Presentation of the Book "The Islamic factor in Azerbaijan"

A presentation of the new book "The Islamic factor in Azerbaijan"  by Azerbaijani researcher and head of department of the Institute of Peace and Democracy, Arif Yunus, was held at the Foreign Press Center.

500 copies of the book, which is 270 pages long, is published by the Adiloglu publishing house.

Yunus told the audience that his first book on Islam in Azerbaijan was written in 2004. It predicted the rise of the Islamic factor and its politicization in Azerbaijan.

The next book in this series was produced in 2011, however, after demolition of the IPD office the book was lost and it was not possible to publish until 2012.

In the preparation of this book, a survey was conducted among 1,000 respondents in five regions of the country. In addition, interviews were conducted with believers in various regions of Azerbaijan, benefitting from the media and the Internet. At present, Azerbaijan has about 60 online resources that can be considered a source of religious information.

In addition, as in Egypt, Turkey and other Muslim countries, the debate on the topic of religious-secular relations are conducted in the online forums.

As the source of the information the research also used sites of Azerbaijani believers who are fighting in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Used as materials were trials of believers.

Yunus said there is complexity in determining the exact number of convicted believers, but according to his research between 2004-2012, 562 believers were detained, of whom 296 were arrested. However, the exact number of those currently held in prisons is difficult to count.

70% of those arrested are Sunni Salafites and 30% are Shiites.

13% were arrested for taking part in operations in other countries.

Referring to the religious policy of the state, Yunus said that the authorities want to keep the situation under control, which is done by means of repression.

As a result, total control is limited to the activities of religious communities. On the other hand, official Baku wants to intimidate the West with the religious factor to justify the repression of political opponents.

An opinion has formed that if the West does not support the current government, then an alternative will be the Islamic regime.

Yunus believes that in the short-term the victory of political Islam in Azerbaijan is not possible, but after 20-25 years, the rise to power of Islamists may be real. -05C06-