolerance” used to do everything in order to make minority nations (fortunately, significantly lesser the Jews) either fully assimilate or leave their original places of residence. Let us not go into details. But it would be good if Mr. Bruk familiarized himself with statistic data on population of Azerbaijan at the moment, when the republic was first established at the beginning of the last century and now.

Where are the greater part of Lezghins, Ayrums, Karapapakhs, Kurds, Tats, Talyshs and other national minorities of Azerbaijan, not to mention the Armenians of Nakhichevan? Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh would suffer the same fate, Nagorno Karabakh, which Mr. Bruk calls on to return Azerbaijan. Or may be Mr. Bruk is not aware of Heidar Aliev’s statement when he occupied the post of the First Secretary of the Communist Party. Then he said that one of his major goals on the post of the First Secretary was to liberate Karabakh from Armenians. Not so bad “father of tolerance”. And today we witness the “tolerance policy” carried out by the successor of the father, Ilham Aliev. As a vivid example is the cruel murder of the Armenian officer in Hungary by idiot Safarov, who has become a national hero in Azerbaijan. Fortunately, the world community has adequately condemned this act of violence.

For Mr. Bruk to know, even during the heaviest times of the community regime Armenia was among the few republics, where there wasn’t any place for anti-Semitism and where people treated well the national minorities –Russians, Jews, Kurds, Ezyds, Greeks, Assyrians and other nations, among them Azeris.

And verbiage of Bruk that there are few Jews in Armenia because there aren’t any conditions for national and religions tolerance in that country, are at least illiteracy. Even if we take the figure (200) presented by Mr. Bruk for the Jewish population of Armenia, which he has spun out of thin air, it does not speak in his favor. How can we understand the fact that in case of actual absence of Jews in Armenia and national and religious tolerance there are officially registered four Jewish public, religious and cultural organizations in the republic, which are recognized by all world Jewish organizations. Here we have a working synagogue headed by the Chief Rabbi of Armenia. The Chief Rabbi of Azerbaijan must know this fact taking into account his the post he occupies.

2… “Armenians see the economic and political prosperity of Azerbaijan and there is nothing left for them than to take that model as an example”, end of quotation. Not so bad example. Only a quite waning man may think that Armenia or another country may take as an example the political model of Azerbaijan. Doesn’t Mr. Bruk know the opinion of the European Parliament on countless violations of democratic bases and human rights committed by Azerbaijan, the continuing political and judicial prosecutions of any kind of dissent?

And of course God forbid Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh from goods that Mr. Bruk promises them in case if Armenia returns Nagorno Karabakh to Azerbaijan. Nobody here has forgotten Sumgait, Kirovabad, Baku, and Karabakh. People in other countries, including Israel too remember those “goods”.

We think that the wise Rabbi has forgotten that his and our mission is in peacekeeping and helping our countries to settle the accumulated problems on the level of popular diplomacy, and not in compressing the complex relations between the two neighbors, which are intense and without it. Our mission is not to become marionettes in the hands of certain political and financial bosses.

At the end we’d like to draw the attention of the whole European community, public and religions International Jewish Organizations that Jews of Armenia are deeply irritated at the above-mentioned article. We think that similar statements made by an official religions leader, Mr. Bruk, are of quite provocative character, they promote ethnic discord and are contrary to the tolerance policy declared by those organizations. We hope that actions of Mr. Bruk will receive adequate evaluation and condemnation.”

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

Appeal court confirms 30-month jail term for detained newspaper editor

8 June 2007
Reporters without borders (press release), France

"Fatullayev was convicted over online posts attributed to him that said the Azerbaijani armed forces shared responsibility with their Armenian counterparts for the deaths of hundreds of civilians during an attack by Armenian troops in 1992 on the village of Khojali in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region."

Reporters Without Borders voiced alarm today at an appeal court’s decision on 6 June to uphold a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence for Eynulla Fatullayev, founder and editor of the daily newspapers Realny Azerbaijan and Gundelik Azerbaijan, for defaming and insulting Azerbaijanis under article 147.2 of the criminal code. He has been held ever since the sentence was passed on 20 April.

“This decision confirms an exceptionally disproportionate sentence,” the press freedom organisation said. “At the same time, Fatullayev has been notified of new, terrorism-related charges against him, without being given any details of these charges. The two newspapers he edited have been closed illegally and his conditions of detention are cause for concern about his health and safety.”

Reporters Without Borders added: “We support Fatullayev’s appeal to the authorities to guarantee his safety and provide him with acceptable conditions of detention.”

Fatullayev has reported that guards threatened him and pointed a gun at his head when he was transferred on 29 May from Bail prison to the national security ministry detention centre. Since the transfer, he has been given hardly any food and water and has been forced to sleep on his bed’s metal frame, with no mattress or blanket. He has written several letters to national security minister Eldar Mahmudov to demand normal conditions of detention, without getting a reply.

Fatullayev was convicted over online posts attributed to him that said the Azerbaijani armed forces shared responsibility with their Armenian counterparts for the deaths of hundreds of civilians during an attack by Armenian troops in 1992 on the village of Khojali in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

A respected journalist, Fatullayev used to work for the Monitor, whose editor, Elmar Huseynov, was murdered in March 2005. With a daily print run of 30,000 copies, Realny Azerbaijan is well-known for criticising the government.

Serious fighting broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region in 1992. A cease-fire has been in effect since 1994 but no peace accord has ever been reached.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

Azerbaijan Launches Crackdown On Growing Church Movement Of Ex-Muslims

Thursday, 01 February 2007
osNewsLife
By BosNewsLife Special Correspondent Eric Leijenaar reporting from the Netherlands with BosNewsLife’s Stefan J. Bos in Budapest

Persecution of Christians has intensfied under Ilham Aliyev, son of post-independence strongman, Open Doors suggest. BAKU/BUDAPEST/AMSTERDAM (BosNewsLife)-- Authorities in Azerbaijan have launched a crackdown on a church movement of ex-Muslims which grew from 40 to 18,000 members since the former Soviet republic gained independence in 1991, an organization supporting the reportedly persecuted Christian converts said Thursday, February 1.

"Even if you just show a little bit interest in Christianity the government and your family will take action," said Jeno Sebok, spokesman of the Netherlands' based Open Doors group which investigated the situation of former Muslims-turned-Christians.

In a statement to BosNewsLife from Open Doors' headquarters in the Dutch town of Ermelo. Sebok said his organization has established that authorities try to prevent "potential conversions" as "Christianity is seen as the religion of Azerbaijan's archenemy, Armenia." After becoming independent sixteen years ago, predominantly Muslim Azerbaijan fought against mainly Christian Armenia in a bloody war over the disputed area of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Although a ceasefire was agreed in 1994, tensions remained, analysts say. Sebok stressed that therefore someone "who becomes a Christian is immediately seen as a traitor," in Azerbaijan. A reverend, he said, reported that a television network "aired one month, five times a day, slander about him." Because of the media pressure, about 200 church members left his congregation, Sebok claimed.

POLICE SURVEILLANCE

In addition authorities have begun to put known Christians under police surveillance or to harass them, Open Doors said. Several new believers have been arrested or dismissed from jobs under pressure from the government and state-controlled media, Christian investigators said. Family members and employees reportedly also pressure converts to return to Islam.

Besides, it has become almost impossible for churches to be officially recognized while even "officially registered" denominations are often raided by security forces, Open Doors' investigators established. It is reportedly also difficult to obtain permission to distribute Bibles and other Christian literature.

There are also other practical difficulties as the Bible's Old Testament is only available in the local Azeri language since 2004. "The Christians are very enthusiastic about Gods Word and to spread the Gospel. But there is not much knowledge about the Bible," Sebok explained, adding that Open Doors is involved in Bible and Christian literature distribution.

SOVIET ERA

The latest developments resemble the era till 1991 when all Christian activities were forbidden, Christian observers said. Despite these limitations, Russian Christians apparently managed to spread the Gospel in limited areas, which formed the basis for a rapidly growing church movement in the 1990's and this century.

Azerbaijan is a relative small nation sandwiched between Russia and Iran with roughly eight million people. For centuries it was occupied by different nations. Despite its independence and oil wealth, nearly half of the population live below the poverty line, adding to difficulties of Christians. Sebok said that Open Doors is therefore involved in "social-economic programs to help believers facing difficulties."

The country has been ruled by Ilham Aliyev who took over as president from his father, Heydar, in 2003. When his father died, Ilham was already prime minister, vice chairman of the state oil company and deputy leader of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party (NAP).

Although he won the 2003 presidential elections by a landslide, Western observers said the campaign was overshadowed by voter intimidation, violence and media bias. Opposition demonstrations were met with police violence and there were many reported arrests.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.