Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan Baku International Multiculturalism Centre Azerbaijani Multiculturalism Textbook for Higher Education

or limitations for one religion (religious movement) and religious association in comparison to another shall not be allowed.’

The division of Muslims into Shia and Sunni sects was a major cause of the socio-economic, political, military and cultural backwardness of the Muslim world. Moreover, the division has caused bloody clashes in the Muslim world. Unfortunately, the Shia and Sunni confrontation manifests itself in different ways in the majority of Muslim countries today too. This confrontation can be seen both within and between states. Azerbaijan is one of the rare Muslim countries where there is no Shia-Sunni confrontation, as the majority of the population ignores this division. One clear illustration of this is that Shia and Sunni Muslims go to the same mosques and pray together. In an interview in 2016 to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting company on the absence of a Shia-Sunni confrontation, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said: ‘At a time when conflicts rage between Sunni and Shia in a number of countries, Shia and Sunni prayed together at the Heydar Mosque in Baku in January this year.’ The President continued, ‘All Muslims live like one family in Azerbaijan. There has never been any conflict on the grounds of sectarianism. There has not been, must not be and will never be even the slightest misunderstanding.’

3. 
   The state renders financial and all necessary assistance to all the religious communities. According to the official figures, since 2003 about 250 mosques have been built or restored by the state. The Heydar, Ajdarbay, Taza Pir and Bibi-Heybat mosques and the Imamzada religious, historical and cultural centre are all examples.
   

At the same time, the state gave financial support to the building and renovation of the Russian Orthodox, Catholic and Albanian churches and Jewish synagogues. The Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Myrrh Bearers, which was closed

in 1920 under Soviet rule, was reopened after the restoration of Azerbaijan’s independence. The state returned the building to the Russian Orthodox Church and the late Azerbaijani businessman Aydin Qurbanov financed major renovation work, returning the church to its previous appearance. In May 2001, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II attended the reopening of the church and granted it the status of a cathedral church.

In recent years Russian Orthodox, Georgian Orthodox, Albanian-Udi and German Lutheran churches in Baku and various districts of the country have been put at the disposal of believers after substantial repairs and renovation. In 2008 a Roman Catholic Church was built in Baku. With the financial assistance of the state new synagogues were built for the European Jews in 2002 and the Mountain Jews in 2012.

The Azerbaijani government also gives moral support to religious organizations in Azerbaijan. The International Day for Tolerance was celebrated for the first time in the south Caucasus on 16 November in Azerbaijan. On that day in 1999 the National Leader of the Azerbaijani People, Heydar Aliyev, held a meeting with the leaders of the religious confessions on his own initiative. The President of the Republic of Azerbaijan continues this tradition by addressing the Muslim, Christian and Jewish communities on religious holidays and other important dates. He regularly meets them and constantly monitors the environment of tolerance at the national level. Every year the Azerbaijani President attends an iftar, a fast-breaking dinner during Ramadan organized by Allahshukur Pashazada, Sheikh ul-Islam of Muslims of the Caucasus. Representatives of other confessions, as well as Muslims, attend the dinner.

Section II

Chapter 5

4. Interreligious relations based on the principles of mutual