Kazakhstan, Astana, July 2 / Trend , K.Konirova / Religious leader of Muslims of the Caucasus declared his readiness to dialogue with the Catholicos of all Armenians.
"As a chairman of the Advisory Council of the Muslim Leaders of the CIS states, I have sent the Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II an invitation to an international conference on inter-religious dialogue and cooperation. And whether he will come or not will depend on his decision. In my turn, I am always ready for dialogue," Head of Caucasian Muslims Department Allahshukur Pashazadeh said Trend in Astana on July 2.
International conference on inter-religious dialogue and cooperation will be held in Baku on April 25-27, 2010.
The invitees will only include the clergy, and the number of invited people is wide, said Pashazade. "We intend to invite even the Pope," he said.
Talking about the attempts of the religious forces of Armenia to use the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as a ground for religious wars, Pashazadeh said that the problem was particularly acute in the beginning of the conflict. "We call those killed at that time as martyrs. And what we saw then caused only resentment. The bodies of dead Muslims were carved with crosses - the Christian symbol. At that time, the conflict had become the confrontation of two religions. At that time, the Patriarch of Moscow Alexy helped me that the conflict had not turned into a conflict on religious grounds," said Pashazadeh.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan lost all of Nagorno-Karabakh except for Shusha and Khojali in December 1991. In 1992-93, Armenian armed forces occupied Shusha, Khojali and 7 districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. - are currently holding the peace negotiations.
Religious leaders have always acted and will act for the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, but we support a peaceful solution to the conflict, said Pashazadeh. "Then we made a proposal to free hostages and prisoners of war. And we were able to release several people. Therefore, I would like to note that the meetings of religious leaders gave good results, and we would like to continue the cooperation," he said.
According to him, today the religious leaders are ready to help the politicians to resolve conflicts, but not through force, but through negotiation and peace.
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