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By Amina Nazarli

Armed conflicts, terror acts, refugee and migrant crisis, devastating humanitarian situation in certain countries, pervasive misconceptions about religion and many more other impediments for peace and security continue to exist in our vulnerable and fragile world.

Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov made the remarks at a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Tashkent on October 18.

To the deepest regret, at the moment a number of OIC Member States are face to face with the above-mentioned challenges, he said.

Today’s session gives us great opportunity to address one of the main root causes for the existence of these challenges - which is the lack of education and rise of ignorance that are rapidly gaining pace in our modern world.
The slogan of our session “Education and Enlightenment – Path to Peace and Creativity” is as though intended to remind us that the key to success in combating the problems confronting our world is laid in education, the minister said.

”Education is the primary engine as well as the guarantee for the sustainable development of an individual, a family, a community, a country and of our world. Education and enlightenment are the main forces that can strengthen solidarity among Muslims, eradicate the trend of Islamophobia, counter extremism, promote culture of tolerance and lead to conditions conducive to the peaceful co-existence of the people representing different cultures, religions and nationalities. It is education that brings prosperity and welfare of the humanity,” he said.

Mammadyarov further said that as a country which believes that peace and security is achievable through education, science, culture and dialogue, Azerbaijan has transformed into the hub of events fostering dialogue of cultures and civilizations such as 7th Global Forum of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue.

“Last month we hosted the 5th Baku International Humanitarian Forum which included panels on a wide range of global issues in the interest of all humanity with the participation of renowned guests, among which were Nobel Prize Laureates. Besides this, as a country which has always been at the forefront endeavoring to foster Islamic solidarity Azerbaijan is honored to host the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games in Baku next year,” he said.

We all acknowledge that one of the primary reasons and factors contributing to the emergence of Islamophobia is undoubtedly violent extremism and terrorism, the minister emphasized.

“Azerbaijan strongly and unequivocally condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, committed by whomever, wherever and for whatever purposes, as one of the most serious threats to international peace and security,” he said.

Mammadyarov also touched upon Azerbaijan’s full support to the brotherly people of Palestine in their struggle for achieving peace, stability and establishment of an independent State.

“Azerbaijan stands for the two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which is the only guarantee of achieving the long-awaited, comprehensive, lasting and just peace, security and sustainable development in this sacred land. We highly commend the work done by the OIC in supporting the Palestinian people and serving the Palestinian cause,” he said.

The FM also mentioned Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, noting that Armenia continues to hold its destructive position in the negotiation process of the conflict by totally disregarding the position of the international community and flagrantly violating the international law.

“Azerbaijan reiterates its sincere gratitude to OIC Secretary General and OIC Member States for their constant principled position in condemnation of the Armenian aggression and occupation of Azerbaijani territories with notorious ethnic cleansing on the seized lands. We highly appreciate the establishment of the OIC Contact Group on the aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan. We believe that the work of this Contact Group will contribute to the implementation of the relevant OIC and UN resolutions and help to harmonize the individual and joint efforts to this end,” he said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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