BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 12. Chairmen of religious confessions acting in Azerbaijan sent an appeal to the US Department of State, Trend reports.
The appeal reads: "We, members of the Advisory Council of Heads of Religious Denominations operating in Azerbaijan, strongly condemn the decision of the U.S. State Department to place our country on the "Special Watch List" in connection with religious freedom in 2023. Referring to the report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), we consider this approach to be unobjectionable and biased. The purpose of our protest is to express an objective position, taking into account the realities of Azerbaijan.
While we expect from the international community humanitarian and moral support for the construction and reconstruction works being carried out in Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur, liberated from occupation, as well as for the process of returning the IDPs to their native lands and homes, we are confronted with such biased statements based on unfounded, untrue, and slanderous statements of revanchist Armenian circles. We consider this to be an injustice.
Regrettably, after the next application of the 907th Amendment by the US Congress to Azerbaijan, which restored its territorial integrity recognized by the world community within the framework of international law, a biased report on religion and the list appeared on the agenda. It is noteworthy why a comparable report for 2022 noted positive tendencies towards Azerbaijan, but in 2023, for some reason, felt it necessary to include Azerbaijan in some dubious list? It is obvious that Azerbaijan's triumphs, the raising of our national flag in Khankandi, and the independent policy of our country cause concern for certain groups.
We unequivocally declare that there are no problems in the religious and spiritual life of Azerbaijan or in relations between the state and religion. Despite the allegations reflected in the report, Azerbaijan, being a secular state and respecting its legal and democratic national spiritual values, creates all the conditions for the normal activity of religious communities.
Multiculturalism is part of the state policy in Azerbaijan; we are represented and involved in the social life of the country without any distinction on national, religious, or racial grounds. All religious confessions and communities operating in the country are annually allocated appropriate material aid by the state, and we freely perform religious services and rites. The Head of State pays special attention to our celebrations and ceremonies, and our representatives jointly take part in various events held in the republic and abroad.
As for places of religious worship, churches and synagogues have been repaired and new ones built in our country in the last few years during the period of independence, along with historical mosques and sanctuaries. Dozens of historical-religious monuments in regions of our country and abroad have been restored and reconstructed within the project "Address of Tolerance: Azerbaijan," realized by Heydar Aliyev Foundation.
It is worth noting that the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, in its 2022 report, confirmed the presence of 403 historical and religious monuments in the territories once under Armenian occupation, the complete destruction of 63 mosques out of 67, and the partial destruction and disrepair of four of them.
After almost 30 years in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, along with mosques, Christian temples, and ancient Caucasian Albanian churches, they were Gregorianized, and the Orthodox Church in Khojavand was destroyed. It is strange that the State Department did not condemn Armenia, which committed these acts of vandalism and kept native Azerbaijani lands under occupation for 30 years, nor did it blacklist it. The 2022 report noted that Azerbaijan has repeatedly called at the international level, including at the UN General Assembly, for a legal assessment of the acts of vandalism committed by Armenia against Azerbaijan over the decades to support an independent, transparent evaluation and advisory mission of UNESCO on the preservation of cultural heritage in the region, but neither UNESCO nor the Commission on International Religious Freedom has yet responded to these proposals.
One more issue of concern to us is that the report for 2023 expresses doubts about the preservation of Armenian religious monuments. While our territories were occupied by Armenia during the war and to this day, the Armenian church in the central square of Baku is under state protection. Even in 2010, the Armenian Catholicos personally visited it and held a service there, familiarizing themselves with the library at the church. For the sake of objectivity, we would advise the US authorities to study the facts of the destruction of religious monuments historically belonging to Azerbaijanis in Armenia. A state claiming to be a mediator in the conclusion of a peace treaty should be impartial in its approach to issues.
We would like to inform the authors of the report that in order to observe the inter-religious environment and religious situation in Azerbaijan, it is essential to attend daily events held on the ground, familiarize oneself with the life and activities of religious confessions, and travel to the territories liberated from occupation. We are confident that if the American diplomats had also participated in numerous trips of representatives of the diplomatic corps to Shusha and other cities, they would be convinced of the care with which Christian churches and temples of other religions are being restored along with mosques, and those facts would be reflected in the reports of American diplomats. Exploring Azerbaijan not through satellites but through friendly visits would ensure an objective attitude free from the influence of Armenian slander.
The statement of the US Secretary of State is a result of the propaganda of anti-Azerbaijani lobbyists interested in discrediting Azerbaijan, the creation of its negative image in the international political and public sphere, as well as Armenian revanchists, and it undermines the activities to restore peace in the region.
It is an obvious fact that since Azerbaijan liberated its ancestral lands from occupation in 2020 and restored full sovereignty over its legitimate territory in 2023, the Armenian church leaders are on the front lines of revanchism, actively promoting ethnic intolerance through hate speech, and supporting aggressive separatism. Instead of calling their people to peace, Armenian religious leaders urge new wars and the occupation of other people's territories, which contradict fundamental human rights and freedoms, international law, and religious values.
We consider unethical and groundless the allegations mentioned in the report about religious discrimination in our country, including the presentation of fictitious "statistics" that do not reflect reality, referring to the reports of various foreign and international organizations. We strongly condemn the fact that pro-Armenian forces and circles actively using the religious factor are attacking Azerbaijan, known for its atmosphere of inter-religious harmony, multicultural way of life, and values of tolerance, and call for an end to these manipulations.
We firmly reject the US State Department's decision to include Azerbaijan in 2024 on a special list of countries where violations of religious freedom occur.".