Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

Berlin hosted an evening of German-Azerbaijani friendship on December 1, organized by the Azerbaijan Student Network with the support of Deutsche Gesellschaft and the Azerbaijani embassy in Germany.

Members of the Bundestag, employees, diplomats, policy experts and academics discussed various aspects of bilateral relations: from history and culture to the economy and foreign policy.

The topics of the event were the centuries-old and highly varied traditions of the harmonious German-Azerbaijani relations.

Addressing the event, Azerbaijani Ambassador Parviz Shahbazov noted the importance of bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Germany, considering the intercultural exchange as well as the economic partnerships.

Chairman of the Board of the German-Azerbaijani Forum Hanns-Eberhard-Schleyer, explained the role of the Forum as one key point in the relationships between these two countries.

Chief Executive of the Azerbaijan Student Network Ibrahim Ahmadov, in turn, emphasized that these two cultures have common values, as Azerbaijan is a country where women were given the right to vote earlier than in many European countries.

Chair of the History of Azerbaijan at the Humboldt University in Berlin Eva-Maria Auch, held a keynote speech about the historical development of the Swabian life in South Caucasus.

She underlined the respect and tolerance with which the Germans were welcomed and pointed out that interreligious and intercultural exchange was nothing new to the Azerbaijani people.

Member of the German Parliament Gunther Krichbaum stressed out the strategic role Azerbaijan plays for Germany and the EU.

He touched upon the issue of the still on-going Nagorno-Karabakh conflict pointing out that Armenia is contrary to international law occupying Nagorno-Karabakh and 7 regions, a territory which is legally part of Azerbaijan. He also mentioned the problem of refugees, who had to flee from their homes during the Nagorno-Karabakh occupation, and still cannot return.

The bloody war, which flared up in the late 1980s due to Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor, left the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh and the regions adjoining it, as well as the regions bordering with Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh without homes.

Moreover, over 250,000 Azerbaijanis were expelled from Armenia and became refugees due to Armenia's ethnic cleansing policy after the emergence of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan.

Parviz Shahbazov voiced his hope that Germany will do more to dissolve this conflict, considering the fact that Germany will take over the Presidency of the OSCE.