Religious threat to Azerbaijan is represented by five states: Iran, Turkey, Russia, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Trend reports quoting Professor Rafik Aliyev, head of State Committee for work with religious structures, speaking June 21 at the presentation of В"Strengthening capabilities of civil society for counteraction to VICH-AIDSВ" project.
He said the basic condition for counteracting this threat is tolerance. Alongside, he said, Azerbaijan is a secular state according to the Constitution. Involvement of religious communities representatives to the country public life is important and necessary. В"Azerbaijan serves an example of religious tolerance to the entire worldВ". He also said special tools for secularization are devised in Azerbaijan. This work is performed under direct supervision of Azeri President Ilham Aliyev.
In turn, UN Resident-Coordinator Marco Borsotti also considered outside religious threat the most concerning factor in Azerbaijan religious life. В"Thanks to the tolerance in Azerbaijan, I believe the public will manage to mitigate such a threatВ", - he concluded.