Nationwide opinion poll on the socio-political situation and the problems of religious freedom and religious extremism in Azerbaijan, August 2012

ADAM sociological service conducted a nationwide survey of public opinion in order to clarify the socio-political situation of the people of Azerbaijan and the problems with religious freedom. The survey was conducted by the "Center for Economic and Policy Research" (FAR CENTRE), headed by Hikmet Hajizade.

The survey was conducted in the period from August 1 to September 1, 2012 with the participation of 1000 people.

This nationwide poll was conducted to determine the current socio-political situation of the population and the problems with religious freedom and religious extremism in the country.

The survey was conducted by the sociological service "ADAM" (Head - Rufat Garagezli) in the frame of the FAR CENTRE's  research of Civil Society development in Azerbaijan. The coordinator of the project is Hikmet Hadjy-zadeh, President, The FAR CENTRE.

The survey was conducted form August 01 to September 01, 2012. The total number of respondents in the survey was 1000.

The survey was conducted in Baku, Shamakhi, Sheki, Ganja, Lankaran, Khachmaz through personal interviews, based on a randomly selected sample of Azerbaijani citizens aged 18 years and older.

The survey was conducted by the "Street Survey" method through personal interviewing of the respondents anonymously.

- 6.9% of the respondents are fully satisfied with their financial situation, 52.4% - partly satisfied; 30% - experienced financial problems; 9.5% - have big financial problems.

- 62.1% of the respondents are willing to leave the country permanently or temporarily.

- 30% of respondents "have not seen meat" or eat meat only once a week.

- Only 48.8% of respondents are fully supplied with water, 42% - the water is intermittent, 9.2% - the water does not come into the house.

- 42.3% of respondents believe that when our oil resources will come to end the country will face a serious economic crisis because the country is not prepared properly for this moment; 17.8% - believe that the crisis will not happen, and 25.9% - "I'm not worried - our oil will be enough through my lifetime."

- For the last 3 years 36.7% of the respondents had to pay bribes often; 31.1% - rarely bribed; 26.6% - did not pay bribes.

- We need a change similar to the "Arab Spring", because the country is moving in the wrong direction - 33.9%; We do not need "Arab Spring", because the country is moving in the right direction - 35%; the country is moving in the wrong direction, but we do not want "Arab Spring", because we scared of chaos and Civil war - 14%.

- The percentage of deeply religious people in the country reached a plateau of 17-19% (FAR CENTRE survey in 2004) and has not grown since 2004: Only 1% of respondents are atheists, 16.9% believe in God and regularly engage in religious rituals, 19.7% - believe in God, but do not worship regularly, 61% - believe in God, but do not perform religious rites.

- (Only for those who believe in Allah) 13.7% of the respondents would like to see a country ruled by Sharia law, 23.2% - partially would like Sharia law (for example, in family law) 57.2% - do not want Sharia law in the country.

- 78.9% - believe that after death a person goes to heaven or hell depending on his deeds. 11.8% - do not believe in it.

- 50% of respondents, in general, have a negative attitude regarding family members marrying someone from another religion (e.g. Muslims with non-Muslims, etc.), 48.8% of respondents would not object to such a marriage.

- 12.3% of respondents believe that a girl should be allowed to go to school with her head covered if her parents want it; 35.6% - should be allowed if it is her conscious choice; 44.5% - should not be allowed to go to school with head covered.

- A majority of respondents could not name any popular or authoritative, for them, religious leader. 65% of respondents stated there is no religious authoritative figure and  27.5% - that there is such a leader. The leaders named were: Sheykh-ul-Islam Pasha-zadeh - 2.4% (that is, he was named only by 24 respondents from 1000), T.R. Erdogan (Turkish Prime Minister) - 1.2%; Ali Khamenei (religious Leader of Iran) - 1.2%; Ayatollah Khomeini - 0.9%; Ali Sistani (Grand Ayatollah of Shia people, Iraq) - 05%; Haji Sabir (Deputy Sheikh-ul-Islam) - 0.4%; Abdullah Gul (President of Turkey) - 0.3%; Patriarch Kirill (the head of the Orthodox Church of Russia) - 0.2%; My husband - 0.2%; other religious leaders were named by less than 0.2% of the votes - smaller than the statistical error.

- The political potential of Islamic politics in elections (in fair elections) is measured by us for the first time and it seems to us significant: 20% of respondents in the parliamentary or presidential elections would vote for a hypothetical Islamist candidate, 65.5% - for a hypothetical secular candidate.

- 30.5% of the respondents condemned the arrests of religious activists as fabricated cases; 18.1% - approve these arrests, believing that Islamists are a threat to the country's secular system; 40.1% - this is not my business.

- The vast majority of respondents condemn the insults of Islamic holy symbols. To those responsible for insulting Islamic holy symbols - violence can be used - 35.4%; should be punished by law - 29.8%; should be subjected to ostracism (public censure) without using force - 13.6%; no need to respond, Allah will punish them himself - 17.6 %; they  should not be punished at all because no one is obliged to respect other people's holy symbols - 1.3%.

- Azerbaijan goes West. Azerbaijan would get the best development in collaboration with the countries of European Union and the United States - 41.9%; with Russia and the CIS countries - 26.7%; the Islamic world - 17.4%

(Survey from 2011 among the country's youth: cooperation with EU and the U.S. - 42% (2010 - 40%; 2009 - 42%), with Russia and the CIS countries - 17.5% (2010 - 41%; 2009 - 44%), the Islamic world - 12% (2010 - 8%; 2009 - 8 %)).

- The most friendly countries - Turkey. Russia is more popular than the USA. France is not popular at all. Friendly countries: Turkey - 80.7%; Russia - 39.3%; Georgia - 26.6%; Ukraine - 16.4%; Iran - 8.1 %; USA - 7.9%; Pakistan - 5.5% United Kingdom - 4.9%; Germany - 2.8%; China - 0.5%; France - 0.1% (just one respondent named France).

- Most unfriendly countries - Armenia 97.7%; Iran - 32.9%; France - 25.5%; USA - 20.5%; Russia - 13.8%; Israel - 7.0%; Georgia - 2.3%; Great Britain - 0.7%; Vatican - 0.3%; Turkey - 0.2%.

- Society is concerned about the Iranian nuclear project: An Iranian nuclear bomb would be a big threat for Azerbaijan - 56.2%; will be not a big threat to us - 22.2%; will not be a threat for us at all - 11.9%.

- Protest sentiments in society are at a significant level: Protests carried out in our country in support of civil rights, supported by 60% of respondents; 10% - condemned the protests; it's not my business - 25.4%.

- Democratic public attitudes prevail: Azerbaijan needs to strengthen state power - 33.6%; the government should be put under the control of society - 53.3%.-02D-