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EurasiaNet Eurasia Insight - Report: Azerbaijan Bans Koran, Islamic Symbols in Government Offices

EurasiaNet Eurasia Insight - Report: Azerbaijan Bans Koran, Islamic Symbols in Government Offices: "Following violent clashes between police and Islamic activists in Baku in mid-February, the government has ordered all state employees to remove Islamic symbols from their offices, a source in Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs tells EurasiaNet.

Religious items such as the Koran and ayahs -- the 6,236 Koran verses regarded by Muslims as divine revelations -- increasingly have shared space in government offices with the Azerbaijani flag and portraits of President Ilham Aliyev and his father, the late president Heydar Aliyev.

A source in the Ministry of Internal Affairs who did not want to be named stated that officials have been ordered to remove such religious items from government offices, explaining that 'Azerbaijan is a secular state and religion [ought to be kept] separate from the state.' The government has not yet commented officially on the issue."

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