AZERBAIJAN: Country Dossier January 2019 Open Doors International / World Watch Research Unit January 2019 [email protected] www.opendoorsanalytical.org This version has been prepared by Open Doors Norway AZERBAIJAN – WWR Country Dossier – January 2019 World Watch List 2019 1 AZERBAIJAN – WWR Country Dossier – January 2019 AZERBAIJAN – Country Dossier (January 2019) No copyright - This report is the property of World Watch Research (WWR), the research department of Open Doors International. It may be used and distributed free of charge, but please always acknowledge WWR as the source. Contents World Watch List 2019 ............................................................................................................... 1 AZERBAIJAN – Country Dossier (January 2019) ....................................................................... 2 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 4 WWL 2019: Keys to understanding Azerbaijan ........................................................................ 5 Link for general background information ................................................................................. 5 Recent country history .............................................................................................................. 5 The religious landscape ............................................................................................................. 5 The political landscape .............................................................................................................. 6 The socio-economic landscape ................................................................................................. 7 Concluding remarks .................................................................................................................. 8 External Links - WWL 2019: Keys to understanding AZerbaijan ................................................ 9 WWL 2019: Church History and Facts ..................................................................................... 10 How many Christians? ............................................................................................................. 10 How did Christians get there? ................................................................................................. 10 What church networks eXist today? ....................................................................................... 10 Religious context ..................................................................................................................... 11 Notes on the current situation ................................................................................................ 12 External Links - WWL 2019: Church History and Facts ............................................................ 12 WWL 2019: Short & Simple Persecution Profile ..................................................................... 14 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 14 What type of persecution dominates? ................................................................................... 14 Who is driving persecution? ................................................................................................... 14 What it results in ..................................................................................................................... 14 Violence .................................................................................................................................. 14 Examples of specific persecution in the reporting period ...................................................... 15 External Links - WWL 2019: Short & Simple Persecution Profile ............................................ 15 WWL 2019: Persecution Dynamics .......................................................................................... 16 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 16 2 AZERBAIJAN – WWR Country Dossier – January 2019 Position on World Watch List (WWL) ...................................................................................... 16 Persecution engines ................................................................................................................ 16 Drivers of persecution ............................................................................................................. 17 Context .................................................................................................................................... 18 Christian communities and how they are affected ................................................................. 18 Pressure in the 5 spheres of life and violence ........................................................................ 19 5 Year trends ........................................................................................................................... 21 Gender specific persecution ................................................................................................... 23 Persecution of other religious minorities ................................................................................ 24 Future outlook ........................................................................................................................ 24 External Links - WWL 2019: Persecution Dynamics ................................................................ 25 Additional Reports and Articles ............................................................................................... 26 WWR in-depth reports ............................................................................................................ 26 Open Doors article(s) from the region .................................................................................... 26 World Watch Monitor news articles ....................................................................................... 26 Recent country developments ................................................................................................ 26 3 AZERBAIJAN – WWR Country Dossier – January 2019 Introduction This country report is a collation of documents based around Open Doors World Watch List (WWL)1 including statistical information on world religions, Christian denominations, and people groups prepared by the World Christian Database (WCD)2. Further news and analysis is supplied by World Watch Monitor3 and WWR staff. World Watch List Points WWL Rank Azerbaijan WWL 2019 57 50 WWL 2018 57 45 WWL 2017 - - WWL 2016 57 34 WWL 2015 50 46 Scores and ranks are shown above whenever the country was among the fifty highest scoring countries (Top 50) in the WWL 2015-2019 reporting periods. Please note: The highlighted links in the text can be found written out in full at the conclusion of each main section under the heading “External links”. 1 See: https://www.opendoorsuk.org/persecution/countries/ 2 WCD website: http://www.brill.com/publications/online-resources/world-christian-database 3 See: https://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/ 4 AZERBAIJAN – WWR Country Dossier – January 2019 WWL 2019: Keys to understanding Azerbaijan Link for general background inforMation See BBC country profile: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17043424 Recent country history Azerbaijan declared its independence from the former Soviet Union on 30 August 1991, with AyaZ Mutalibov, former First Secretary of the Azerbaijani Communist Party, becoming the country's first president. Elections in June 1992 resulted in the selection of Popular Front Party (PFP) leader Abulfaz Elchibey becoming the country's first democratically elected, non- Communist president. The early years of Azerbaijan's independence (1992-1994) were overshadowed by the war waged between the ethnic Armenian majority living in the Nagorno-Karabkah region (backed by Armenia) and the army of Azerbaijan. By the end of hostilities in 1994, Armenians controlled up to 14–16% of AZerbaijani territory. A cease-fire was reached, but the problematic issue has never been resolved. From time to time there are outbreaks of military activities. As a result, there is a huge distrust in Azerbaijan against everything Armenian. Meanwhile, President Elchibey was formally deposed by a national referendum in August 1993, when the National Council conferred presidential powers upon its new speaker, Heydar Aliyev, former First Secretary of the AZerbaijani Communist Party (1969–81) and later a member of the Soviet Union's Politburo, the KGB, and USSR Deputy Prime Minister (until 1987). Aliyev was elected to a 5-year term as President in October with only token opposition. Aliyev won re- election to another 5-year term in 1998, in an election marred by serious irregularities. Azerbaijan's constitution was changed at the end of 2002. This was done to make it possible for the son of the 80-year-old Heydar, Ilham Aliyev, to succeed his father who was admitted to a Turkish hospital in July 2003 because of heart problems. In August 2003, Ilham Aliyev was appointed premier. In the October 2003 presidential elections, Ilham Aliyev was announced winner while international observers reported several irregularities. He was sworn in as president at the end of the month. He was reelected to a third term as president in October 2013. He then launched