PUBL.- Islamic Revival in Azerbaijan, Bayram Balci (in French)
Posted by: Stephané Dudoignon <dudoignon@aol.com>
We are pleased to inform you of the publication of the following item:
Bayram BALCI
Le renouveau islamique en Azerbaïdjan: entre dynamiques internes et
influences extérieures
Paris: CERI (Les Etudes du CERI, 138), 2007, 37 p., bibliography, map
Abstract:
Post-Soviet Azerbaijan is the theater of an Islamic revival in the
public sphere, a direct consequence of exiting from the empire and
achieving independence, which involved the rehabilitation of religion,
and even the integration of Islam in a new national identity policy.
Azerbaijan stands out from the rest of the former USSR by the fact
that it is the most secularised Muslim country due to its early
entrance into Russia's bosom and the fact that is was for long the
ground for an ideological clash between the Shiite Persian and the
Sunni Ottoman Empires. It is through the convergence of internal
factors - a preserved Islam despite the anti-religious Soviet policy -
and external factors - the influence of neighbouring countries:
Turkey, Iran, and the Arab world - that Azerbaijani Islam has been
reconfigured since the end of the Soviet era. Eager to preserve the
country's secularity - the pride of the elites - and to ensure that
the religious revival does not turn into a source of tension between
the two essential components of its population (Shiites and Sunnis),
the state has - with difficulty and sometimes with a lack of subtlety
- set up a religious policy that is far from receiving general
approval. However, even if its handling of Islam is disputed, the
Azerbaijan government controls the religious phenomenon through a
policy that alternates between tolerance and repression.
Information:
Dr. Bayram Balci
Institut Français d'Etudes sur l'Asie Centrale
Service de la valise diplomatique
128 bis, rue de l'Université
F-75007 Paris SP
Email: balci@ifeac.com.uz
Please do not write to the address of the sender of the present message.
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