Azerbaijan pays particular importance to Islamic countries
By Sara Rajabova
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said on December 9 that Baku has always paid particular importance to the development of relations with Islamic countries.
Mammadyarov made the remarks at the 40th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation dubbed "Dialogue of Civilizations: Factor of Peace and Sustainable Development".
"Being closely linked through historical, religious and cultural roots with Islamic Ummah (nation), Azerbaijan has always paid particular importance to the development of relations in the political, economic, cultural and other fields with the Islamic countries," Mammadyarov said.
He said due to its geographical location - at the crossroads of Europe and Asia - Azerbaijan has been a bridge between civilizations for centuries.
Mammadyarov added that Azerbaijan has always promoted Islamic cultural and spiritual values all over the world.
He also said the organization and hosting of international events aimed to promote the inter-civilization contacts, such as the World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue, International Humanitarian Forum, as well as the 8th session of UNESCO intergovernmental committee for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage are among the vivid examples of this mission.
"In this regard, I would like to stress the importance of the dialogue among civilizations in the modern world," Mammadyarov said.
He went on to say the topic of "Dialogue of civilizations, factor for peace and sustainable development" once again demonstrates that peace is inseparable from dialogue.
Mammadyarov said dialogue between civilizations has the potential to become an engine for bolstering peace and security, conciliating conflicts, reinforcing cultural diversity and advancing sustainable development.
"Fostering dialogue among civilizations is crucially important to build tolerance and deepen mutual understanding between people and countries, particularly in a time when certain misperceptions exist among them," he said.
He further noted that Azerbaijan has always called for toughened combat against defamation of religions and incitement to religious hatred.
"Today, it is very important to consolidate our efforts within the OIC to prevent existing trend of Islamophobia," Mammadyarov said.
He said the Islamophobia-affected approach towards Muslims is not just unacceptable, it also makes necessary to reinforce dialogue and solidarity among the Muslim countries to counter the phenomena.
In regards to the occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenian armed forces, Mammadyarov said that, "Azerbaijan reiterates its sincere gratitude to the Islamic Ummah, to each OIC member state and OIC Secretariat, for their long standing position in condemnation of the Armenian occupation of 20 percent of my country's territories with notorious ethnic cleansing on the seized lands. We are particularly grateful to OIC Member States for their call for immediate, unconditional and complete withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from all our occupied territories, as it is demanded by the relevant resolutions and decisions of the UN Security Council, the OIC and other international organizations."
OIC member states expressed concern over the occupation of Azerbaijani territories and looting and destruction of the archeological, cultural and religious monuments in those areas, including Islamic monuments in the resolution adopted by the organization during the OIC summit in Dakar, Senegal in 2008.
Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that had caused a lengthy war in the early 1990s.
Mammadyarov said strengthening cooperation with OIC Member States in political, economic, cultural and other areas is one of the main priorities of Azerbaijan's foreign policy.
He said by promoting OIC objectives and Islamic values, Azerbaijan is engaged in all the activities and programs being implemented by the OIC.
He went on to say that Azerbaijan is also committed to continue its humanitarian assistance to OIC member states in need. He pointed out that Azerbaijan International Development Agency together with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) arranged humanitarian aid to nine African members of OIC as part of the "Fight against avoidable blindness" campaign.
"Azerbaijan is very pleased to observe that the cooperation between OIC and UN has become much more significant in recent years and has taken the form of close consultations and collaboration in different areas," the official said.
"Due to the fact that many political conflicts arouse within the OIC region, our Organization has to be more active in dealing with maintaining peace and security issues. Therefore, we consider UN-OIC cooperation as a strategic one, including most and utmost synergy between OIC and UN Security Council," Mammadyarov said.
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister further said that the Cooperation Council of the Turkic Speaking States has applied to the OIC for obtaining Observer Status.
Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Turkey are members of the regional organization. The mentioned countries are concurrently members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) as well.
"As the Chairman-in-Office of the Cooperation Council of the Turkic Speaking States, Azerbaijan believes that participation of our organization as a regional cooperation mechanism in the work of the OIC, by obtaining Observer Status, will contribute to the achievement of goals shared by both of the organizations," he concluded.
Azerbaijan was the first among the CIS countries that appealed to become a member of the OIC and in 1991 joined the organization.