The recent unfortunate events that took place in Nardaran have created a basis for reviewing the existing law on the freedom of religion. According to the new amendment, the people who have received religious education abroad will be prohibited from conducting religious rituals and ceremonies. At the same time, it will be made illegal to hang religious flags, attributes and slogans outside of religious facilities. According to the bill, the individuals who have received religious training abroad will face fines from two thousands manat up to five thousands manat or up to one year in prison for conducting religious rituals and ceremonies. Foreigners or stateless individuals who disseminate religious propaganda will face prison sentence of one to two years. If these acts are committed repeatedly, or they are committed by an organized group or by a group of individuals with prior agreement, they will face a prison sentence of two to five years.
But will this new law prevent the negative incidents completely, if passed? The deputies that we interviewed on the subject think that, after the new bill comes to force, the said bill will completely restrict the malicious activities of the individuals who have received religious education abroad and they will not be able to stage another incident such as Nardaran.
In his interview with "Kaspi", the MP Hikmet Babaogly stated that there were plenty of well designed laws about the freedom of religion in the country. But the government's insistence to uphold the humanist principles partially led to such undesirable events: "The law entitled "On the freedom of religion" was one of the most important laws during the time it was adopted. Unfortunately, the events happening on global, international scale mostly threaten the Middle East and the Islamic world. We witnessed the political figures manipulate the people under the guise of Islam during these processes. Thus, it is important to renew and make necessary amendments to the existing law on the freedom of religion. Everyone witnessed those negative incidents that happened in our country. The state definitely had to prevent this. And it did. From now on, such things will not be allowed to happen. "
According to H. Babaoglu, certain individuals essentially attempted to commit a terrorist act under the guise of religion in our country: "A group of extremist forces wanted to spread their evil deeds to the innocent villagers. Timely intervention and operations that were conducted prevented the escalation of the problem and saved the country from terror. The course of events showed that the changes to the law was inevitable. Otherwise, the malicious ideas that were being spread in the country and the foreign impulses that were trying to harm the faith of people could be a threat to our statehood. They will not be able to cause such problems among our people. In time, everyone will see the effectiveness of the new law. Because, the regulation of relations between the state and the citizens will be better organized from legal point of view. In addition, we will be able to prevent external interventions. As it is easier to offend someone's dignity, the foreigners try to interfere in our government from religious platform. The new amendments will be effective in preventing these things from occurring.
MP Faraj Guliyev also said that the recent events in Nardaran necessitated the reviewing of the law. He stated that, due to certain individuals' taking advantage of the government's tolerant approach, a tougher approach should be adopted. " After the Nardaran events, we saw that many serious things have been carried out under the guise of religion in this village. Unfortunately, these are not good things. Radical extremist groups operating in the village were attempting to jeopardize our sovereignty, as well as keeping the inhabitants of the village under constant fear. As we know, they intended to carry out terrorist acts. Look at Nardaran's neighboring villages. We don't observe the similar events in those villages. They adhere to their religion and quietly carry out their religious rituals. No one is harmed by this. But the external forces that came to Nardaran from abroad was a direct threat to our statehood. Has the government ever touched a person whose belief was not harmful to anyone? Of course, not. But the situation has changed now. A certain group who had been trained by foreign intelligence agencies were trying to foster separatism and confusion in Azerbaijan under the guise of religion. Such things cause certain individuals to lose respect for religion. There must be no sectarianism and generally, religion should not interfere with the affairs of the state. That's why we have to make certain changes to the law to ensure that the genuinely religious people can freely practice their religion and the religion should not be abused. I am sure that we will see the positive outcomes of the new rules. Under the new law, they will not be able to set people against each other, in the name of religion. Religion should serve the moral purity and spirituality. Islam is the religion of peace and reconciliation. So, there clearly was a need for such an amendment and it will protect people from foreign groups. "
MP Musa Gasimli stated that he also supported passing new laws. He reminded that, foreign nationals and stateless individuals had clear goals in mind when disseminating religious propaganda in Azerbaijan: " They want to weaken our state and split up the religious unity of our people. As these actions are completely against our national interests, they should be ruthlessly prevented. Can you tell me whether any Azerbaijani citizen can spread religious propaganda abroad? They would immediately be held accountable for their actions. I consider the change to be necessary. It will not restrict the religious freedoms. It will only prevent the extremist acts. A new law had to be adopted in regard to this matter. We are an independent country. Foreign nationals and stateless individuals should abide by our laws. Otherwise, they will have to answer before law. I think it is not necessarily to make a lot of noise about this. "
Shafa Tapdiq
