CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VOLUME VII (1, 2) Contemporary-Eurasia-3new | Page 164

CONTEMPORARY EURASIA
Iranian infl uence today
As already mentioned after gaining independence in 1991, many Mus-
lim countries tried to spread their infl uence over Azerbaijan. The Iranian
infl uence nowadays worth to be examined. The religious activities spon-
sored by Iran are considered successful by many scholars. According to
both offi cial and nonoffi cial data, nowadays there are 150 madrassas, 22
of which are controlled by Iran. 86 Besides those, there are also 8 represen-
tative institutions of Iran.
The process of radicalization was more vivid during so called “Narda-
ran case”. The rural region of Nardaran on the Absheron peninsula is con-
sidered as the most religious one, which is infl uenced by Iran. The data
taken from Caucasus Barometer presented in Table 1. shows that the level
of religiosity is more robust in rural areas, rather than in capital or in ur-
ban territories. Therefore, Nardaran is considered as a signifi cant example
of a region under the external infl uence, in this case, Iran.
Table 1. Importance of religion by types of settlement
Capital
Urban
Rural
2010
28%
32%
41%
2011
30%
36%
34%
2012
23%
37%
40%
2013
22%
29%
49%
People of this region are often involved in clashes with authorities, out
of which most notably one is the protest against the ban of headscarves,
an action, which provoked conservative inhabitants. In response to this
decision, and also because of repression of Shia community, the radical
Salafi inhabitants organized mass demonstrations. On November 26 of
2015 Azerbaijani forces organized a raid in Nardaran, during which 5 In-
habitants and 2 policemen were killed, and many protesters were put in
a jail for 10-20 years. After the amendments had been adopted in 2009,
many mosques in Nardaran did not get the registration, because of which
were closed. However, after the raid of 2015, other mosques also were
closed. The only one, which get the registration was Juma mosque.
In 2013 Azerbaijan eased off the restrictions over the preaching in
public places. The actions aimed at limiting the fl ow of Azerbaijanis in
Syria and Iraq. However, it also contributed to Iran’s reaction and in-
crease of its infl uence. According to Azerbaijan Iran is working towards
recruiting Azerbaijani society to visit the holy city Karbala in Iraq. In ad-
86
Ehsan Soltani Nezhad and Pahlevan Mohammedali, “ The Madrasa at Iran: role of tradi-
tion and religious education,” International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 3:2,
(2018): 43-52.
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