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Ali Hasanov: Azerbaijan known as multicultural, tolerant state worldwide

06 May 2017 08:41 (UTC +04:00)

The current stage of the development of international relations is experiencing complex and contradictory processes that change the geopolitical picture of the world, said Ali Hasanov, Azerbaijani president's aide for public and political issues.

The tendencies of the formation of a multipolar system increase the importance of inclusive dialogue that has a positive impact on the enhancement of relations between civilizations and cultures, said Hasanov addressing a panel session titled “Inclusive dialogue in globalization period”, which was held as of the IV World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue in Baku May 6, APA reported.

The session was moderated by Nathalie Guillaume, political analyst and public officer at the UNAOC.

Hasanov pointed to certain problems with regard to the impact of globalization on ensuring peace and stability.

“Along with the positive impacts of globalization that emerged after the end of the Cold War, the experience of the last 25 years shows that there are certain problems with regard to the impact of globalization on ensuring peace and stability. Globalization on the one hand gives impetus to the processes of international integration, on the other hand, creates conditions for the emergence of intercultural and inter-civilizational confrontation,” said the president’s assistant.

The observations show that issues related to regional and international security are not only of military and political nature, but at the same time cover socio-economic and intercultural relations, he noted.

At the same time, inclusive dialogue is also important for the peoples to live in peace and prosperity, but, unfortunately, today there are approaches that don’t allow to objectively assess the dialogue’s essence, he said.

Ali Hasanov added that Azerbaijan, located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, highly assesses the role of inclusive dialogue for ensuring of civilized peaceful coexistence and pursues an active policy in this direction.

Azerbaijan is known in the world as a multicultural and tolerant multi-ethnic state, he stressed.

He noted with regret that the religious, racial and national intolerance, as well as separatism, existing today in the world, lead people becoming refugees and migrants.

Azerbaijan, which suffered from Armenia’s policy of ethnic cleansing and occupation, as a result of which over a million of Azerbaijani citizens became refugees and IDPs, is well aware of difficulties related to this problem, Hasanov said.

Therefore, ensuring the return of these refugees and IDPs to their native land should become the main part of the inclusive dialogue, he added.

The presidential aide hailed the special role of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation in promoting inclusive dialogue.

"Over the past years, the Heydar Aliyev Foundation has implemented many projects to restore historical and cultural monuments, in particular in France, the Vatican, Italy and Bulgaria. Thanks to the activities of the Foundation, the places of worship belonging to various religions were repaired in Azerbaijan, and cultural and educational centers for various ethnic groups were created in the country,” he added.