As reported, the Speaker of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova is in the Kingdom of Bahrain on a working visit to attend the 2^nd Conference of the Parliamentary Network of the Non-Aligned Movement and the 146^th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

The head of the Milli Majlis and of the Azerbaijani delegation to the IPU, Sahiba Gafarova addressed the 146^th Assembly covering the subject of ‘Promoting peaceful coexistence and inclusive societies: fighting intolerance’.

The speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament stressed that because our world is too interconnected and complex, the issue of peaceful coexistence and inclusive societies cannot be regarded as a mere domestic social process. Rather, this issue has long surpassed this substance to become a crucial factor globally, one that is also closely interlinked with our hopes for a better world of peace, justice, stability and sustainable development.

Sahiba Gafarova attributed the upsurge in radicalism, xenophobia, racism, Islamophobia, discrimination and hatred in the modern world to the past rejection of multiculturalism as an idea, to some political leaders having attempted to discard it as a failure. That the opponents of multiculturalism were wrong we now can see clearly, if only from that the world has become more divided, intolerant and instable.

The leader of the Milli Majlis shared her thoughts about ways to overcome intolerance and to attain peaceful coexistence and inclusive societies. In her opinion, first and foremost, diversity ought to be accepted as an enriching factor rather than a divisive one, whilst providing equal rights and opportunities to all and doing so indiscriminately. It is as essential to promote dialogues between representatives of various cultures, ethnic groups and religions since such are the basic preconditions for the emergence and existence of democratic, just and peaceful societies.

Moving on to recount the experience of Azerbaijan, one of the universally recognised global centres of intercultural and interreligious dialogues – and of multiculturalism – Mrs Gafarova emphasised the staple factors underpinning such achievements, saying that our society is guided by the spiritual values that had evolved for centuries. Located at the crossroads of East and West in the South Caucasus, Azerbaijan has been home to various ethnic and religious groups that have coexisted together in dignity, peace and friendship. Cultural diversity is our strength, not a weakness. Different religious and cultural monuments, mosques, churches and synagogues stand side by side in our country.

Multiculturalism is a way of life for our people, but it is also a state course with Azerbaijan. Besides protecting multiculturalism, tolerance and interreligious dialogue and promoting them further, our government led by President Ilham Aliyev organises numerous international events to strengthen those values yet more.

The problem of refugees and internally displaced persons is one of the principal and most alarming ones, and in many cases it is linked to violations of peace and security, which is something that Azerbaijan could experience only too clearly when 20% of her territory, recognised internationally as such, too, was captured by her neighbour Armenia thirty years ago. Armenia’s policy of occupation and ethnic cleansing made more than a million Azerbaijanis displaced from our formerly occupied territories and refugees from Armenia. Armenia reduced to rubble all our towns and villages, and vandalised all the historical, cultural and religious sites of Azerbaijan in those thusly afflicted parts of our country during the years of occupation. As it did in the then occupied territories, Armenia also destroyed all historical and religious monuments of the Western Azerbaijanis who had lived in the present-day Armenia for centuries. That was a sheer demonstration of intolerance and hatred on the part of the monoethnic state of Armenia, according to the Chair of the Milli Majlis.

It was Azerbaijan to come up with a peace agenda and call for normalisation of the Azerbaijani-Armenian relations immediately after the liberation of her lands from captivity in 2020; and Azerbaijan did that despite the bitter outcomes of the years of occupation, Mrs Gafarova continued. She drew her audience’s attention to that the said agenda rested on five principles of international law. Despite all that, however, not only is Armenia attempting to mislead the international community with its misinformation outbursts, but Armenia is also still failing to fulfil its undertaken obligations and continues illegal transportation of weapons and ammunition (including mines) to the Azerbaijani territory and conducts rota replacements in the Armenian military personnel stationed here.

As regards the earlier statements of the speaker of the parliament of Armenia made at this assembly, Sahiba Gafarova referred to them as another show of falsification and distortion by Armenia.

The leader of the Milli Majlis deplored the speech by the representative of one of the world's most monoethnic countries which, besides, is infamous for its aggressive, discriminatory and intolerant approach to important topics such as peaceful coexistence and inclusive societies – the topics of discussion at the current assembly, that is.

The speaker of the Armenian parliament had taken the trouble to name the ethnic minorities of his country and cited the rights allegedly given them but, Mrs Gafarova wondered, Azerbaijanis had been forced out of the present-day Armenia in several waves upon living there for centuries. The last wave of this expulsion that came in the late 1980s saw more than 300,000 Azerbaijanis removed from the territory of the state in question.

The Azerbaijanis driven from the present-day Armenia have the right to return to their homes; this right is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international instruments, Mrs Gafarova emphasised. Armenia must provide for a safe and dignified return of Azerbaijanis to their homes and ensure their individual and collective rights upon return, she added.

As for the unscrupulous statement by the representative of Armenia to the effect that the latter has no territorial claims against any country, Sahiba Gafarova again reminded her audience that Armenia had held Azerbaijani territories under occupation for almost 30 years. On the other hand, Armenia is in breach of the Trilateral Declaration of 10 November 2020 by keeping its armed forces in the internationally recognised territory of Azerbaijan.

The Armenian delegate did not hesitate to voice deliberately false and fabricated figures about the number of Armenians living in Garabagh. Meanwhile, the Azerbaijani leadership has repeatedly stated that some 25,000 Azerbaijani citizens of Armenian descent will receive the rights equal to those of our other fellow citizens, and the well-known multicultural and tolerant policies and traditions of Azerbaijan certainly guarantee this.

Furthermore, Mrs Gafarova dismissed outright the unfounded claims of the speaker of the Armenian parliament about the ‘blockade’ of the Lachin Road. Mrs Gafarova pointed out that this road was open to all civilian and humanitarian traffic as the international organisations operating in the area confirm.

Then, Sahiba Gafarova made it clear that Azerbaijan honours the commitments it has made and remains committed to ensuring the rights of its citizens and meeting their legitimate demands.

We should like to mention here that the Chair of the Milli Majlis has also taken part in the meeting of the Assembly’s Steering Council and delivered a speech at it as well today.

The Press and Public Relations Department

The Milli Majlis