On August 31 - September 8, 2022, the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches, held in Karlsruhe, Germany, published a document called "Protocol on the consequences of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war".

CMI told APA that the leaders of the Muslim, Orthodox, Jewish and Albanian-Udi denominations operating in Azerbaijan have issued an appeal expressing the general opinion of the communities they represent.

The petition reads:

"The mentioned document contains biased, groundless and unfair accusations against our homeland Azerbaijan, where all religious communities have been living in peace and tranquility for centuries.

The initiators of the document are abusing the platform provided by the World Council of Churches for their own insidious political purposes, purposefully continuing their attempts to form a wrong opinion among the Christian communities that are members of this prestigious body regarding Azerbaijan, which was occupied by the armed forces of Armenia for 30 years.

Their goal is the gross violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan by Armenia, the brutal killing of tens of thousands of peaceful Azerbaijani citizens, the displacement of nearly one million people, the unprecedented level of destruction and looting in the occupied territories, and the ongoing peace in our region. to hinder their efforts and support the revanchist forces in Armenia.

In addition to not reflecting the truth, the language and spirit of the document is presented in an obvious hypocritical spirit and arouses disgust in the witnesses of the real situation.

The misuse of a prestigious body like the World Council of Churches as a platform for the propaganda, manipulation and provocative actions of the supporters of occupation and ethnic cleansing is contrary to its goals and principles, and undermines the efforts of interreligious and intercultural dialogue and regional peace.

Earlier, a letter was sent to Mr. Ionn Sauka, acting as Secretary General of the World Council of Churches, on the occasion of the beginning of the 11th Assembly on behalf of the Administration of Caucasian Muslims, and congratulations were conveyed to all the participants of the event.

It is unfortunate that the supporters of occupation and ethnic cleansing once again launched their propaganda of revanchism and hatred on the religious platform and managed to spread such a document against our country.

In February 1993, on the initiative of the World Council of Churches and the European Conference of Churches, in a meeting with the head of the Armenian Church in Montreux, I. Vazgen, it was declared that the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict does not have a religious motive, and a joint statement signed with the Armenian Catholicos expressed support for a peaceful resolution of the conflict. .

Unfortunately, in contrast to this common position we reached at the time, a number of members of the World Council of Churches continue to promote Christian bigotry and a somewhat "crusader" mentality regarding the already resolved conflict.

According to our opinion, national and religious bigotry does not have a negative meaning, but bigotry that is not based on international law, justice and justice cannot be compatible with the basic principles of any religion and spirituality.

After the liberation of the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, representatives of international intergovernmental institutions, non-governmental organizations, civil society and foreign mass media, who made numerous visits to those regions, protest against the urbicide, ecocide, cultural and religious monuments, Muslim, Albanian-Udi and Orthodox churches committed by Armenia. live witness to the true scale of acts of vandalism, documenting these crimes.

As a result of the military occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia, more than 700 historical and cultural monuments, 927 libraries, 808 cultural centers, 85 music and art schools, 22 museums with more than 100 thousand works, 4 art galleries, 4 theaters and 2 concert halls were destroyed and looted. and scorched earth policy was implemented.

Of the 67 registered mosques in these areas, 65 have been completely destroyed, and the other 2 have been left in a deplorable condition.

The once developed administrative centers of Azerbaijan have turned into ruins.

Representatives of the international community, who are currently visiting our territories freed from occupation, called these areas "city of spirits" and "Chiroshima of Azerbaijan".

It is known to everyone that, unlike Armenia, representatives of various nationalities and religions, including thousands of our citizens of Armenian origin, live peacefully in Azerbaijan, its capital Baku and its regions, and the Armenian church and its library in the center of Baku are kept in proper conditions and protected by the state. .

However, in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan for nearly 30 years, mosques, temples, cemeteries, historical monuments, museums, libraries were destroyed and looted, mosques were turned into stables, animals considered forbidden in the Islamic religion were kept there and insulted to the entire Islamic world.

Armenia has completely destroyed the religious monuments of Azerbaijanis in its territory, the "Shah Abbas", "Sardar", "Haji Novruz Ali" mosques of Yerevan and other religious historical monuments, and changed the architectural features of the only remaining Blue Mosque in Yerevan after the deliberate fire there.

Not satisfied with the destruction of Muslim mosques, Armenia Gregorianized the "John the Baptist" Orthodox Church in Shusha, churches belonging to the ancient Caucasian Albania in other regions, and completely destroyed the Khojavand Orthodox Church.

The Armenian side, ignoring numerous demands of the international community, does not provide any information about the fate of nearly 4,000 Azerbaijanis who disappeared during the First Karabakh War.

In addition, despite the fact that nearly two years have passed since the withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the territories of Azerbaijan, civilians are still disabled and losing their lives as a result of the mines buried in these territories by the occupying army.

Although the war has ended, Armenia's mine terrorism against our citizens continues, and the number of its victims has reached 242 people.

Religious community leaders and clerics should contribute to the ideas of humanism - interfaith harmony and dialogue, agreement and mutual understanding, and not actions that serve aggressive war and conflict.

Adhering to multicultural traditions, the Azerbaijani government implements the policy of protection of cultural and spiritual values ​​as a priority direction of its activity and makes invaluable contributions to the restoration of historical monuments, mosques and churches not only within the country, but also in various regions of the world - including the Vatican, France, Bulgaria, and Serbia. .

Known as one of the centers of multiculturalism in the world, Azerbaijan has hosted a number of prestigious international events promoting inter-civilizational and inter-religious dialogue, including the 1st Summit of world religious leaders in 2010 and the 2nd Summit held in November 2019.

It should be mentioned here that Armenian Catholicos II Garegin also participated in the 1st Summit, and during his visit he visited the Armenian church where he used to work in Baku.

We state unequivocally that there is no reason to follow the provocative propaganda about the holy places in the territories of Azerbaijan and the cultural and spiritual heritage of the nations living there.

Today, the state of Azerbaijan restores the cultural and religious monuments destroyed and insulted as a result of acts of vandalism committed in the lands freed from occupation, regardless of their affiliation, and carries out reconstruction works by clearing them of the mines placed there.

The statement of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Mr. Ilham Aliyev, "... all the temples in our territory are our historical wealth and they are surrounded by state care" is the clearest example of the true policy of the Azerbaijan state in this field.

Once again, on behalf of the representatives of confessions in Azerbaijan, we express our deep concern and protest regarding the biased document called "Protocol on the results of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war" distributed at the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches.

It is unacceptable that the World Council of Churches, an authoritative organization, is used for such provocations, it does not serve the goals and principles of this prestigious institution.

We call on the leadership of the World Council of Churches and the Christian communities represented in the organization to deny this and previous provocative initiatives in the strongest form, and to categorically not allow such situations in the future.

We hope that from now on, a constructive position based on the principles of objectivity and justice, which is in line with the institution's criteria, will be demonstrated, and interreligious dialogue, efforts that serve peace and tranquility will be supported."

The appeal was signed by Sheikhulislam Allahshukur Pashazadeh, the chairman of the Caucasian Muslims Office, Milikh Yevdayev, the head of the Mountain Jewish Community in Azerbaijan, Archimandrite Alexiy of the Russian Orthodox Church, Alexander Sharovsky, the head of the European Jewish Community in Baku, and Robert Mobili, the head of the Alban-Udi Christian Religious Community in Azerbaijan.