Azerbaijani religious figure: Armenian Church has not condemned genocide of Azerbaijanis in Khojaly yet

The spiritual leaders of the world will meet in Baku this April. Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Patriarch Cyril has conveyed an invitation to Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II to attend the meeting. In your opinion, will he trip to the Azerbaijani capital?

The fact that Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II has been invited to Baku shows that Azerbaijan is open for a dialogue and testifies to tolerance in the Azerbaijani society. In my opinion, Catholicos of All Armenians is unlikely to trip to Baku.

Do you consider the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to be inter-religious conflict?

Not at all. The Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict stemmed from Armenia’s territorial claims against Azerbaijan and separatism. Attempts to portray this conflict as interreligious are simply immoral. In addition, it is enough to recall the genocide of Azerbaijani civilians in Khojaly to ensure that the perpetrators of this terrible crime are far from the ideals of the Christian religion and human values, the most important of which is human life.

How great are opportunities of chairman of Caucasian Muslims Board (CMB) Sheikh ul-Islam Haji Allahshukur Pashazade and Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II in encouraging dialogue between our peoples and in the process of settling the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh conflict?

Their influence on the minds, attitudes and positions of our societies are great. So, Haji Allahshukur Pashazade and Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II can play a considerable and very important role in encouraging dialogue between our peoples and in the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Everything depends on sincerity of the Armenian side. In fact, as history shows, the Armenian Church has always advocated ideology of Dashnaksutyun party's which openly declares territorial and other claims not only to Azerbaijan, but also to other neighboring countries and peoples. This, of course, casts doubt on the sincerity of the Armenian church in settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Can we expect such a move by the Armenian Church?

Theoretically, Armenian side may take such a step. After all, repentance and public denial of the Armenian Church of the politics of violence and territorial claims to neighboring states were not only a sign of the triumph of Christian values but it also contributed to a climate of peace and good neighborliness in the region of South Caucasus.

Another question is whether such steps will actually be taken. Unfortunately, I am a pessimistic on this issue based on my own conclusions from the history. For example, the Armenian church has not condemned the genocide of Azerbaijanis in Khojaly so far, although the victims of this massacre were civilians, old people and children. Only this fact clearly demonstrates that NATO’ hopes that theoretically available opportunity of the Armenian Church to promote the process of settling the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be transformed into concrete steps in this direction are illusory.


/Day.Az/