Details added (first version posted on 19:06)
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 8
Trend:
There have been no clashes on national or religious grounds in Azerbaijan and there will not be any, said Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.
"The country maintains public order. Azerbaijan is one of the safest countries in the world. Azerbaijani citizens are well aware of that. Numerous tourists who visit the country see that," the president said at the 6th congress of the New Azerbaijan Party on Feb. 8.
"Safety and stability are the factors that show us in a favorable light. At the same time, all freedoms are ensured and must be ensured in the country. This is our policy.”
The president stressed that new actions will be taken in the future in connection with democratic development, and political reforms will be continued.
"Great results have been recently achieved in this direction and this is an ongoing process,” he said. “We have to try to get closer to the standards of the world's most developed countries in terms of democracy, and we will do that.”
“Today, the situation is very good and positive,” the president added. “All freedoms – freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of assembly are fully ensured and will be ensured. This is our principled policy. I am fully confident that if we want to turn Azerbaijan into a developed country - and we want that - political and economic reforms must be continued simultaneously."
President Aliyev stressed that freedom of conscience in Azerbaijan is fully ensured and will be further ensured.
"Azerbaijan will continue to develop successfully as a multi-confessional, multi-national country,” the president said. “All nations, representatives of all religions in our country will continue to live as one family in the future. This is our great wealth; this is one of the main conditions for the country’s successful development, the main condition for civil solidarity, civil peace.”
"There have been no clashes, no misunderstandings on national or religious grounds in Azerbaijan, and there will not be any,” President Aliyev said. “This is the state policy and this policy is fully supported by the Azerbaijani people. Through their work, their labor all peoples, representatives of all religions living in Azerbaijan make a great contribution as valuable citizens to the country’s development."