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Elmar Mammadyarov attends Annual Coordination Meeting of OIC Foreign Ministers

28 September 2013 15:20 (UTC +04:00)

Foreign Ministry’s press service told APA that Mammadyarov addressed the meeting: “Being committed to the letter and spirit of the OIC Charter, Azerbaijan fully supports the activity of the organization and the adopted Ten-Year Program of Action. In the framework of the successful implementation of this task last year Azerbaijan voluntarily contributed three millions US Dollars to the General Secretariat of OIC. Furthermore, Azerbaijan has recently hosted two successful conferences, namely, “The donor’s conference to finance the strategic plan for the development of the city of Al-Quds Al-Sharif” and “The establishment of Islamic financial safety net in support of the state of Palestine”.

As part of its presidency of the Security Council in October 2013, Azerbaijan intends to convene a high-level meeting with the purpose of exploring ideas and measures for strengthening the partnership synergy between the United Nations and the OIC. Azerbaijan is deeply concerned over the escalating violence in Syria that claimed so many innocent lives and endangers regional and international security

As all of you are aware, Armenia continues to use force to sustain military occupation of a substantial part of territories of Azerbaijan and to prevent one million Azerbaijani refugees and IDP’s from returning to their homes.

No single Azerbaijani historic and cultural monument was left undamaged and no mosque and other sacred site escaped desecration both in the occupied territories and in Armenia. The situation is further complicated by Armenia’s irresponsible and unacceptable behavior in the overly sensitive domain of justice and reconciliation, as perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including acts of genocide against Azerbaijani people, not only remain unpunished, but even promoted and venerated.

Azerbaijan has consistently demonstrated its adherence to a negotiated settlement of the conflict on the basis of the generally accepted norms and principles of international law and the relevant UN Security Council and OIC Resolutions. Consideration of this issue within the OIC is a yet another test for the resolve and consistency of its Member States in defending the principles and values of our organization. In that regards, I would like to thank the Member States for their continued support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and their condemnation of Armenian aggression.

We voiced our grave concern over the fact that during the last decades the notion of “Islamophobia” appeared and open up in some countries. Azerbaijan has and will always call to combat defamation of religions and incitement to religious hatred and actively engage in promoting interreligious and intercultural dialogue.”