Russia, Yaroslavl/ corr. Trend R. Agayev/ "I have been familiar with the Khojali genocide of Azerbaijanis for many years from Internet; and learnt more about it during my visit to Azerbaijan last year. Though horrible, it unites Azerbaijanis," Separion, Chairman of the Missionary Department of the Yaroslavl Orthodox Eparchy and Celibate Priest said at the end of an event dedicated to the 16th anniversary of the Khojali genocide of Azerbaijanis held by the National and Cultural Autonomy of Azerbaijanis in Yaroslav with the support of Trend Agency and Azerros Media Holding.
The film Armenian Fascism by Roman Agayev, President of the international Karabakh Foundation, was shown at the event. The film won first place in the 2006 competition organised by the Ministry of National Defense of Azerbaijan in honour of the late journalist Samir Asgarkhanov.
According to the Orthodox priest, the solidarity of Azerbaijanis is evident in the current processes in Azerbaijan, and in the rise in national consciousness and standard of living of the people. "We are very glad that Azerbaijan had the fastest growth rate in its economy worldwide in 2006 and those who died at that time probably did not die in vain. They died for the happiness of their relatives and for all their compatriots," Priest Separion said.
Priest Separion, well aware of the history of Karabakh, said that there can be no doubt that Karabakh was once populated by residents of Caucasus Albania who were ancestors of Azerbaijanis. "Later one part of the population converted to Islam, the other part remained Christians. And the true Karabakh territory was located pretty far from the areas where Armenian stated it appeared," the Chairman of the Missionary Department of the Yaroslavl Orthodox Eparchy said.
According to Priest Separion, the Karabakh tragedy has not ended yet. "We know of another example, the Serbian people lost Kosovo, this territory is important to Serbs as Karabakh is important to Azerbaijanis. We are surprised that the international community supports only one party," the Priest said.
Speaking on the attitude of Russia to the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, the orthodox priest admitted the ambiguity of the approach to the conflict. According to the priest, on one hand, the government of the Russian empire supported the Armenian migration in the 19th century. On the other hand, when Azerbaijani khanates including Ganja, Karabakh, Iravan and others became part of the Russia empire, many representatives of Azerbaijani people in turn, became part of the elite of Russian empire.
According to the Priest, although there are some differences between Islam and Christianity they do not differ much in their moral principles. That is, all religions treat good and evil in a similar manner. "If evil appears in different parts of earth in a very horrible form, we must ask ourselves, why did it happen? We must pray to the Most High to stop the evil and open the eyes of those who became blind because of hatred. We should also behave better and remember those who died for his people," the Celibate Priest said.
He highly appreciated the religious toleration of Azerbaijanis and stated the care of the Azerbaijani government towards representatives of other religions, particularly those of Christianity, and said with pride that the bishop of Baku and of the Caspian region Vladka Aleksandr is a resident of Yaroslavl.
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