Leaders of religious denominations in Azerbaijan issued a joint statement regarding the action on the Shusha-Lachin road.

According to the information given to APA by the Administration of Caucasian Muslims, the statement reads:

"We, the leaders of the religious denominations operating in Azerbaijan, expressed the desire and will of our communities, on the Shusha-Lachin road, which is the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan recognized by the international community, representatives of non-governmental organizations, intellectuals, youth, ecologists and journalists in Azerbaijan, where the Russian peacekeeping contingent is temporarily located. We consider it important to state the following regarding the appeals spread by the Armenian side, especially the Armenian church, in order to mislead public opinion regarding the peaceful protest action against environmental terrorism and illegal exploitation of natural resources on their lands.

First of all, it should be noted that the protestors, who are representatives of civil society, have been holding slogans against the looting of natural resources and environmental damage for more than a week.

Protesters chant slogans demanding an end to the looting of Azerbaijan's natural resources and pollution of its ecology.

According to research conducted by independent activists, illegal exploitation activities are carried out in Azerbaijan's "Qizilbulaq" gold field and "Demirli" copper-molybdenum field, and despite the prior agreement on the monitoring of this activity, they were not allowed to those facilities by the separatist forces.

We unequivocally state that the information spread by the Armenian side, especially by Echmiadzi, is false and slanderous, and the claims that the peaceful protest action of NGOs caused a humanitarian crisis are completely untrue.

In the videos taken from the place of the protest action, it can be seen that humanitarian trucks and ambulances can move freely and all conditions are provided by the protestors for this.

In case of humanitarian problems of Azerbaijani citizens of Armenian origin living in the Karabakh region, a hotline has been established for the prompt resolution of their appeals.

During the campaign, the Armenian press and the propaganda of the Armenian diaspora claimed that the Khankendi-Lachin road was closed by Azerbaijani non-governmental organizations and the Azerbaijani media.

We are very disappointed that instead of showing justice and conveying the truth, the Armenian church approaches the issue from the position of prejudice and slander according to the political conjuncture, and tries to describe the peaceful protest action as "ethnic cleansing policy" and "inhuman act".

The effort of the Armenian church to present the events as "Armenian blockade and humanitarian disaster" is nothing more than provocation and slander.

Azerbaijan is not a country that closes roads, but builds new roads and bridges.

The bitter truth is that over a period of nearly 30 years, as a result of ethnic cleansing, looting of natural resources, destruction of spiritual heritage, and crimes against the ecosystem carried out by Armenian extremists, more than one million Azerbaijanis were forced to leave their ancestral lands and live as refugees and internally displaced persons. they lived.

During the occupation, the flora and fauna of the area were destroyed, the land was burned, and the water bodies were poisoned.

Our cities and villages were wiped out as a result of urbicide.

Due to the countless buried mines, the return of the local population to their native lands is delayed, and hundreds of civilians are among the victims of mine terrorism.

The fate of more than 4,000 of our citizens who went missing during the conflict is still unknown.

In the occupied territories of Azerbaijan for nearly 30 years, mosques, temples,

Azerbaijan is a peace-loving state and demonstrated this by its consistent participation in peace negotiations during the almost three-decade period of the conflict, as well as by its active participation in the negotiations towards the signing of the peace agreement after the victory won in the 44-day Patriotic War.

Armenia's non-constructive position hinders prospects for peace and economic prosperity of our region.

Our state respects all ethnic and religious members living in its territories, including peaceful Azerbaijani citizens of Armenian origin living in Karabakh, and protects their rights and values.

It is the civic duty of both Azerbaijanis and Armenians living in the lands of Azerbaijan to treat with respect and care the land, which is a blessing of Almighty God, and all the riches above and below it.

We, the leaders of religious confessions, have always followed the path of our Almighty Creator and have been faithful to human values, our humanistic ideals and the ideas of peaceful coexistence, and we have always called on the religious leaders of neighboring Armenia to give up the rhetoric of peace and war and prioritized dialogue.

With this statement, we call on the Armenian church to tell the truth with reference to the ideals commanded by our Almighty Creator, not to drag the peaceful Armenian population living in Karabakh into revanchism, not to engage in inciting activities in fragile peace.

In turn, we invite the peaceful Armenian population of Karabakh to show a joint decisive position against the looting of the natural resources gifted by Almighty God and the environmental crimes committed in the lands where they live.

Sheikhulislam Allahshukur PASHAZADE

, Chairman of the Caucasian Muslims Administration

Milix YEVDAYEV , Head

of Mountain Jewish Community in Azerbaijan

Archimandrite ALEKSIY

, secretary of the Baku and Azerbaijan Diocese of

the Russian Orthodox Church

Aleksandr SHAROVSKI

, Head of the European Jewish Community in Baku

Robert MOBILI

, Chairman of the Albanian-Udi Christian Religious Community in Azerbaijan"