Pray for Azerbaijan

Located between Russia, Iran, and Armenia, Azerbaijan is the largest nation in the Caucasus region and home to diverse landscapes, from vast mountain ridges to plains and lowlands. The picturesque Caspian port and capital city of Baku is a popular destination for tourists, though many often fail to acknowledge the forty percent of Azeri citizens living in poverty. Past the luxury hotels and modern art museums, this Eurasian country holds over 650,000 internally displaced people as a result of the Armenian-Azeri conflict.

The Armenian-Azeri territorial dispute over the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh erupted into armed conflict in 1992 before a ceasefire was issued two years later. This region has been home to tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians although it lies within Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized borders. Continued attempts were made at peace for decades until just recently Azerbaijan forcibly took full control of this region in 2023. Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control is also likely to alter power dynamics in the South Caucasus, a region that for centuries has been at the crossroad of geopolitical interests of Russia, Turkey and Western nations. Though political tensions are high, Azerbaijan’s successful oil-dominated economy keeps the nation fiscally stable, and growing the tourism industry in Baku is one of the government’s top priorities.

Over eighty-six percent of the nation’s ten million citizens are practicing Muslims. While the Azeri constitution grants everyone the freedom to worship, religious institutions are still required to register with the Azeri government in order to congregate, and religious literature must be approved before publishing. Less than three percent of the population are followers of Jesus, and because Christianity is frequently associated with Russian imperialism and Armenian enmity, Christians are often harassed by law enforcement, threatened by heavy fines, and forced to avoid congregating because of the inability to adhere to strict regulations. Many citizens are imprisoned for worshipping without proper registration. Foreigners are also legally prohibited from proselytizing, making cross-cultural missions more challenging. These strict regulations cause many churches to both meet and minister in secret. But despite these challenges, the Christian church is beginning to flourish as the number of churches emerging in Azerbaijan increases every year.