Azerbaijan Official Reports On Status of Required Re-Registration of Religious Groups

On May 31, 2009, Azerbaijan's new religion law and related amendments took effect. The law requires re-registration of all religious groups by Jan. 1, 2010. (See prior posting.) APA today published an interview with Gunduz Ismayilov, head of the Azerbaijan State Committee on Work With Religious Structures, the agency that administers the registration requirements. He said that the Committee has received registration documents from 200 religious communities so far, and expects to receive registrations from 500 before the end of the year. Azerbaijan is 96% Muslim, so most of the filings are from Islamic groups. However among the first groups reregistered were also the Baku and Caspian Eparchy of Russian Orthodox Church and Baku Mountain Jewish community. Ismayilov emphasized that the Committee will go to court to dissolve religious groups that do not re-register.