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Press conference held at RIA Novosti regarding murder of Azerbaijani religious figure

12 April 2012 15:46 (UTC +04:00)

Moscow. Farid Akberov â€“ APA. Press conference was held regarding the murder of Azerbaijani religious figure in the capital of Russia. APAâ€™s Moscow correspondent reports that the press conference was held at RIA Novosti international information agency. Chairman of the Russian Congress of Jewish Religious Organizations Zinovy Kogan offered his condolences to the family of Metin Mehdiyev. He said such incidents in the Russian society may separate the country.

â€œThere is a very bad tendency in the Russian society. People have already been accustomed to everything. 4-5 people kill one in Moscow. The Russian people are indifferent to such incidents. We must not be accustomed to it. We hope the murderers of Metin Mehdiyev will be found soon and punished,â€ he said.

Top adviser of Russian Muftis Council Abdul-Vahid Niyazov said that he had known Mehdiyev since 2000: â€œMetin was my closest friend. He married last year. His child was born two months ago. Metin was going to shopping on the day of incident. He was killed cruelly outside his homeâ€. Niyazov said that law-enforcement bodies were not guilty in such cases occurring in Russian society: â€œThe society is ill. The friendship between nations is not seen in education and media. The education system and media donâ€™t speak about it. It is not the first case of nationalism. There were many such incidents. Such cases will reiterate unless Russia has its national policy regulating the ethnic relationsâ€.

Niyazov said Azerbaijani Federal National Cultural Autonomy and Russian Congress of Caucasian Peoples addressed Russian General Prosecutor Yury Chayka on the rapid clearance of Mehdiyevâ€™s murder: â€œThe investigative bodies proposed a version that the murder was committed for the purpose of robbery. A group of five persons wouldnâ€™t kill cruelly and rob a man, who has plain living in the center of Moscow. If we consider that the punishment for gang offense is between 15-20 years of imprisonment, the commitment of this crime for the purpose of robbery raise doubts. We hope that this crime will be rapidly solvedâ€.

President of National-Cultural Autonomy of Azerbaijanis in Russia Soyun Sadikhov said that the people hate each other in Russian society: â€œUnfortunately this hatred has been existed for 20 years in Russian society. But Russian authority ignores it. Even schoolchildren became murderers in Russia. Only Azerbaijani journalists are covering this conference. It is impossible to see Russian leading journalists here. Mass media can provide necessary educational work among society.â€

Political analyst, member of the Public Chamber Sergei Markov made a speech at the conference and negatively estimated non-existence of inter-ethnic and inter-religious agreement: â€œBeing multinational is the richness of Russia. The lessons on Islam, Christian and Judaism religions must be taught in the secondary schools. The worldâ€™s richest countries also face ethnic conflicts. Russia has its own policy to regulate ethnic relations.â€

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