2025
2025
For years, Azerbaijan's anti-Armenian policy involved efforts to discredit Armenia within the Islamic world. Azerbaijan has attempted to leverage the factor of Islamic solidarity, portraying itself as a country "oppressed by Armenians" in order to garner support from Islamic states. Simultaneously, Baku has depicted Armenia as an Islamophobic country with which Islamic nations should neither establish nor develop relations. Azerbaijan reacted nervously to Armenian-Arab and especially Armenian-Iranian interactions. In his speeches and meetings with representatives of Islamic countries, Ilham Aliyev has presented Armenia as a country that "destroys Muslim monuments and mosques" and "keeps pigs in mosques." This policy was actively promoted both before and after the 2020 war.
In 2021, Ilham Aliyev stated: “Do Muslim countries not know that Armenians keep animals, pigs, and cows in our destroyed mosques? Isn’t this an insult to the Muslim world? Armenia is a country where Islamophobia is their state policy. They raise their children with a spirit of hatred toward Muslims. They instill this ideology in their children. For this reason, we remain steadfast in our principled stance. We will keep this issue in the spotlight. To the leaders of all Muslim countries, I want to say once again: Armenia is not your friend.”
Azerbaijan's anti-Armenian policy has yielded results particularly within the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), where Azerbaijan has been a member since 1991. The OIC has not only taken a supportive stance toward Azerbaijan but has also served as a platform for spreading Azerbaijan’s false narratives. During periods of escalation, the organization has consistently accused Armenia, adopting resolutions and demanding an "end to aggression against Azerbaijan." In line with this approach, during the 2020 war, the OIC issued several anti-Armenian statements. However, the organization's activity has not been limited to wartime situations. The OIC has also made statements regarding the Khojaly events, labeling them as "genocide."
Through its collaboration with the OIC, Azerbaijan has also sought to cultivate the image of a "pious Muslim country." Baku was declared the cultural capital of the Islamic world in 2009. In 2017, Azerbaijan proclaimed the "year of Islamic solidarity" and hosted the "Islamic games." In 2018, Nakhijevan, and in 2024, the occupied Shushi were declared the cultural capital of the Islamic world.
It is worth noting that Azerbaijan’s anti-Armenian policy among Islamic countries is merely a reflection of the country’s hypocrisy. Azerbaijan is perhaps the only country in the Islamic world where hundreds of people are imprisoned for being devout and adhering to Islamic practices.
Azerbaijan prohibits adhan via loudspeakers, conducting religious rituals outside mosques, displaying religious posters, and wearing the hijab in schools. It is worth reminding Azerbaijan, which accuses Armenia of destroying mosques, about the condition of its own mosques. Over the past decades, numerous mosques in Azerbaijan have been closed under various pretexts, including the Juma, Abu Bakr, Shehidler, Lezgian, and Ahl al-Sunni mosques, among others.
The Azerbaijani authorities have also demolished several mosques. Among these were mosques located on the shores of the Caspian Sea in the "Oil Rocks" area, in the village of Peshtatuk in Lerik district, as well as others in Baku and various regions.
In 2017, the decision to demolish the Haji Javad mosque sparked widespread public discontent in Azerbaijan, leading to protests. Ultimately, to avoid further public backlash and resistance, the mosque was demolished overnight.
The domolition of Haji Javad mosque
In parallel, many mosques in Azerbaijan have been left abandoned. For example, the mosque in the village of Goradil, located in the Absheron district, does not look like a mosque, while the interior is in a deplorable condition.
Some mosques are on the verge of collapse or are not functioning. For instance, the Shah Sultan Hussein mosque in Novkhana is in a semi-ruined condition. It has become a gathering place for drug addicts, while part of the mosque's surroundings has been turned into a landfill, and another part serves as grazing grounds for animals.
Shah Sultan Hussein mosque
While in the Islamic country of Azerbaijan mosques were dempolished and believers oppressed, Armenia has demonstrated an exemplary approach to cultural and religious coexistence, restoring mosques and respecting the traditions and customs of followers of other religions. Islamic countries have highly appreciated Armenia’s attitude. Therefore, it is not Armenia but Azerbaijan that is the Islamophobic country.