Azernews.Az

Ulviyya Poladova

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The latest report published by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom regarding Azerbaijan raises serious questions about the objectivity, balance, and political motivations behind certain international assessments presented under the banner of human rights advocacy.

Any serious assessment needs to account for both the normative claims of international monitors and the historical-social texture of Azerbaijan’s pluralism. Reducing the country to a single storyline misses how Azerbaijan’s experience actually works.

The framing that portrays Azerbaijan as intrinsically hostile to religion is analytically thin.

Long before "multiculturalism" became a policy term, religious diversity in Azerbaijan was an everyday fact. Shi'a and Sunni Muslims have shared public and private religious spaces, and Jewish, Christian, and other communities have maintained institutions and cultural life. The most vivid emblem is Red Village (Krasnaya Sloboda) in Quba - one of the world’s few all-Jewish towns outside Israel. For centuries, Mountain Jews there sustained synagogues, schools, and communal structures alongside Muslim and Christian neighbors.

The report’s language appears particularly problematic due to its reliance on politically charged allegations, opposition-linked narratives, and unverified claims presented as established facts. Many of the accusations included in the document ignore the broader regional security context, including Azerbaijan’s struggle against radical extremism, separatism, and post-conflict instability following decades of occupation and war.

Equally concerning is the report’s attempt to portray Azerbaijan’s regulation of religious organizations as inherently repressive, despite the fact that many countries maintain legal frameworks governing religious activities, registration procedures, and foreign missionary operations for reasons related to public order and national security.

The document also demonstrates clear double standards in its treatment of regional issues.

Earlier, the UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, stated during a meeting with the Chairman of the Caucasus Muslims Office, Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazadeh, that he expressed satisfaction with the high level of cooperation between the UN Alliance of Civilizations, Azerbaijan, and the Caucasus Muslims Office as a religious center.

Recalling his mandate to combat Islamophobia, he noted Azerbaijan’s active role in this field and suggested ideas for organizing joint conferences in the future.

Religious diversity in Azerbaijan is deeply rooted in its history. Islam became the dominant religion from the early medieval period, but it never eliminated other traditions.

Within Islam itself, Azerbaijan developed a particularly notable balance between Shi'a and Sunni traditions. Today, a majority of the population identifies as Shi'a Muslim, while a significant minority identifies as Sunni. In many regions, these differences have at times contributed to tension or conflict. However, in Azerbaijan, such divisions are generally not a defining feature of public or private religious practice.

The government of Azerbaijan has consistently emphasized religious tolerance and multicultural coexistence as part of its state policy. Religious institutions of various denominations receive state attention and, in some cases, financial and infrastructural support. Since the early 2000s, numerous mosques and religious-cultural sites have been restored or constructed across the country. Among them are historically significant landmarks such as the Bibi-Heybat Mosque, the Taza Pir Mosque, and the Azhdarbey Mosque, as well as the religious and cultural complex of Imamzade.

In the 21st century, Azerbaijan has actively promoted the concept of multiculturalism as part of its national identity and international branding. This approach presents the country as a model of interfaith coexistence in a region often associated with ethno-religious conflict.

State discourse emphasizes tolerance, coexistence, and historical pluralism. Government-sponsored initiatives support interfaith dialogue, cultural festivals, and cooperation between religious communities. The idea is that Azerbaijan’s diversity is not merely tolerated but institutionally recognized as part of national identity.

Azerbaijan’s reputation for interfaith harmony is not a public-relations veneer; it is a strategic asset rooted in historical practice. When a society’s baseline is everyday tolerance, incremental legal improvement can have outsized effect - because it amplifies, rather than invents, the underlying social compact. Conversely, rhetoric that ignores this heritage risks alienating constituencies who see diversity not as an external demand but as a native inheritance.

In sum, it is fair to critique specific legal and procedural choices. It is not fair to extrapolate from those critiques to a blanket indictment that erases Azerbaijan’s distinctive, resilient model of pluralism. The country’s "initial diversity" seeded a system of relations that modern policy has tried to codify. At a time when parts of Europe announced disenchantment with multiculturalism, Azerbaijan moved to elevate it to state policy - aligning political architecture with a centuries-old social reality.