Irfan Bosan
Rustam Askerov was killed during the fighting in the Syrian fronts on the side of the opposition. He left three children. In just the last month in Syria died 14 Azerbaijani citizens. The exact figures are not known by anybody. In this regard, in our country, all eyes are on the Salafis, and the corresponding structures of Azerbaijan are seriously concerned about the situation.
Upon entering the apartment on the first floor of an old building leftover from the Soviet era, located about half an hour away from the center of Baku - the capital of Azerbaijan, you are greeted by two beautiful children. One of them is Safiya and the other is Moussa. Moussa was named after his grandfather. Their father, Rustam Askerov, fighting on the side of the opposition forces in Syria, died in Aleppo in early December.
"September 27 (2013) I went to see him in Istanbul. I took his wife and children. Since then I have not seen him"
His father Moussa Askerov last saw his son in Istanbul. "He did not tell me about leaving for Syria, but I suspected it. He always dreamed of fighting for the Muslims," Askerov said.
About deceased Rustam Askerov, who fought in the ranks of the Syrian opposition group Ahrashush Sham, Azerbaijani media reported 10 years ago. Azerbaijani government agencies detained 22 volunteers who declared in 2003 the intention to travel to Karabakh and lead a guerrilla war there. They were held in custody for two and a half years.
One of the people who knew Rustam Askerov was the chairman of the Karabakh Liberation Organization Akif Nagi. He said that Rustam Askerov was one of the leaders in providing effective judicial protection in the courts:
"They called themselves the Salafis. Coming out of his imprisonment, he and his brother opened a retail outlet. And then one day he said, "I live here is difficulty, I am watched and pressured. I will go to Turkey."Anyway after release from custody he was re-arrested for alleged keeping weapons at home. Then he went to Turkey," said Akif Nagi.
We asked his father, who admitted that his son went to Turkey in 2012, the following question: "Was your son Salafi?"
"He made prayers. He was a God-fearing man. He always said: "I am Ahl al -Sunnah." In 1997 he sent his papers to the University of Medina in Saudi Arabia and went there. He travelled. When he returned, he said, "We call ourselves Muslims, but Islam is not what we think it is. He gave us a book. We read it and enlightened. During one of his vacations at the University of Medina, he came to us. He went to Chechnya. I do not know why he went there," said his father.
When Rustam’s father was telling us that, the door to the guest room opened and entered an elderly woman with a newborn baby in her arms. The child, whose father was killed in Syria, was a total of 6 days old. He was born after his death. He had not even received a name. The grandmother of the child had tears in her eyes.
She said, "It was he. I recognized him. How could a mother not recognize her son?" She recognized her son, when she saw his photo on the Internet. The photo was taken Dec. 2, 2013 in one of the sites in the Turkish language. This page on the Internet paid special attention to the news from Syria and placed a photo of a dead man with a bloody face with an inscription "Another Azerbaijani martyr who died in Syria."
Azerbaijan’s relevant bodies are concerned about the situation.
The title "Another Azerbaijani martyr" was written for the reason that every day a number of people leave for Syria to participate in the fighting. In the period from 25 December 2013 to 23 January 2014 that is for just one month, the Azerbaijani newspapers printed articles with the news of the death of 14 Azerbaijani citizens, who fought on the side of the opposition. Such statistics to the outbreak of hostilities in Syria is absent. There is a widespread view that in reality these numbers are much higher.
The recently increased number of such posts attracted the attention of officials of the country. The Spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Elman Rustamov reported on January 24, 2014 that "If the participation of Azerbaijani citizens in the Syrian war is proved, appropriate actions will be taken under the law."
The head of the Department of Religious Instructions and Prohibitions of the Caucasian Muslims Office Haji Miraziz Seyidzadeh still three days before the statement by the Spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that "we never give instructions calling for participation in battles. The right to make such a decision on the Muslims of the Caucasus belongs only to us. No one should take such decisions on their own. Otherwise, it will not bring them good." The Caucasian Muslims Office does not accept the position of people calling for jihad in Syria.
Words of appeal to the Salafis
The death of Azerbaijani citizens who participated in the fighting in Syria drew attention to the Salafis in our country. To find people in Azerbaijan adhering to the Salafi current in faith, we hit the road. Gamat Suleiman (his name is Suleymanov, but he focused on the fact that we refer to him as Suleiman) is the imam of the Abubakr Mosque in Baku. This mosque is known as a Salafi one. The mosque has been closed since 2008. The reason is that in the same year, it was attacked with a grenade.
We met with Haji Gamat Suleiman near the mosque. The mosque was built by a businessman from Kuwait. When we asked him about the reason for which the mosque is still closed, he was confused and did not answer. He said he did not know. We went with him to a sheltered place and started a conversation. He acknowledged that he is a Salafi, but he did not issue any fatwa for jihad in Syria and he generally believes Jihad in that country is not keeping the commandments of the Shari'a. To our question "Who issued the fatwa?" he replied, "nodding" to sheikhs outside Azerbaijan. He said that young people traveling to Syria are under the impression of what they see on the Internet, but he thinks it is a mistake.
How much is the Salafi faith spread in Azerbaijan, which is a Shiite state, and how does it develop? One of the few experts in the field of political Islam, Academician Altai Geyushov said the Salafi faith developed after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when representatives of various humanitarian organizations began to arrive from the countries of the Gulf to us under the guise of helping refugees from Karabakh. The Salafi faith is particularly strong in the northern part of the country, which borders with the Sunni North Caucasus.
Geyushov says that in this situation there are Salafis who maintain good relations with government agencies, but there are also those who hold different views. Those Salafis, who have strained relations with the authorities, went into hiding already in 2006. It is they that give a fatwa to jihad. The scientist said he was not surprised by the news that the Azeris are fighting in Syria on the side of the opposition. And to the question of how they get there, he replied: "Via Turkey."
Translation: Jamila Ibrahimova
ANN.Az
