BAKU, July 16 (AFP) - Norway's foreign ministry Friday issued a note to its counterpart in Azerbaijan after the Norwegian ambassador to the former Soviet country was accused of undiplomatic conduct.
Ambassador Steinar Gil said he had gone in person to Azerbaijan's foreign ministry building earlier Friday to hand in the note from his superiors in Norway's capital Oslo.
The note was a response to allegations from Azerbaijan's state-sanctioned Muslim authorities that on July 4 the ambassador, in a drunken state, had entered a mosque wearing his shoes and abused people outside.
According to Muslim tradition, it is a mark of grave disrespect to enter a mosque without first taking off one's shoes.
Gil would not disclose the content of the note but he denied the allegations against him and said Norway's foreign ministry had given him its complete support.
"All the accusations are completely denied," he told reporters. "I am well informed about mosques and churches and I can tell you that I would never allow (such things) to happen."
The allegations against the Norwegian ambassador relate to the Juma mosque in Azerbaijan's capital, Baku, where a dissident cleric has recently been ousted by the religious authorities.
Gil has been one of several Western diplomats who have expressed concern about events at the mosque, saying that the authorities are violating worshippers' religious freedoms there.
On the night of July 4, he was outside the mosque with journalists and another western diplomat when police walked in during a prayer ritual and began ejecting worshippers.
Azerbaijan's government said worshippers had been illegally occupying the mosque because they had failed to register as a religious community -- a requirement under the country's law.
Norway is one of the biggest investors in Azerbaijan. Its state oil company, Statoil, is a major partner in the country's biggest offshore oil field and in a massive natural gas field.