The top religious organization in Azerbaijan claims that Azerbaijan's Jewish population, which makes up less than .1% of Azerbaijan's 9,000,000 citizens, intends to overthrow the government and gain control of the country.
Recently, the representative of the well-respected Caucasian Muslim Board, Haji Akif, accused Azerbaijani Jews of separatism in the city of Gobi. He went on to claim that the Jewish minority of a few thousand was planning to overthrow the local government and subjugate the entire area to Israel.
Jews have maintained a presence in Azerbaijan since as early as 7th century CE. The Azerbaijani Jewish community has been a diverse mix of Jewish cultural subgroups, including Mountain, Georgian, Ashkenazi, Kurdish, Bukharian and Krymchak Jews.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, the Azerbaijani capital Baku was a flourishing center of Jewish life. Although repressed when Azerbaijan became a part of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijani Jews managed to maintain their cultural identity throughout the rein of the USSR. In 1970s, the Jewish community of Azerbaijan totaled over 40,000 individuals. Due to immigration, the number has fallen to under 10,000.
Following Azerbaijan's independence in 1991, the Jews regained the cultural freedom that they lacked during Soviet rule. Unfortunately, along with this came numerous attacks against the Jewish community.
Attacks by militias, the smearing of synagogue walls with feces and desecration of Jewish gravestones have taken place on numerous occasions. In addition, ethnic violence against Armenians living in Azerbaijan often spilled over to attacks against the Jews in the early 1990s.
The Islamic Party of Azerbaijan, which is banned from being represented in the Azerbaijani government, often writes anti-Semitic articles in local newspapers and propagates anti-Semitic rhetoric on radio channels. The organization has a long history of charging the Jews with trying to take over Azerbaijan.
