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  • Blasphemy Row Inflames Azerbaijan

    BLASPHEMY ROW INFLAMES AZERBAIJAN
    By Kenan Guluzade in Nardaran

    Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
    Nov 30 2006

    Islamists say journalist who allegedly impugned Islam deserves to die.

    For the past three weeks, residents of the village of Nardaran,
    close to Baku, have been demonstrating every Friday to demand severe
    punishment of Azerbaijani journalist Rafik Taghi, who is accused of
    having insulted the Prophet Mohammed in an article published by the
    little-known Azerbaijani newspaper, Senet.

    The case of the journalist, who is now serving a two-month prison
    sentence, demonstrates that Islamic sentiment is strong in Azerbaijan
    and has complicated relations with Azerbaijan's southern neighbour,
    the Islamic Republic of Iran.

    Nardaran, a village with strong Islamic traditions, has been leading
    the protests. On November 17, Haji Ali, one of the leaders of the
    local religious community, summoned crowds by striking a stone against
    a pillar in Imam Husein square in the centre of the village.

    Teenagers, who had climbed on a wall, joined him, banging iron rods
    against a gas pipe. This noisy call to action reverberated through
    the village.

    By three o'clock, the square was teeming with devout believers,
    who form an overwhelming majority in the village. "Last week we, the
    residents of Nardaran, condemned Rafik Taghi and the editor-in-chief
    of the newspaper", said Haji Ali, beginning his speech. "Our religion
    knows only one punishment for such people, which is execution. This
    is not our decision, this is what our holy book prescribes. The
    authorities sentenced the journalists to two weeks in custody. But
    that is not enough!"

    Nardaran became famous after bloody clashes between its residents and
    police in 2002. (See Azerbaijan: Rebel Village Remains Defiant, CRS
    133, June 13, 2002). Since then, the village has become a stronghold
    for Shia Islamists opposed to the government. All walls on its narrow
    streets are covered with religious inscriptions, and locals are keen
    to vent their anger against the authorities in Baku.

    The latest row began at the beginning of this month, when Senet
    (Trade), a Baku-based bimonthly with a circulation of 2000 copies,
    published an article by Taghi entitled "Europe and us". The author
    criticised Azerbaijanis' lifestyle and made some remarks about the
    Prophet Mohammed, which many of the country's Muslims interpreted as
    insulting. Whether Nardaran's residents had heard about Senet before,
    the controversy around the article found its way into the village,
    causing a storm of outrage that believers from surrounding villages
    were quick to support.

    Protesters carried banners with religious inscriptions and placards
    saying "Death to Israel!" All speeches were met with a loud "Allahu
    Akbar!" Guests from other villages spoke out to express their support
    for Nardaran. American and Israel flags were brought to the square
    just to be tramped on and burnt.

    "We declare that if these people are not sentenced to life
    imprisonment, we will take measures to punish them by ourselves,"
    said Haji Ali. "It's a pity that there's no death penalty in our
    country. We are told that their houses are being guarded, but let them
    hear us vow - Muslims never take vengeance on women and children. No
    one will touch their families. We've heard that Rafik Taghi's family
    members have asked Denmark for political asylum, but no matter how
    things turn out nothing bad is going to happen to them.

    Rafik Taghi is the only one we want to have punished."

    As well as being a journalist and publicist, Taghi is also
    a professional cardiologist. He is well known for voicing ideas
    against the current of general public opinion. In other articles,
    he has made scathing comments about Azerbaijan's national poet Samed
    Vurgun, chairman of the Writers Union Anar and other famous people.

    Taghi and his editor Samir Sadagatoglu were arrested in mid-November
    and sentenced to two months in jail for kindling religious intolerance.

    However, the villagers of Nardaran rejected the verdict and are
    continuing their protests, demanding that the two journalists be
    punished with a life sentence at least, burning US and Israel flags
    and calling for "an end to all supporters of world Zionism".

    Hajiaga Nuriev, one of the village's elders and chairman of
    Azerbaijan's Islamic Party, suggested Taghi was part of a wider
    conspiracy. "Both domestic and foreign forces have an interest in
    this," he said. "We think that people such as Rafik Taghi are acting on
    behalf of international Zionism and Armenia, and they have deliberately
    damaged Azerbaijan's credibility with its brothers-in-faith.

    "In this situation, the residents of Nardaran could not have acted
    otherwise...to the enemies of Islam... who discredited Azerbaijan in
    the eyes of the world. This blasphemy ought to be punished."

    Hajiaga said through their rejection of the court's sentence, the
    people of Naradaran had rescued the country's reputation as chairman
    of the Organization of the Islamic Conference and showed to the world
    that the Muslims of Azerbaijan were angered by the Senet article.

    The affair has also triggered protests in Iran. APA news agency
    reported that around 50 people demonstrated in front of the Azerbaijani
    embassy in Tehran on November 19 to protest against the "humiliating"
    article. The Iranian TV-channel Seher aired calls for the overthrow
    of Azerbaijan's "anti-Islamic" government.

    Then news reports said that the Iranian ayatollah Morteza Bani Fazl
    had offered his own home as a reward for the head of the Azerbaijani
    journalist, who had "insulted" the founder of Islam. "I will give
    my house as a reward to anyone, who kills this Azerbaijani author,
    who insulted the Prophet Mohammed," said the mullah who lives in the
    city of Tebriz in the northwest of Iran, which has a large Azerbaijani
    population.

    The row is likely to strain further Azerbaijani-Iranian relations.

    Political analyst Boyukaga Agayev, who is director of the South
    Caucasus research centre, said, "The relations between Azerbaijan and
    Iran cannot be described as friendly." He noted that the two countries
    already stand on opposite sides of many disputes, from the status of
    the Caspian Sea to relations with the US and Israel.

    Vugar Aliev, press secretary for the Azerbaijani prosecutor general's
    office, said, "We live in a constitutional state, and all issues should
    be solved in accordance with the law. What happened in Nardaran is
    a protest reaction to what these people did. But the law-enforcement
    bodies have already taken appropriate actions, and these harsh calls
    with regard to the two journalists are unacceptable. The police
    responded in a timely fashion and there remains no danger of any
    civilians undertaking any illegal actions against them."

    Eldar Zeynalov, director of the Human Rights Centre of Azerbaijan,
    commented, "The situation is of the soviet-time kind - 'I have not
    read it, but I do condemn it!'"

    Kenan Guluzade is editor of Zerkalo newspaper in Baku
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