2014 Council of Europe Exchange on the religious dimension of intercultural dialogue
Baku, Azerbaijan – 1 and 2 September 2014
“Intercultural dialogue: interaction between culture and religion”
Speech by Mr. Mubariz Gurbanly, Chairman of the State Committee for the Work with Religious Organizations
Dear participants of the meeting,
Dear ladies and gentlemen,
Dear guests,
It is a great honor of mine to welcome you here on behalf of Azerbaijani Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. I am hopeful that this exchange meeting held in Baku will enable you to have both fruitful discussions and an impressive and pleasant stay in our country. I think that the exchange meeting starting today in Baku will contribute to the broadening of interreligious and intercultural co-operation in the world and enhance properly the process of creating a much desired environment in pan-European space as stated in the address of H.E. Mr. Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the participants of exchange meeting.
Religions that form the core of cultures are regarded as a starting point and a preview of the system of universal values. In this context, the dialogue between religions can be seen as a preliminary stage of intercultural dialogue or a prerequisite and a main dimension that enables it.
Today, it becomes necessary to build interreligious and intercultural dialogue in Europe and mobilize efforts of all international organizations, prestigious religious centres and various nations to establish peace and prosperity in the world. In this regard, Azerbaijan is very active in accomplishing properly its important mission and honouring its obligations. If in the first decade of independence, Azerbaijan has been an active participant of interreligious and intercultural dialogue in the world, from now on, we can say that it has become a driving force of this process. Currently, Baku hosts once every two years the World Forum for Intercultural Dialogue, the World Summit of Religious Leaders and many other international events of this kind. International Multiculturalism Centre located in Azerbaijan, which is unprecedented in world practice, is another proof of this.
The organization of the exchange meeting on the religious dimension of intercultural dialogue is a milestone event for the Republic of Azerbaijan. This important gathering is an integral part of our main Chairmanship priorities. These priorities are to respect norms and principles of international law and uphold the justice. By hosting the exchange meeting, we declare our goals to unite all efforts in promoting tolerance, dialogue and mutual understanding and express our readiness for co-operation with all parties. Bloody events unfolded this summer in Iraq, which is not so far from Azerbaijan, demonstrate how serious is the threat of extremism.
As a country with Muslim majority, Azerbaijan has various ethnic and religious groups that live in the conditions of peaceful coexistence. Throughout the history, representatives of all peoples and religions in our country were always united by their links of friendship. People of different religions and confessions have played an exceptional role in the peace and prosperity conditions held in hundreds of years, preservation of ethnic and cultural diversity until our days and upholding cultural and moral values of our people. We are very glad that the system of these values has been further fostered in the period of development of Azerbaijan as an independent nation.
As multinational and multi-confessional State, today Azerbaijan attaches a particular importance to its relations with international community and the development of its bilateral and multilateral ties of co-operation. The religious policy of the Government of Azerbaijan is based upon the principles of building a democratic State and a regulation of relations between the State and the Religion at national, moral and legal levels. As all freedoms, the freedom of conscience and faith are ensured by the Constitution in our country.
Following the restoration of Azerbaijan’s independence, the relations between religions and ethnic groups in our country have become stronger in accordance with the Statehood concept of Heydar Aliyev, our national leader and become one of priorities of public policies in this field. Successfully realizing the political course of national leader Heydar Aliyev, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev is currently guaranteeing and ensuring the freedom of faith and the multicultural harmony in Azerbaijan. Today, the holy places of all confessions in Azerbaijan – mosques, churches, synagogues and others – are operated in the conditions of freedom and tolerance. Attaching a huge importance to the preservation of our national and moral values, the restoration of our historical and cultural monuments, Madam Mehriban Aliyeva, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, UNESCO and ISESCO Goodwill Ambassador has helped to refurbish several mosques and sanctuaries, and is particularly attentive to the restoration of Christian and Jewish monuments. This is an exceptional case to be mentioned.
It goes without saying that today, one of the prestigious organizations with which Azerbaijan is particularly interested to cooperate, is the Council of Europe. Successful reforms conducted in economic and political spheres have ensured the fostering of Azerbaijan’s positions as a leader country of the region and helped us to become one of respected members of the larger European family.
As a State differing by a unique model of religious tolerance, we are very attentive and interested to talk about issues of intercultural dialogue, and continue our activities to combat discrimination and intolerance in Europe via many initiatives in the framework of our Chairmanship in the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.
The number of societies with various compositions is increasing gradually in the contemporary Europe. Therefore, our governments should pay a particular attention to the main issues: to ensure better governance in cultural diversity, foster mutual respect and broaden understanding. This issue is very important when Europe faces economic crisis.
The Council of Europe has drafted useful guidelines on these issues for member countries and presented a White Paper for Intercultural Dialogue stressing the importance of intercultural dialogue in attaining continuous and prosperous societies. The Committee of Ministers has also set main standards and principles related to the recommendations on intercultural education, language skills and history teaching.
We do believe that a constructive exchange of views will take place at the exchange meeting to establish dialogue and mutual understanding among people of different religions and cultures when religious extremism and radicalism are rising in our today’s world, and valuable recommendations will be given.
I wish you all a sound health in our noble and responsible mission and successes to the exchange meeting of the Council of Europe.