Leaders of religious confessions in Azerbaijan issued a joint statement on the destruction of our religious monuments in Karabakh.

Society 11:40 25.11.2020
Heads of religious confessions in Azerbaijan have issued a joint statement on the destruction of religious sites by Armenian vandals in Karabakh.
 
“We, leaders of the Muslim, Orthodox, Albanian-Udi and Jewish confessions in Azerbaijan, express the wishes of the believers and appeal to the heads of state and government of countries, heads of international organizations, religious leaders and the world community. These days, after 30 years of struggle to restore its territorial integrity, the raising of the tricolor state flag of Azerbaijan over Karabakh lands again means a victory of historical justice and stability in our multi-ethnic and multi-religious country. The state of Azerbaijan and its President, His Excellency Mr. Ilham Aliyev have been pursuing a peaceful policy for many years, demonstrating consistency in the peaceful settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on the basis of international law and resolutions of international organizations. Political talks have failed to produce a result and UN resolutions calling for an unconditional withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from Azerbaijani territory have not been implemented over these years. The people of Azerbaijan, forced to prevent further military provocations by the Armenian side, went to war to restore their territorial integrity, and this war resulted in the triumph of international law and justice. There are Christians and Jews along with Muslims amongst the martyrs for the territorial integrity of our country. However, the world community should know that Armenia has pursued a policy of aggression against Azerbaijan not only in the form of ethnic cleansing, genocide and occupation, but also against the diverse cultural and spiritual heritage of our country. State policy of Armenia based on mono-ethnicity was only aimed at leaving Armenian traces in the occupied territories. Armenia, which has created a society intolerant towards other nations and religions, has tried to completely erase the ancient Albanian, Orthodox, Muslim religious and cultural heritage that historically existed in the occupied territories of multi-ethnic and multi-religious Azerbaijan. It has either completely destroyed our cultural and spiritual heritage or falsified their history and origins by Armenianizing and Gregorianizing it. Unlike Armenia, thousands of citizens of Armenian descent live in peace in Azerbaijan, the capital Baku and various regions, and the Armenian church and its library in the center of Baku have been renovated and protected by the state. In the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, mosques, temples and cemeteries, historical monuments, museums, libraries have been destroyed and looted, Caucasian Albanian Christian temples and Russian Orthodox churches have been Gregorianized, mosques have been turned into barns and subjected to unprecedented insults such as keeping animals forbidden in Islam in them. Of the 67 mosques in Karabakh, 63 have been razed to the ground and the remaining three have been severely damaged. Armenia has completely demolished the historical Azerbaijani religious sites in its territory – Yerevan’s “Shah Abbas”, “Sardar”, “Haji Novruz Ali” and other mosques, and changed the architectural style of the Blue Mosque. Not content with destroying only Muslim mosques, Armenia has usurped the Gregorian Orthodox Church in Shusha, the Albanian-Udi temples in other districts, and completely destroyed the Khojavand Orthodox Church. The main goal of the aggressor state in committing such acts of vandalism with the dream of creating a “Great Armenia” was to destroy both our historical past and our spiritual memory in the lands where we have lived for millennia. The Armenian regime, which has been pursuing aggressive policies for years, has ignored the norms of international law and international humanitarian law, has committed environmental crimes in the occupied territories through fires, the use of phosphorus bombs, poisonous substances and mines. Today, real facts such as the atrocities they have committed when leaving the territories of Azerbaijan, the looting of material and spiritual resources, the theft of works of art, the burning of forests and civilian sites are extensively covered in the world media. Armenia's actions aimed at destroying and falsifying the religious and cultural heritage of the multi-ethnic and multi-religious Azerbaijani people represent a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions, as well as an attack on all human culture and world heritage. Adhering to multicultural traditions, the Government of Azerbaijan considers the protection of cultural and spiritual values a priority and makes an invaluable contribution to the restoration of historical sites, mosques and churches not only within the country, but also in various parts of the world, including the Vatican, France, Bulgaria and Serbia. Known as one of the world's centers of multiculturalism, Azerbaijan has hosted a number of prestigious international events promoting inter-civilizational and inter-religious dialogue, including the Second Baku Summit of World Religious Leaders in November 2019. Visiting Azerbaijan in October 2016, Pope Francis praised the cooperation and dialogue between different cultures and religions in our country.
At present, Armenia is conducting false propaganda against Azerbaijan on religious issues, claiming that Azerbaijan has taken steps to destroy religious and cultural sites in our liberated territories, trying to portray its own provocations as those of our country. The fact that despite so many facts the aggressor state of Armenia demonstrates constant hypocrisy, circulates fake news and false information depicting itself as a suffering people causes legitimate anger of the Azerbaijani people, representatives of all religious denominations living in our tolerant and multicultural country. The President of Azerbaijan has repeatedly stated in his appeals and interviews that all religious and cultural sites and places of worship in the liberated lands, as indeed in other parts of Azerbaijan, will be restored, everyone's faith will be respected and peaceful coexistence will be ensured. As leaders of the Orthodox, Catholic, Mountain Jews, Albanian-Udi Christian, Ashkenazi-European Jews and other religious communities who have lived prosperously in Azerbaijan throughout our history and freely performed our religious rites, we support and bless this peaceful policy of Azerbaijan. We, the leaders of religious confessions in Azerbaijan, appeal to the heads of state and government of foreign countries, heads of international organizations, religious leaders and the world community to support the establishment of peace, tranquility and coexistence in our country and the region where we live!
 
Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade
Chairman of the Caucasian Muslims Office
Alexander
Archbishop of Baku and Azerbaijan
Milikh Yevdayev
Head of the Mountain Jews Community in Azerbaijan
Alexander Sharovski
Chair of Baku Religious Community of European Jews
Shneor Segal,
Chief Rabbi of Azerbaijani Ashkenazi Jews
Robert Mobili
Head of the Albanian-Udi community
IEPF issued a statement regarding Azerbaijani children at the UN Human Rights Council

News line

Palestinian man shot dead after stabbing Israeli soldier during West Bank raid
21:20 10.07.2025
Israel has agreed to 'significant steps' to improve humanitarian situation in Gaza: EU foreign policy chief
21:00 10.07.2025
EU aims to mobilize up to $11.7B in investments for Ukraine's reconstruction
20:45 10.07.2025
UNAIDS warns funding collapse could lead to 6M new HIV infections, 4M deaths
20:30 10.07.2025
UN report sounds alarm on climate health risks for world's aging population
20:00 10.07.2025
Merz: Germany fully supports Ukraine's plans to join EU
19:45 10.07.2025
Azerbaijani citizens involved in Wagner armed group arrested - State Security Service conducts operation
19:15 10.07.2025
Luka Modric signs one-year contract with Milan
19:00 10.07.2025
Rubio: US hopes to persuade NATO allies to transfer some Patriot systems to Ukraine
18:45 10.07.2025
Zelenskyy: 200 agreements with total value of over €10B ready to be signed
18:30 10.07.2025
Von der Leyen's EU Commission survives Parliament confidence vote
18:15 10.07.2025
SOCAR becomes jersey sponsor of Turkish First League side
18:00 10.07.2025
Azerbaijan takes leading postion in UN digital trade survey
17:45 10.07.2025
Ex-NBA player Ben McLemore sentenced to over 8 years in prison for rape
17:30 10.07.2025
Russia warns Armenia of sanctions risk
17:15 10.07.2025
COP29 President, COP30 President-designate hold discussions at OPEC seminar
17:00 10.07.2025
Ilham Aliyev's meeting with Nikol Pashinyan was constructive
16:55 10.07.2025
Baku says Azerbaijan, Armenia agreed to continue dialogue in bilateral format
16:45 10.07.2025
Peskov: Baku-Yerevan peace treaty will bring stability to South Caucasus
16:30 10.07.2025
Azerbaijan refunds over 94M manats of VAT to consumers
16:15 10.07.2025
Amnesty International slams US sanctions on UN Rapporteur Francesca Albanese
16:00 10.07.2025
China pushes back 50% US 'security' tariffs on copper imports
15:45 10.07.2025
Top Southeast Asian diplomats hold summit with China’s foreign minister
15:30 10.07.2025
Israeli strikes on Gaza leave 97 Palestinians killed, dozens more injured in past day
15:15 10.07.2025
Messi creates history in MLS, becomes first player to achieve rare feat
15:00 10.07.2025
Heavy rain delays over 300 flights in New Delhi
14:45 10.07.2025
Shamakhi to host conference on Modern Information Space and Freedom of Religious Belief
14:30 10.07.2025
At least 28 killed, dozens injured in pre-dawn Israeli strikes across Gaza Strip
14:15 10.07.2025
Court orders arrest of former South Korean president
14:00 10.07.2025
US nuclear-powered submarine makes first port call in Iceland
13:45 10.07.2025
Israeli soldier killed during attempted Hamas abduction in southern Gaza, IDF says
13:30 10.07.2025
ADY and China Railways reach agreement to increase BTK capacity
13:15 10.07.2025
U.S. measles cases hit highest level in 33 years,
13:00 10.07.2025
Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia discuss co-op in hydrocarbon sector
12:45 10.07.2025
UK, France to order more Storm Shadow missiles, plan next-generation replacements
12:30 10.07.2025
Houthis kidnapped crew members of Eternity C vessel, US Embassy in Yemen says
12:15 10.07.2025
President Ilham Aliyev addresses participants of ICDO General Assembly session
12:00 10.07.2025
US to impose 50% tariffs on imports from Brazil starting August — Trump
11:45 10.07.2025
US resumes certain arms shipments to Ukraine
11:30 10.07.2025
SOCAR president participates in OPEC International Seminar
11:15 10.07.2025
Hamısı