Azerbaijan is a country that practices multiculturalism, a country where people experience multiple religions, languages, and ethnicities every day.
☪️ Around 2000 Mosques
✝️ 13 Churches
✡️7 Synagogues 1/
🟪✝️5 churches belong to the Orthodox community,4 churches belong to the Georgian Orthodox community,1 church belongs to the Lutheran,1 to the Catholic & 2 to the Alban-Udi religious community.
🟪✡️2 Jewish synagogues are in Baku,2 in Oghuz and 3 in the Red Settlement of Guba.2/
🟪Religion in the Republic of Azerbaijan is separate from the state. All religions are equal before the law.
☦️ Orthodox churches of Azerbaijan below: 3/
🟪Azerbaijan does not discriminate its historical and cultural heritage based on religious and ethnic ground.
All non-active religious objects are protected by the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan.
☦️🇬🇪Georgian Orthodox Churches below: 4/
🟪🇦🇿According to Article 48 of the Constitution, each citizen has freedom of conscience, the right to freely formulate his attitude towards religion, express and extend the views connected with any religion and carry out religious rites.
✝️Lutheran church below: 5/
🟪As Azerbaijan is a secular country the 1996 law stated that foreigners have freedom of conscience.
✝️Roman Catholic church below: 6/
🟪Azerbaijan is the home to the Albanian-Udi religious community. Udins living primarily in the northern regions of Azerbaijan are direct descendants of Caucasian Albania.
The Albanian Apostolic Churches are part of 🇦🇿Christian heritage.
✝️Khudavang Monastery Complex below: 7/
🟪Azerbaijan is home to one of Europe's largest synagogues.
Today, 7 synagogues have been preserved. They are all built of bricks, and the larger ones are decorated with onion domes.
✡️Synagogues of Azerbaijan below: 8/
🟪The Mountain Jews' synagogue building in Baku has been in existence since 1945. After the end of WWII, the mountain Jews were given an ancient building in the city center to meet their religious needs.
✡️Mountain Jews synagogue below: 9/
🟪Despite the conflict with Armenia, Azerbaijan has presented the church as proof of their tolerance of minorities,especially the Arm-s.
Decree of the cabinet of Azerbaijan listed the church as an historical & cultural monument of national importance.
Armenian Church below: 10/
🟪The main religion in Azerbaijan is Islam,though Azerbaijan is the most secular country in the Muslim world.
Most are adherents of Shia Islam (≈85%), with a minority (≈15%) being Sunni,differences traditionally have not been defined sharply.
☪️Mosques of Azerbaijan below: 11/
🟪Despite the fact that all religious sites are protected by the 🇦🇿Azerbaijani government, Azerbaijani mosques have unfortunately been destroyed as a result of the 🇦🇲Armenian aggression during the occupation of Karabakh. Mosques were used as a stable for cattle and swine. 12/
🟪Baku Ateshgah (Fire Temple of Baku) was a pilgrimage and philosophical centre of Zoroastrians and Hindus from Northwestern Indian Subcontinent, who were involved in trade with the Caspian area via the famous “Grand Trunk Road”.
Upon leaving Iran🇮🇷 at the age of 16, my great grandfather left his entire family behind. Despite the fact that his father came to Baku for him, but he refused to return to where he was born.
He was South Azerbaijani who got married later to the German lady from Azerbaijan. 1/
Few years after escaping Iran, my great grandfather Aga Abdul succeeded in Azerbaijan.
My German great grandma Alexandra Böhmer was born in Russia,Volga region.Later, she and her family moved to Baku, where they owned a piano factory. 2/
Later Alexandra met Aga, they got married and had 3 children in their marriage. All was good until The Second World War started.
On Oct 8,1941,the State Defense Committee adopted a decree # 744ss“On the resettlement of Germans from Azerbaijan SSR ".3/
🔹No education in Azerbaijani is available at any level, including the University of Tabriz, where 7 other languages are taught.
🔹 All state television and radio channels are broadcast in Farsi.
🔹 Southern Azerbaijani women face double discrimination. 2/
🔹 At the start of every school year, on 23 September, many ethnic Azerbaijani students in Iran boycott the schools to protest and draw attention to the denial of their right to be educated in Azerbaijani. The authorities usually respond with arrests. 3/
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🇦🇿🇦🇲 Historical background of Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict
🔹1828, The Turkmanchai Treaty
40,000 Armenians were resettled in Azerbaijan.
🔹1829, Treaty of Edirne
90,000 Armenians who had been living in the Ottoman Empire were also resettled in Azerbaijan. 1/
🔹The Russian Empire resettled the Armenians on the ter. of the Nakhchivan, Iravan & Karabakh khanates.
🔹The 🇷🇺 diplomat,A.S.Griboyedov - "the Armenians have for the most part been settled on the lands of Muslim landowners...The settlers...are forcing out the Muslims... 2/
🔹Between 1828 & 1920, the aim of the Russian Empire was to alter the demographic structure of the population of Azerbaijan in favor of the Armenians.
🔹1828 & 1854,the Russians invaded Eastern Anatolia,but they were forced to retreat,taking 100,000 Armenians to the Caucasus.3/