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Abbas Ganbay

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In the annual report on the state of religious freedoms in the countries of the world prepared by the U.S. Department of State, the Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of Azerbaijan Sabina Aliyeva considers it biased to mention official Baku among the countries where religious freedom is violated, Azernews reports.

The Human Rights Ombudsman said in his statement that historically in Azerbaijan people belonging to different religions lived in peace and kindness:

"Recently, multiculturalism and tolerance have been implemented at the level of state policy, and several measures have been implemented in our country to promote inter-religious dialogue. According to Article 25 of the Constitution of Azerbaijan, it is prohibited to restrict human and civil rights and freedoms on the grounds of race, ethnicity, religion, language, sex, origin, creed, political and social affiliation.

It is not by chance that Azerbaijan is included in the list of the most religiously tolerant States in the world, where an exemplary model of multiculturalism and interreligious dialogue has been formed and there are no cases of anti-Semitism or religious discrimination. In our country, along with mosques, Catholic and Orthodox churches, including the Armenian Church, and Jewish synagogues operate as places of worship for believers. Clear indicators of this fact are the creation of conditions for people to freely exercise their religious beliefs, the high level of guarantee of the right to freedom of conscience, and the almost complete absence of complaints to the Ombudsman on this issue during his tenure.

Therefore, in the annual report on the state of religious freedoms in the countries of the world, prepared by the U.S. Department of State, we consider it biased to mention the name of Azerbaijan among the countries where religious freedom is violated".

S.Aliyeva reiterates that information contained in the report about Azerbaijan has no grounds, and considers it important to conduct responsible, reflecting reality and fact-based analysis when preparing such documents, without allowing double standards:

" At the same time, contrary to what was noted in the report, it is Azerbaijan that for many years suffered from the policy of occupation, ethnic cleansing of Armenia, religious and historical mass destruction of monuments, including mosques, places of worship, falsification of religious monuments, We would like to once again remind the attention of the compilers of this document that numerous cemeteries belonging to Azerbaijanis were destroyed and desecrated in the occupied lands for almost 30 years, including in the territory of Armenia.

The above facts give grounds to say that behind the report prepared by the US State Department, there is a biased policy aimed at creating a negative opinion about our country in the world community."

" Azerbaijani Ombudsman Institute constantly makes sure that equal opportunities are provided to everyone, regardless of religion, language, race, and other characteristics. At the same time, we build our activities based on the principle "no one should lag" reflected in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the concept of uniting efforts of all for the sake of further strengthening stability, a multicultural and tolerant environment, friendship and brotherly relations between indigenous peoples.

"As the Azerbaijani Ombudsman, I would like to emphasise once again that the publication of such unfounded and biased reports and statements by the International Commission on Religious Freedom of the US State Department is unacceptable," the Ombudsman said.

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