Azernews.Az

BAKU – Russian Patriarch Kirill has said he will help to secure the return of the body of Azerbaijani soldier killed in a frontline shooting with Armenian troops.

Warrant officer Mubariz Ibrahimov, posthumously declared a National Hero for his exemplary bravery, killed several Armenian soldiers in a clash in June on the contact line separating Armenian and Azerbaijani forces. His body remained on the Armenian side and has yet to be returned to Azerbaijan.

Talking to the press after meeting the chairman of the Caucasus Muslims Office, Allahshukur Pashazada, in Moscow Tuesday, Patriarch Kirill said: "I received a letter from the esteemed Sheikh ul-Islam and will do what is required of me. But this issue is not decided on one side; several consultations are required. Let’s see what the result will be."

Asked whether a further meeting of the Patriarch, Sheikh and the Armenian Catholicos was planned to help settle the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno Karabakh, the Patriarch replied: "We have never stopped; these meetings take place regularly. There was a meeting not long ago in Baku."

A meeting is not planned at present, he said, but "if the need arises, I think the three leaders will be happy to meet in order to help tackle the existing problems".

During their meeting Tuesday, Pashazada, who is a co-chairman of the CIS Inter-Religious Council alongside the Russian Church leader, welcomed the international role of Patriarch Kirill.

"I will say openly that you are starting a new page in Azerbaijan’s history and in the life of Azerbaijani Muslims, because it is with your assistance that the Catholicos of All Armenians and other world religious leaders came to Baku to attend the inter-faith summit [in April] and we are grateful for your work," the Sheikh said.

He also thanked the Patriarch for his support for Azerbaijan’s initiative on a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: "It is very significant for our nation and for all Muslims. The Patriarch enjoys great authority not only in the Orthodox world, but in the entire Islamic world too."

For his part, Patriarch Kirill praised Pashazada’s efforts.

"I would like to thank you for the enormous amount of work you have done for many, many years as the supreme Islamic leader in the Caucasus and as someone with very great authority in the Islamic world," Kirill said.

"The inter-faith world in Azerbaijan and the huge CIS area greatly depends on the words and actions of the Sheikh," the Patriarch said.

April’s inter-faith summit in Baku "had a great positive impact on the work of the CIS Inter-religious Council and moved inter-religious dialogue from a purely religious matter to the state religious level," he said.