Armenia which has been continuing the occupation of Azerbaijani territories for about 25 years tries to portray the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as a confrontation between Muslims and Christians, said Ziyafat Asgarov, first vice-speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament.
He made the remarks at a panel session entitled “The role of parliaments in building trust and understanding in cultures and communities”, which was held as part of the 4th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue in Baku May 5, APA reported.
The vice-speaker noted that Armenia, through such attempts, aims to undermine relations between religions and peoples in Azerbaijan.
“However, all these efforts of Armenia are in vain. Azerbaijan has made an important contribution to the world by holding the first European Games and the Islamic Solidarity Games,” he added.
According to him, about 25 years ago, it was suggested that after the end of the Cold War, there is no longer any need to divide countries into the first, second and third ones, and the clash of civilizations and the Islamic world with the West will be inevitable.
Asgarov said that the emerging problems demonstrate the absence of an alternative to the unification of mankind. He called for joint efforts to address problems such as ethnic separatism, terrorism, epidemics, drug trafficking, etc.
“Globalization, on the one hand, paves the way for the establishment of relations among peoples, on the other hand, leads to tensions. It is necessary to work on convergence of civilizations through the establishment of cultural bridges. Parliaments play an important role in this respect,” he added.
Speaking about inter-parliamentary relations, Asgarov said the Azerbaijani parliament had established ties with the parliament of about 180 countries.
“Culture is an expression of the spirit of people. Dialogue among civilizations and cultures should be the goal of humanity. Azerbaijan is a model of the state that protects the rights of every person, regardless of their national and religious affiliation. Intercultural and interreligious dialogue, multiculturalism remain Azerbaijan’s state policy,” added the vice-speaker.
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