Seventh-day Adventist leaders in Azerbaijan say church members will continue to meet together and worship despite a call from the country's secret service chief for non-Muslim religious groups to scale back their activities.
Seventh-day Adventist leaders in Azerbaijan say church members will continue to meet together and worship despite a call from the country’s secret service chief for non-Muslim religious groups to scale back their activities.
In a newspaper article published October 16 National Security Minister Namig Abbassov said Roman Catholics, Hare Krishnas, Baptists, and Adventists are “foreign” religions, whose “activities are absolutely not needed by the people of Azerbaijan.” These organizations should “severely restrict their activities, or even better, stop them altogether,” he is quoted as saying.
Abbassov cited a “heightened risk of terrorism” as a reason why he could not guarantee the safety of foreign religious groups in Azerbaijan. He also claimed some groups were fronts for foreign intelligence organizations.
Ivan Zavrichko, Adventist Church coordinator in Azerbaijan, says Abbassov’s comments reflect the views of some but not all of the country’s political leaders. While a number of leaders have argued that nontraditional churches, including Adventists, “undermine the statehood of Azerbaijan,” others have spoken in favor of Adventists, he explains.
“In spite of all these declarations by the national security advisor, Adventists continue to worship,” says Zavrichko. “The church has not ceased its activities.”
No one has officially prevented Protestant churches from operating in the past month, says Valery Ivanov, communication director for the Adventist Church in Euro-Asia. According to Ivanov, “Some nationalistic officials have taken advantage of the current world situation to harass small religious groups and inspire anti-Christian hysteria.” Although the atmosphere in Azerbaijan is tense, adds Ivanov, it is important to remember that not all officials and citizens share the same opinion.
Azerbaijan, located between Iran and Russia, is a predominantly Muslim country, with only three percent of its population claiming affiliation with a Christian church. International human rights organizations say although Azerbaijan’s constitution upholds the right of all people to choose and practice their religion, members of minority religions continue to report instances of government harassment, ranging from denial of church registration to detention and questioning of members by local police.
