Azeri church sparks political row

The restoration of a centuries-old Christian church in predominantly Muslim Azerbaijan is hanging in the balance amid a row over wall inscriptions.

The local Udi people, a Christian community, removed lettering they say was put there by Armenian Christians.

The white-stone building in the northern mountain village of Nij is undergoing renovation with funding from a Norwegian charity, the Norwegian Humanitarian Enterprise, but the organisation is unhappy about the alterations.

The Udis say they erased the inscriptions over the entrance to the church and next to the altar to right a historic wrong.

Armenians, they contend, put the lettering there long after the church was built so they could lay claim to it.