Baha’is in Azerbaijan want historic house back
Baha’is in Baku, Azerbaijan are pressing for the return of a house that was confiscated during the Soviet anti-religious campaign in the 1930’s.
From the story on forum 18:
The Baha’i community in the capital Baku is pressing for the return of a house in the city confiscated during the Soviet anti-religious campaign which it says has key significance in the history of the Baha’is in Azerbaijan. “This house was bought in 1880 and was confiscated in the 1930s,” Ramazan Askarov of the Baha’i community told Forum 18 News Service in Baku on 19 October. “We want it because it is the only building in the world named after Abdul Baba, the son of our prophet.” As old buildings are being rapidly demolished in central Baku to make way for high-rise blocks, Askarov fears their house too could be destroyed. “This would wipe out all historical traces of the early Baha’i community here.”
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The former Baha’i house has long been a kindergarten. “We didn’t ask for it back before because of the country’s economic difficulties, but now we believe the government has the capacity to move the kindergarten to another location,” Askarov told Forum 18. He says the community wants to restore the house and use it as a meeting room and as a museum of the history of the Baha’i faith in the country. “Azerbaijan is the second cradle of the Baha’i faith,” he told Forum 18.
Forum 18 is a Norwegian organization committed to the protection of religious freedom. They also have a story up right now about the increasing number of police raids on various religious communities in Azerbaijan, including the Baha’is.