![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/religious.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nNow let\u2019s see some citations from the Report:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. \u201cThis report provides an update on religious freedom conditions in Azerbaijan in 2023. It describes the legislative framework that facilitates the official regulation of religious practice, concerns for religious sites in Nagorno-Karabakh, the ongoing repression of Shi\u2019a Muslim religious activists, and the impact of the government\u2019s refusal to allow conscientious objection.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cConcerns for religious sites in Nagorno-Karabakh\u201d. One must think that the Report is overseeing the destruction of more than 60 Mosques in Karabakh during its occupation by Armenia. Yes, even all Mosques in Karabakh and other occupied lands of Azerbaijan were wiped off by Armenia. But no single word about this in the Report!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Plus, we must add that there is no territorial entity within Azerbaijan called \u201cNagorno-Karabakh\u201d. Seems the compliers of the Report are using occupant Armenia\u2019s terminology while talking about Azerbaijan\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While talking about \u201cthe ongoing repression of Shi\u2019a Muslim religious activists\u201d The Commission forgets about the realities of our region. Those so-called \u201crepressed Shi\u2019a Muslims\u201d, who are defended by the US Government are mostly the followers of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani<\/strong>. This General was eliminated on Jan 3, 2020, by the US drones in Baghdad, Iraq as a terrorist. And those so-called Shi\u2019a Muslims \u201crepressed by Azerbaijan\u201d are mostly the supporters and followers of this very terrorist! So, the U.S. must decide and rethink if this very country has killed Qasem Soleimani by mistake\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. \u201cThe law also prohibits non-Azerbaijani citizens from engaging in \u201creligious propaganda\u201d or missionary activity without explicit state permission.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n What is strange here? Why Azerbaijan must be accused of preventing its citizens from the religious propaganda? People, even foreigners are free to practice their religion. But religious propaganda by foreigners is and must be prevented!<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. \u201cIn May 2023, the chairman of the SCWRA Mubariz Gurbanli explicitly called for Armenian priests to abandon the Dadivank Monastery in the Kalbajar region as he falsely claimed that they had no connection to the site. While a United Nations mission to Nagorno-Karabakh completed in October 2023 reported that it \u201csaw no damage\u2026to cultural or religious structures\u201d, human rights organizations continued to urge the government to ensure protections for religious and cultural sites and rights.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I would say that No Comment! But The Commission needs a bit explanation and enlightenment. The Monastery which they claim to be called as \u201cDadivank\u201d is Khudaveng Monastery and has nothing to do with Armenians. It was built by Albanian Christians and is under state protection of Azerbaijan. But as other religious sites it was occupied by Armenia and then renovated a bit to prove that it is \u201can ancient Armenian Monastery\u201d. Even the UN mission also stated that no damage \u201cto cultural and religious structures\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. \u201cThe government has particularly targeted the unregistered Muslim Unity Movement (M\u00fcs\u0259lman Birliyi H\u0259r\u0259kat\u0131) or MUM, a group that has criticized the government\u2019s repressive policies toward religion and whose persecution many human rights defenders believe to be politically motivated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This so-called Muslim Movement is that very organization which supports Qasem Soleimani and Iran\u2019s clerical regime. These people hate the U.S. and other major Western democracies and want to overthrow the government in Azerbaijan\u2026 in order to establish a new one which would support such terrorist organizations like HAMAS, Hezbollah\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. \u201cThe United States should pressure Azerbaijan to address its severe violations of religious freedom and place the country on the State Department\u2019s Special Watch List until the Azerbaijani government amends its 2009 law \u201cOn Freedom of Religious Beliefs\u201d in line with international human rights standards and ceases other policies and practices that routinely infringe upon its citizens\u2019 freedom of religion or belief.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019d ask, are you serious? Do you really think that Azerbaijan must be included in this List just only for preventing the country and its people from the so-called religious interference of the terror-sponsor state \u2013 Iran? What is the connection between Iran and The U.S. Commission which compiles such reports?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe there is someone in The Commission who has the ties with Iran or its close allies?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, there is someone called Danielle Saroyan Ashbahian<\/strong>, who is a Chief of Public Affairs at The Commission. If review her social media accounts, one easily can see that she is an active member of Armenian propaganda against Turks \u2013 Azerbaijan and T\u00fcrkiye! But she must be neutral person, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n This very Danielle worked for the Armenian Assembly of America before joining The Commission dealing with the religious issues throughout the world\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDanielle Saroyan Ashbahian is the Chief of Public Affairs at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, overseeing the Communications and Congressional Relations. Before joining USCIRF, she was the Director of Communications at the Armenian Assembly of America. Prior to that, she was the Layout Editor at the Public Diplomacy Magazine and worked at the Los Angeles Consular Corps. She has had previous experience at the office of former U.S. Congresswoman Janice Hahn, the United Nations Department of Public Information in Armenia, the Lebanese Consulate in Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Ethics Commission\u201d reads The Commission\u2019s web site\u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n One more important point: The Commission is trying to support its claims against Azerbaijan siting so-called \u201cCaucasus Heritage Watch\u201d, a pro-Armenian entity launched in 2020 by Armenians, supported by Armenian organizations\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just again, No Comment!<\/p>\n\n\n\n BTW, there is no report on Armenia at all! We\u2019ll remind The Commission that for example the Jewish Synagogue was set to fire in Yerevan in 2023. Or all Muslims are religiously cleansed from Armenia! And Armenia is one of the very few countries of the world denying multiculturalism and having even 98 percent of population of Armenian ethnic background\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Recently The Commission has announced its 2023 report where Azerbaijan among other several Turkic and Muslim countries is accused of \u201csuppressing the religious freedoms\u201d. All Turkic countries \u2013 Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, T\u00fcrkiye and Turkmenistan \u2013 except Kyrgyzstan are those which is seen by this very Commission as \u201ca perpetrator of religious freedoms\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4108,"featured_media":823118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,297,10434,41,1460,178,213,208,89,1551,34,764],"tags":[9724,9726,8358],"class_list":["post-823504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-armenia","category-authors","category-azer-hasret","category-azerbaijan","category-central-asia","category-kazakhstan","category-kyrgyzstan","category-southerncaucasus","category-turkey","category-turkmenistan-central-asia-asiapacific-regions","category-usa","category-uzbekistan","tag-armenia","tag-azerbaijan","tag-religious-freedom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4108"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=823504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/823118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n