Arif Yunus: without democracy, Azerbaijan will always have a threat of extremism

A threat of religious extremism will always endanger Azerbaijan, unless the country establishes genuine democracy, asserts Arif Yunus, head of the Department of Conflictology and Migration of the Institute of Peace and Democracy.

The expert has shared this opinion in his interview to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, while making comments on the religious situation in Azerbaijan after explosion on August 17 of a grenade in Mosque "Abu-Bekr" in Baku.

With suppression of democracy, protest spirits do not disappear, they get underground, find other ideological forms and are subsequently manifested in the form of religious radicalism, Mr Yunus believes. By persecuting democratic opposition, the authorities in fact eliminate their ally, since the democratic opposition rejects any violent methods of political struggle.

Arif Yunus was critical in assessing the actions of the authorities in fighting radical Islam. In his opinion, such violent methods like ban on Friday namaz in mosque yards and forced shaving beards can have a boomerang effect. "For a believer, a forced shaving of his beard is equivalent to a rape," said Mr Yunus.

Khikmet Gadjizade, head of the FAR CENTRE for Political and Economic Studies, also believes that a threat of religious extremism is present in Azerbaijan. In Mr Gadjizade's opinion, "the threat of extremism can evolve not only from radical Wahhabites but also from Shiite groups supported by Iran."

Ilgar Ibragimoglu, coordinator of the Centre for Defence of Freedom of Conscience and Religion, also thinks that violent actions of the police against believers are unacceptable. In his opinion, the law enforcement bodies should make responsible those particular persons, whose guilt of participating in illegal actions has been proved. Detentions of believers, moreover, shaving beards, are violations of human rights, the human rights activist has noted.

However, meanwhile, no mass protests on the part of believers have been registered in the country. Many of them, being afraid of repressions, prefer not to advertise the religiousness. Nevertheless, in private conversations with the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent members of the religious community of Mosque "Abu-Bekr" stated that the actions of the authorities are unfair.