Speaker of the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan Sahiba Gafarova is on a business trip to the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria.

APA was informed by the Milli Majlis that the Speaker of the Parliament of Azerbaijan spoke at the 17th session of the Parliamentary Union Conference of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on the topic "Islamic world: challenges of modernization and development" within the framework of the visit.

Greeting the participants of the session, the Speaker of the Milli Majlis thanked the Algerian Parliament for the invitation and hospitality.

The chairman of the Milli Majlis noted that despite the rich history and cultural heritage and great resources of the Islamic world, today it still faces great challenges that are waiting to be solved and said that poverty, social and economic inequality, armed conflicts, humanitarian crises, terrorism and extremism are modernization and severely affects and hinders development efforts.

At the same time, the burning of the Holy Quran in front of the Turkish embassy in Sweden and the events in the Netherlands show that Islamophobia, xenophobia, and racism have not ended yet, but continue to create differences of opinion and hatred under the guise of democracy, human rights and freedom of speech.

The speaker said that in order to overcome these difficulties and fully realize its potential, the Islamic world needs unity and solidarity in accordance with Islamic values ​​such as peace, tolerance, harmony and justice.

In this sense, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation is an important and efficient mechanism for strengthening our solidarity and an important basis for the development of our cooperation, joint action and sustainable position on common issues.

Speaker Sahiba Gafarova said that in today's conditions, when parliamentary diplomacy has become an important tool of international politics, there are all opportunities for the further development of this Parliamentary Union as an effective platform for solidarity, dialogue and cooperation.

He noted that establishing and developing bilateral and multilateral cooperation with Islamic countries has always been one of the main priorities of Azerbaijan's foreign policy.

It was emphasized that this is confirmed by various meetings of the ministers of the OIC member states and the organization of conferences on Palestine, initiatives to create new institutions such as the OIC Youth Forum, the OIC Labor Center and the Union of Journalists of the OIC member states.

Holding the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games in 2017 and providing financial and humanitarian aid to Muslim countries during the COVID-19 pandemic are Azerbaijan's efforts aimed at strengthening solidarity among Islamic countries.

The chairman of the Milli Majlis said that Azerbaijan, which openly opposes Islamophobia, has organized conferences and exhibitions in many countries that demonstrate the true essence of Islam, a religion of peace and mercy, and promote Islamic culture.

Also, the "Baku Process" started in 2008 with the participation of OIC and Council of Europe member countries and later the World Intercultural Dialogue Forum has already been recognized as the main global platform for supporting intercultural dialogue by the resolutions of the UN General Assembly.

The speaker emphasized that the active cooperation and mutual support of Islamic countries within the framework of international organizations enables our voice to be heard at the international level.

Noting that Islamic countries support the election of Azerbaijan to the UN Security Council for 2012-2013, Sahiba Gafarova said that during its membership in the UN Security Council, Azerbaijan put forward a number of proposals that met the interests of the Islamic world and implemented them, including the fight against terrorism. events such as an international conference, a high-level meeting on the expansion of cooperation between the UN and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

The Chairman of the Milli Majlis, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mr. Ilham Aliyev, and the Parliamentary Union of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Parliamentary Union of OIC member states decided to establish cooperation by signing a memorandum of cooperation and mutually obtaining observer status within the framework of this 17th conference. said that he believes that it will serve the purposes.

Sahiba Gafarova noted that the global processes we are observing now have taught us that certain policies and behaviors have not changed yet.

This has become the weak point of today's international system.

So, when comparing the past and present experiences, it becomes clear that, in fact, the essence of these policies has not changed, only the methods of their implementation have changed in accordance with the requirements of the time.

The Speaker of the Parliament of Azerbaijan said that we are all grateful to independent and developing Algeria, one of the important members of the Islamic world, for holding today's conference, but we know that these achievements, after the extreme violence, violence and war crimes committed by France against the Algerian people for many years 1, It was achieved at the cost of the lives of more than 5 million martyrs.

The speaker drew attention to the fact that 30 years after Algeria gained independence, in the early 90s, 20 percent of the internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan were occupied by our neighbor Armenia and remained under occupation for 30 years.

He said that during the occupation, Armenia razed all our cities and villages to the ground, vandalized all historical, cultural and religious objects of Azerbaijan.

Also, Armenia destroyed and insulted our mosques with complete disrespect and hatred for all Muslims and used them as pig and cow sheds.

It was emphasized that as a result of Armenia's ethnic cleansing, more than one million Azerbaijanis became internally displaced from the occupied territories and refugees from Armenia.

The chairman of the Milli Majlis pointed out that the four resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council in 1993, the resolutions and decisions of other relevant international organizations, including the OIC, demanded the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

The OSCE Minsk Group was a mediator in the negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

But instead of helping to resolve the conflict, it was clear that this group, especially France, was trying to freeze the issue so that neither war nor peace would remain forever.

The chairman of the Milli Majlis said that in 2020, Azerbaijan restored territorial integrity and historical justice by implementing the resolutions of the UN Security Council, the norms and principles of international law, at the cost of the lives of nearly three thousand martyrs, using the right of self-defense provided for in Article 51 of the UN Charter.

Stating that Azerbaijan is carrying out large-scale restoration and reconstruction works in the territories freed from occupation, the process of the return of our former IDPs to their native lands has already begun, the speaker of the parliament expressed his belief that the rights of Azerbaijanis deported from their native lands where they lived for centuries in the territory of Armenia will be restored and they will return to their homelands. shared with the participants.

The West Azerbaijan community, which consists of these people, has already appealed to the international community and developed a "Return Concept" for the practical implementation of this process.

The head of the Parliament of Azerbaijan said that after the end of the Second Karabakh War, Azerbaijan took the initiative of peace agenda and normalization of Azerbaijan-Armenia relations.

However, Armenia still does not comply with its obligations and in this process demonstrates a destructive position, tries to mislead the international community with false information.

It is not surprising that these manipulations are supported and even provoked by France.

Sahiba Gafarova emphasized that the above leads us to another important point - double standards and discrimination in international organizations, especially in the UN Security Council.

It was noted that many countries have declared the need for reforms in this field.

The President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Mr. Ilham Aliyev, recently touched on this issue in an interview with the local media.

The speaker said that emphasizing the importance of revising the format of the Security Council, Mr. President Ilham Aliyev proposed to reserve one permanent seat for a Muslim country that is a member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and one seat for the Non-Aligned Movement.

The Speaker of the Parliament said that this will be a more fair and balanced representation in terms of modern international politics.

Sahiba Gafarova spoke about the terrorist act committed against the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the Islamic Republic of Iran on January 27, strongly condemned this treacherous terrorist attack and noted that it caused a serious international reaction.

Stating that all responsibility for this terrorist act falls on the Iranian side, the speaker said that as the country where the embassy is located, the Iranian side had to fulfill its obligations arising from the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations regarding the security of the embassy and its employees.

We demand that the perpetrators of this terrorist act, as well as those who ordered this bloody act, be identified as soon as possible and punished in the most objective way.