Seventh-day Adventists ‘building bridges’ with Azerbaijan

BAKU, Azerbaijan — After Azerbaijan’s deportation of a former leader of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Russian citizen Ivan Uzun, and denial of re-entry to Moldovan citizen Gheorghiy Sobor, Adventists have told Forum 18 News Service they are trying to resolve problems with the government through dialogue.

Sobor lives in the capital Baku with his Azerbaijani wife and their three young children. He thinks he may have been denied re-entry as he helped Adventists gain state permission to import books.

His wife, Aida, said, “Without any court decision and without the possibility for him to respond, they have separated Gheorghiy from his family and children. Such an action contradicts basic human rights and international law at the same time as Azerbaijan considers itself a democratic country.”

Yusif Askerov of the State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations claimed “there is no discrimination.” Adventists stress that they have been present in the country for more than a century. An Adventist said, “We’re working to build bridges with the government.”