BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 11. According to a report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, "the Muslim community was registered in 2023, while Christian communities were not," due to restrictions and problems with state registration of religious communities, particularly Christian religious communities, Deputy Chairman of the State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations Siyavush Heydarov told Trend.
He made a statement in connection with the report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom on Azerbaijan dated December 5, 2023.
"I officially state that only Muslim communities applied to the state committee for registration during this year, of which two were registered," he said.
He noted that it is illogical, to put it mildly, to accuse Azerbaijan of applying restrictions or discriminating only because of the lack of appeals from non-Muslim communities.
"Communities of less than 50 persons can also discharge religious tasks, but these groups do not have the status of a religious entity or legal person. By the way, I'd like to highlight how unfortunate it is that the requirement of 50 founders to establish communities is frequently cited as a "restriction of rights and freedom in Azerbaijan"," Heydarov noted.
"According to a report by the US Department of State's Office of International Religious Freedom, this practice is used in many countries around the world, including Croatia (500 people), Romania (300 people), Serbia (100 people), Greece (300 people), Bosnia and Herzegovina (30 people), and Armenia (200 people), and we consider the inflaming of this issue solely on the example of Azerbaijan as discrimination," Heydarov added.
He also said that at the same time, Christian communities that were unable to meet the law's threshold for the number of community members were advised to join registered communities of their co-religionists.