Azeri Jewish head says USA behind attempt to split community

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Subject: Azeri Jewish head says USA behind attempt to split community

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Azeri Jewish head says USA behind attempt to split community


Azeri Jewish head says USA behind attempt to split community
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Jul 10, 2001
 
Text of report by Azerbaijani news agency Bilik Dunyasi on 9 July
 
Baku, 9 July: An incident occurred on Friday evening in Baku's
synagogue. A group of members of the [Jewish] community, accompanied
by burly minders, burst into the religious building and demanded that
a meeting of the community be held. These mutineers were headed by the
well-known actor and head of the Kherse Gershon organization,
Aleksandr Sharovskiy, and regional representatives of the Joint
organization in the Caucasus, Meyer Zizov. They demanded that Mikhail
Beyker, who has headed the Jewish community of Azerbaijan for the last
few years, should step down. There were threats and a fight. In the
end, they announced a new head of the community - the manager of the
Is Bankasi - Azerbaijan commercial bank, Gennadiy Zelmanovich.
 
Nothing like this has ever happened in the Jewish community before,
Beyker said. Asked by a Bilik Dunyasi correspondent, Beyker hinted
that the mutiny was staged to establish control over the community's
cash. This cash should considerably increase as there are plans to
repair the synagogue. The community is fairly well-off anyway. But
what prompted this appearance of the Joint representative and the
actor is unclear. Beyker himself is rather confused. He views this as
a split and, in fact, as dual power. But the actions of those causing
the split are illegal. "A meeting of the community can be summoned by
a decision of the board and elections are held once every three
years," he said. He is also inclined to suspect that the motives for
the plot lie outside Baku. Beyker, who consider himself to be the
legally-elected head of the community, intends to issue a sharp
statement. He is accusing some forces in the USA enjoying the support
of a number of Jewish organizations, and the US embassy in Baku of
being behind this split.
 
"We will not allow the Americans to interfere in Azerbaijan's internal
affairs and split the friendly family of Azerbaijani Jews. We are
going to make a statement of protest," he told Bilik Dunyasi.
 
Zelmanovich was less keen to speak. He declined to discuss the story,
saying he was busy.
 
Source:Bilik Dunyasi, Baku, in Russian 9 Jul 01

/BBC Monitoring/ � BBC.
 
World Reporter All Material Subject to Copyright

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