Religion in Armenia serves Yerevan's occupation policy: Azerbaijani official
By Trend
A religious figure should serve to creation of peace and tranquility between nations, said Siyavush Novruzov, chairman of the Azerbaijani parliamentary committee on public associations and religious organizations, Trend reports March 5.
He was speaking at an international conference “From Interreligious and Inter-civilizational Dialogue to Cooperation.”
Unfortunately, in Armenia, religion serves occupation policy, and religious figures support this, he said.
He noted that instead of condemning, religious leaders in Armenia advocate the continuation of occupation policy.
“Despite repeated appeals to Armenian religious leaders regarding the return of the bodies of martyrs, they refused to respond positively to these appeals,” he added. “A so-called trial was held over Dilgam Asgarov and Shahbaz Guliyev, their rights were violated. Appeals in this direction didn’t meet a positive reaction of Armenian religious leaders, either. Therefore, events like this should be carried out in all countries to prevent such phenomena.”
Novruzov added that some states under the veil of religion are taking certain steps to fulfill their interests.
“Such actions negatively affect religious relations, lead to the deterioration of ties of friendship and neighborhood between the nations and the relations between states,” he said.
During an operation in July 2014 in Shaplar village of Azerbaijani Kalbajar district occupied by Armenia, the Armenian special forces killed an Azerbaijani, Hasan Hasanov, and took hostage two other Azerbaijanis, Shahbaz Guliyev and Dilgam Asgarov. A "criminal case" was initiated against them. Afterwards, a "court" sentenced Asgarov to life imprisonment and Guliyev to 22 years in prison.
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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