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[25 May 2007] - An eleven month old baby is still being denied a birth certificate because officials in a village in Northern Azerbaijan refuse to register his Christian name. In Azerbaijan, where 96 percent of the population is Muslim, Christianity is perceived by many as a foreign religion, and conversion out of Islam is often viewed as betrayal of the nation. Novruz Eyvazov, a member of a Baptist congregation in Aliabad, complained that although his son Ilya is eleven months old (born on 18 June 2006), officials are still refusing to issue him with a proper birth certificate. "They won't accept that we have given him a Christian name," he said. "Both officials in the village and in the Zakatala registry office are responsible for this." The father of five said he was not surprised by the difficulties because he had faced the same problem with his last two children Children's births in Azerbaijan are normally registered at the place where their parents are registered to live. As Azerbaijani citizens and registered residents of Aliabad, the Eyvazov family originally tried to register Ilya's birth at the local town administration, which is where – just as in the case of his brother Luka - they first encountered a refusal. Without a birth certificate, it is impossible for children to go to kindergarten or to school, get treatment in a hospital, or travel abroad. Compass, a Christian news service, quoted an official in the regional registration office in Zaqatala who suggested that Baptists in Aliabad were facing difficulties because their attempt to take non-Azeri names was part of a plot to cede Zaqatala to neighbouring Georgia. “I have a letter here with the signatures of 3,000 residents of Aliabad, sent to the president and the European Council, complaining that they [Baptists] want to make [Aliabad’s residents] Georgians,” Aybeniz Kalashova said. “The letter says, ‘They [Baptists] want to change our names, make us Georgian and then claim that this area is part of southern Georgia.’ Why have they become Christians and started serving a foreign country?” Mehman Sultanov of the Justice Ministry in Baku promised Forum 18, an organisation advocating freedom of religion, he would investigate the case. Further information
pdf: http://forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=961