Leader of Dagestan warns against “Islamization”

26.12.2006 Editor

DAGESTAN, 25 December, Caucasus Times: “We must not go down the road of Islamization. Our republic need not be turned into an Islamic country,” Dagestani President Mukhu Aliyev has told a news conference on the results of 2006 held in Makhachkala on 22 December.

“I do not believe that it is normal when three mosques are being built in a small village. And every mullah tries to draw people to his side. There are 300 mosques in Azerbaijan, but we have 1,687! We have as many mosques as schools!” the Dagestani president said.

Responding to a questions about Wahhabi Muslims, Mukhu Aliyev said that the Dagestani Ministry of Internal Affairs has registered some 1,000 people who consider themselves to be Wahhabis.

“However, no-one will be persecuted just for being a Wahhabi,” the Dagestani president said.

Sergey Svetlov, Mahachkala, Caucasus Times

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The “Free Eurasia” project is an independent media platform based in Prague, with an ambitious mission to provide the regions of Central Asia and the Caucasus with high-quality, objective and timely information in their national languages. We unite the expertise of editors and journalists working in Tajik, Uzbek, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Circassian, Avar and Russian to break the monopoly of state-run Russian-language media and amplify the voices of local communities. Direction Our work focuses on comprehensive coverage of social, political, economic and cultural developments in Central Asia and the Caucasus, as well as the issues facing diasporas in Russia, Turkey, China and other countries. We produce news, analytical articles, video reports, podcasts, interviews and journalistic investigations. Special attention is paid to topics rarely addressed by state media: human rights violations, corruption, ethnic and cultural identity, migration and international relations. We strive to engage audiences of all ages, with a particular emphasis on young people and residents of remote regions, offering them digital content in their native languages. Goal Our main goal is to promote the development and sustainability of independent media in Central Asia and the Caucasus. We aim to strengthen the region’s informational sovereignty by expanding access to truthful sources and raising media literacy. At the same time, we support the development of national languages as key elements of identity and cultural heritage, encouraging public discussion and engagement. The project seeks to become a catalyst for building a strong civil society and defending democratic values, helping to train new professional journalists and fostering international cooperation.

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