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Akbar Novruz

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Azerbaijan remains committed to preserving Christian heritage on its territory as part of the country’s history, Presidential Assistant Hikmet Hajiyev said during a Euronews Forum panel in Dubai on Wednesday.

Speaking at the Arab Media Summit, Hajiyev said the peace process with Armenia remained difficult, while arguing that both sides needed to prepare their societies for peace.

“Probably Armenian government and Armenian leadership should work to prepare their people for the peace as well,” Hajiyev said.

“Now we won the war, but we are also winning in peace which is an uphill struggle,” he added.

Hajiyev, who heads the Foreign Policy Affairs Department of Azerbaijan’s Presidential Administration, said Azerbaijan did not view the destruction of religious and cultural sites during the years of occupation as grounds for revenge.

“Throughout the years of occupation in Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur, our mosques, our Islamic cultural heritage were a subject of complete destruction by Armenia, even the pigs were put inside of the mosques,” he said.

“We are not taking it as a sign of revenge, but it's our history and our heritage and we cannot forget that,” Hajiyev added.

He stressed that Azerbaijan’s cultural heritage also encompasses the country’s Christian and Jewish history.

“Currently, three religions, Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, with mosques, churches, and synagogues, are side by side” in Azerbaijan, Hajiyev said.

“Azerbaijan is dedicated to preserving the Christian heritage on the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan, regardless of their belonging, and that is a full stop because it's our cultural heritage,” he added.

Hajiyev also highlighted Azerbaijan’s historical links to different religious traditions, saying he was “more than proud that my country is one of the first places of Zoroastrianism.”

“It’s also one of the first places of Christianity since the fourth century: Christianity was adopted by the (Caucasian) Kingdom of Albania as an official religion,” he said, adding that Azerbaijan was “also one of the first countries that adopted Islam.”

Caucasian Albania was an ancient kingdom located in parts of present-day Azerbaijan and southern Dagestan and is unrelated to the modern Balkan state of Albania.

Armenian church authorities have disputed Azerbaijan’s record regarding religious sites, accusing Baku of demolishing churches in Karabakh. Azerbaijan rejects those allegations.

Hajiyev criticizes European Parliament over South Caucasus policy

Hajiyev also criticized the European Parliament and some Western media outlets over their approach to the South Caucasus, arguing that Azerbaijan continues to face what he described as disinformation despite efforts to establish peace with Armenia.

“One such institution is the European Parliament which is not part of the solution, it's part of the problem,” Hajiyev said.

“The European Parliament is adopting resolutions and decisions, humiliating and also undermining the agenda of peace of our region,” he added.

“We are in the process of building regional peace, but the European Parliament is pursuing some completely different agenda.”

Hajiyev said the European Union’s policy toward the South Caucasus should take a broader regional approach.

“The EU’s policy towards the South Caucasus shouldn't be only a one-centric approach, it should embrace the entire region with balanced cooperation with the regional countries,” he said.

He added that EU policy should focus on “building the concept of the new partnership ... and not to build into dividing lines.”

Hajiyev also pointed to Azerbaijan’s role in European energy security, saying the country supplies natural gas to 16 EU member states as well as other European countries.

He said the Middle Corridor connectivity project could further strengthen ties between Azerbaijan and the European Union.

Copyright: Euronews