"The people of Azerbaijan are loyal to their religious and spiritual traditions.

We believe that work in this area should be done more quickly.

Freedom of religion and conscience is fully ensured in Azerbaijan."

These words were emphasized by the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, during his speech at the opening ceremony of the Ajdarbey Mosque after major repairs and reconstruction.

Freedom of conscience has been protected in our country at all times, and the minority peoples living in Azerbaijan and their beliefs have been treated with special respect since ancient times.

The announcement of the "Year of Multiculturalism" in 2016, the humanitarian forums held in our country, the visits of Pope Francis and other high-ranking religious figures to our republic, as well as the state registration of 992 religious institutions, the existence of 2253 mosques, the operation of 16 churches and 7 synagogues in Azerbaijan. is a clear example of the high level of freedom of conscience.

 Freedom of conscience in our country is also protected by the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Article 25 of the Constitution states that the equality of rights and freedoms of everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, language, gender, origin, property status, service position, belief, affiliation to political parties, trade unions and other public associations guarantees.

Limiting human and civil rights and freedoms based on race, ethnicity, religion, language, gender, origin, belief, political and social affiliation is prohibited.

Almost all religious monuments have been restored in Azerbaijan.

Some authors note that the oldest church built in the Caucasus is in Azerbaijan, more precisely, the church in the village of Kish in Sheki.

In 2020, the victorious Azerbaijani Army liberated our occupied lands from the enemy under the leadership of the Supreme Commander.

As a result, we witnessed the destruction of the vast majority of mosques in our lands, and some of them were used as stables and other purposes.

It is not by chance that the President, Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev started his first visit to the lands freed from occupation from Aghdam, precisely from the Aghdam Juma Mosque, after signing the act of capitulation to Armenia.

"Today, I donated the "Holy Quran" that I brought from Mecca to the Aghdam mosque.

I am a lucky person who has visited Makkah four times.

Once with my late father and three times as President.

I am happy that I prayed inside the holy Kaaba along with my family members.

Whatever is in the heart of every person, these are the same feelings in my heart.

Among the prayers I made, my first prayer was the liberation of our lands from occupation.

I asked God to give me the strength to liberate the lands from the invaders, to grant us that happiness, and to return to our ancestral land.

Today, here, in front of the mosque destroyed by vandals, I say that I am a happy person.

Once again, I thank God for hearing my prayers and giving me this strength." 

These words were said by the head of the country, Ilham Aliyev, during his first visit to Agdam.

This speech of the head of state in front of the Agdam mosque is a clear example of the importance he attaches to religious monuments.

In general, 67 mosques, 139 temples, and 192 sanctuaries are among the historical and religious monuments identified so far in our territories freed from occupation.

Out of 67 mosques in our territories freed from occupation (13 in Shusha, 5 in Aghdam, 16 in Fuzuli, 12 in Zangilan, 5 in Jabrayl, 8 in Gubadli, 8 in Lachin), 63 were completely destroyed, and 4 were partially destroyed and rendered useless. 

But the government of Azerbaijan always attaches great importance to the restoration of religious monuments.

Repair and reconstruction works were carried out in the Bibiheybat mosque-shrine complex, which is of special religious-spiritual and historical-cultural importance, and in the Tazāpir, Ajdarbey, Icherisheher Juma and Hazrat Muhammad mosques.

The Shamakhi Friday Mosque and the "Imamzade" religio-cultural monument in Ganja were thoroughly restored, the Heydar Mosque, the largest mosque in the Caucasus (2014), the Haji Javad Mosque (2018) and the synagogue for mountain Jews (2011) in Baku, the Albanian church in Nic settlement, Jen- The Orthodox Religious-Cultural Center of the Baku and Azerbaijan Diocese was built in the area where the Mironosits church is located and made available to believers.

Aghdam Juma Mosque was built in 1868-1870 based on the architecture of Karbalai Safikhan Karabakh.

The mosque is a historical-architectural monument located in the administrative center of Aghdam district.

A traditional square shape with four columns in the middle forms the basis of the prayer hall plan of Aghdam Juma Mosque.

Three rows of deep niches built on each of the east and west sides of the square expanded the area of ​​the hall and gave it a rectangular shape.

In the middle of the south wall of the prayer hall, a tall mihrab niche is installed.

The top of the side arches is in the form of a balcony facing the interior and is intended for women's worship.

The prayer hall is lit by windows in the middle of the side porches and on the sides of the mihrab arch.

The monument was included in the list of historical and cultural monuments of national importance by the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 132 dated August 2, 2001.

Juma Mosque was partially destroyed during the occupation.

"Associated Press" noted that the mosque is the only building in the city of Aghdam that was not completely destroyed, where cattle and pigs were kept and its wall was vandalized with graffiti.

The interior of the mosque is neglected and destroyed.

Ibrahim Zeynalov, professor of Baku State University, dean of the Faculty of History, told APA that both Aghdam and Karabakh mosques in general had their own characteristics:

"But on the whole, all these mosques were in accordance with the shades and essence of the Islamic religion.

At the same time, nationality and relatively modernity were stronger in those mosques.

In the Aghdam Juma mosque, the national characteristic was stronger in the appearance and construction of the mosque.

At the same time, the appearance of the mosque had shades reflecting the culture and antiquity of the Aghdam region, Azerbaijan.

During the occupation, the national characteristics of the mosque were vandalized, those shades were destroyed and lost.

Because the national features were destroyed, only the image of a mosque remained.

When the Armenians destroyed the Karabakh mosques, as well as the Aghdam Juma mosque, they first of all tried to destroy everything that reflected the national Azerbaijani and Islamic characteristics.

At the same time, during the occupation, our mosques were insulted.

Sometimes to armenianize our mosques,

Mehman Nasibov, who is currently in charge of Agdam Juma Mosque, told APA that the mosque played the role of a center in the Karabakh region before the occupation.

"People who worshiped from all surrounding areas and those who applied for kabin turned to Agdam.

The construction of such a magnificent mosque in that area in 1868 shows that there was potential there at that time.

When a mosque is built, the potential of the area is taken as a basis.

The construction, size and grandeur of the mosque show that people living in that area used to come there for worship.

I remember that one day the deputy of Khojaly came to Khinderistan mosque.

He met the late Haji Barat, who was the head of Agdam Juma mosque before the occupation, and who was temporarily the imam of Khinderistan village mosque after Agdam was occupied.

He said to Haji Barat, "You cut my body during the Soviet period."

Even Shusha's akhund was taken away from Aghdam by Haji Barat at that time.

In other words, the most important mosque of all the Araf areas is considered to be the Aghdam Mosque.

After the occupation of Aghdam, Haji Barat was a veteran of Aghdam district.

I have been Haji Barat's deputy since 2012.

Aghdam Juma Mosque was also one of the main witnesses of the Khojaly tragedy.

During the genocide, both martyrs and refugees from Khojaly were accommodated in the mosque.

Those people stayed in the mosque for some time.

When Haji Barat remembered the tragedy of Khojaly, he said that some of those brutally killed in Khojaly were frozen.

Even some martyrs froze and joined each other.

It was possible to separate them from each other by washing them with hot water in the mosque.

Armenians are enemies not only to us, but also to our cultural and religious monuments.

Our mosques were destroyed, even animals considered unclean in the Islamic religion were kept in our mosques during the occupation."

Mehman Nasibov says that in the last days of the Soviet period, a madrasah also functioned in the mosque.

There were even students from Barda and Agjabadi who studied there.

A few days ago I came across a book.

The book dates back to 1331 of the Hijri calendar.

It is now 1443 Hijri.

In that book, it is also mentioned that Sheikh Murtuza was engaged in teaching in Aghdam mosque during those times.

In other words, the Quran was taught in the Aghdam mosque since ancient times.

"The publication of this book coincides with the construction of the Aghdam mosque."

At the moment, large-scale construction and improvement works are being carried out in our lands freed from occupation.

One of the first restored cultural and religious monuments is Aghdam Juma Mosque.

Mehman Nasibov says that he met with the Austrian company carrying out renovation works in that mosque and had a discussion:

"Aghdam Juma Mosque is currently being renovated very nicely.

A representative of the repair company there said that "we want to find the organs first".

During the Soviet era, marbles were added to the edges of the mosque.

But when that mosque was first built, there was no marble.

The construction company also wants to restore it to its original appearance.

Most of the inscriptions on the mosque are verses of the Holy Quran.

Even a verse from the Quran is written on the tower of the mosque.

That article is the verses 18-19 of Surah "Tawbah".

Since the restoration of historical monuments takes a long time, the restoration of the mosque will probably take some time.

But strong work is going on to restore the mosque."

We are sure that when the people of Aghdam return to their native lands, the Aghdam Juma Mosque, which is distinguished by its historical and cultural characteristics, will be fully restored. 

The article is submitted to the competition held by the State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations on the occasion of the National Press Day among journalists on the topic "Freedom of Conscience and Media".