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OnIslam.net
June 4 2011
Israel Ties Anger Azeri Muslims .
BAKU - Azerbaijan's Muslims are growing angry with expanding
cooperation between their country and Israel at a time their secular
government is stifling their faith.
"Azerbaijan's friendship with such a country is unacceptable," Akif
Geydarli of the banned Islamic Party told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Relations between energy-rich Azerbaijan and Israel have been growing
in recent years.
While Israel benefits from energy resources in Azerbaijan, Baku
imports weapons and military technology from the Jewish state.
Trade turnover between the two countries last year amounted to $1.8 billion.
According to Israeli media, Baku has bought hundreds of millions of
dollars' worth of battlefield hardware, military communications
technology and unmanned drones.
"Each country finds it easy to identify with the other's geo-political
difficulties," said a diplomatic cable from the US embassy in Baku
published by WikiLeaks.
Geydarli complained that while the Azeri government is boosting
cooperation with Israel and funds the construction of new synagogues,
it closes mosques and prohibits the wearing of hijab at schools.
Last year, the government has ordered all state employees to remove
Islam-related symbols -- like Qur'anic verses -- from their offices.
The government also mandates that all religious groups align their
teachings with the spiritual authority of the Caucasus Board of
Muslims (CBM), a state-backed board of scholars which controls mosques
in the country.
But the most significant evidence on the government's campaign against
the Muslim faith, activists affirm, is the closure and demolition of
mosques.
Two mosques that authorities said were built illegally were demolished
last year and at least two others in Baku have been closed.
The secular government also introduced a standard school uniform which
precludes the wearing of hijab, an obligatory Muslim code of dress,
angering many Muslims who had taken to the streets in protest.
Muslims, mostly Shiite, make up more than 93 percent of the former
Soviet republic's population of 8.3 million people.
The rest of the population adheres to other faiths or are non-religious.
Israeli Image
Analysts believe that Israel's relations with Azerbaijan are part of
the Jewish state's efforts to improve its image.
"Israel is in need of friendly relations with Muslim countries," said
Elhan Shainoglu, director of the Baku-based Atlas political research
centre.
He said that Israel also backs Azerbaijan over the issue of Nagorny Karabakh.
Azerbaijan is engaged in a conflict with Armenia over the region of
Nagorny Karabakh.
President Ilham Aliyev has vowed to win back control over Karabakh --
by force if necessary -- from the ethnic Armenian separatists who
seized it during a war in the 1990s that killed an estimated 30,000
people.
"Unlike in Europe, there has been no suppression of Jews in
Azerbaijan's history, while Israel has always supported Azerbaijan's
territorial integrity," Shainoglu said.
Some analysts suggest however that the lack of overt prejudice is
partly because the country's Jewish population is so small as to be
virtually invisible.
Tens of thousands of Azeri Jews emigrated to Israel after independence
in 1991 and only around 30,000 remain in the ex-Soviet state.
While Azerbaijan does not have an embassy in Israel, the Jewish state
has an embassy in Baku and was one of the first to recognize the
country's independence.
Many Azeri Muslims, however, want their government to shut the Israeli
embassy in an act of solidarity with the Palestinians.
"We have always said that the regime in Israel is not only against
Muslims but against all of humanity," Geydarli said.
http://www.onislam.net/english/news/europe/452531-israel-ties-anger-azeri-muslims.html
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
June 4 2011
Israel Ties Anger Azeri Muslims .
BAKU - Azerbaijan's Muslims are growing angry with expanding
cooperation between their country and Israel at a time their secular
government is stifling their faith.
"Azerbaijan's friendship with such a country is unacceptable," Akif
Geydarli of the banned Islamic Party told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Relations between energy-rich Azerbaijan and Israel have been growing
in recent years.
While Israel benefits from energy resources in Azerbaijan, Baku
imports weapons and military technology from the Jewish state.
Trade turnover between the two countries last year amounted to $1.8 billion.
According to Israeli media, Baku has bought hundreds of millions of
dollars' worth of battlefield hardware, military communications
technology and unmanned drones.
"Each country finds it easy to identify with the other's geo-political
difficulties," said a diplomatic cable from the US embassy in Baku
published by WikiLeaks.
Geydarli complained that while the Azeri government is boosting
cooperation with Israel and funds the construction of new synagogues,
it closes mosques and prohibits the wearing of hijab at schools.
Last year, the government has ordered all state employees to remove
Islam-related symbols -- like Qur'anic verses -- from their offices.
The government also mandates that all religious groups align their
teachings with the spiritual authority of the Caucasus Board of
Muslims (CBM), a state-backed board of scholars which controls mosques
in the country.
But the most significant evidence on the government's campaign against
the Muslim faith, activists affirm, is the closure and demolition of
mosques.
Two mosques that authorities said were built illegally were demolished
last year and at least two others in Baku have been closed.
The secular government also introduced a standard school uniform which
precludes the wearing of hijab, an obligatory Muslim code of dress,
angering many Muslims who had taken to the streets in protest.
Muslims, mostly Shiite, make up more than 93 percent of the former
Soviet republic's population of 8.3 million people.
The rest of the population adheres to other faiths or are non-religious.
Israeli Image
Analysts believe that Israel's relations with Azerbaijan are part of
the Jewish state's efforts to improve its image.
"Israel is in need of friendly relations with Muslim countries," said
Elhan Shainoglu, director of the Baku-based Atlas political research
centre.
He said that Israel also backs Azerbaijan over the issue of Nagorny Karabakh.
Azerbaijan is engaged in a conflict with Armenia over the region of
Nagorny Karabakh.
President Ilham Aliyev has vowed to win back control over Karabakh --
by force if necessary -- from the ethnic Armenian separatists who
seized it during a war in the 1990s that killed an estimated 30,000
people.
"Unlike in Europe, there has been no suppression of Jews in
Azerbaijan's history, while Israel has always supported Azerbaijan's
territorial integrity," Shainoglu said.
Some analysts suggest however that the lack of overt prejudice is
partly because the country's Jewish population is so small as to be
virtually invisible.
Tens of thousands of Azeri Jews emigrated to Israel after independence
in 1991 and only around 30,000 remain in the ex-Soviet state.
While Azerbaijan does not have an embassy in Israel, the Jewish state
has an embassy in Baku and was one of the first to recognize the
country's independence.
Many Azeri Muslims, however, want their government to shut the Israeli
embassy in an act of solidarity with the Palestinians.
"We have always said that the regime in Israel is not only against
Muslims but against all of humanity," Geydarli said.
http://www.onislam.net/english/news/europe/452531-israel-ties-anger-azeri-muslims.html
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress