As already reported, the chairman of the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan Sahiba Gafarov is on a working visit to Algeria. As part of the visit, the speaker of the parliament spoke at the 17th session of the conference of the Parliamentary Union of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on the topic “Islamic world: challenges of modernization and development.”
According to Haqqin.az in the department for public relations and the press, in her speech, Gafarov noted that, possessing a rich history and cultural heritage, natural resources, the Islamic world is faced with great difficulties that are waiting for its decision, emphasized that Poverty, social and economic inequality, armed conflicts, humanitarian crises, terrorism and extremism seriously affect modernization and efforts in the field of development, impede it. At the same time, the burning of the Qur’an in Denmark, before Turkey’s embassy in Sweden and events in the Netherlands, show that Islamophobia, xenophobia and racism are not yet over, on the contrary, they continue to give rise to disagreements and hatred under the guise of democracy, human rights and freedom of speech.
According to Gafarova, in order to overcome these difficulties and fully realize its potential, the Islamic world needs unity and solidarity corresponding to Islamic values, such as the world, tolerance, harmony and justice. In this regard, the OIS is an effective cohesion mechanism, a means of developing cooperation, joint activity.
S. Gafarova noted that the establishment and development of bilateral and multilateral cooperation with Islamic countries has always been part of the foreign policy priorities of Azerbaijan.
The chairman of the Milli Majlis emphasized that the active cooperation and mutual support of Islamic countries within the framework of international organizations create the opportunity for Azerbaijan to be heard at the international level. Having reminded the support of the Muslim countries of the election of Azerbaijan by a member of the UN Security Council for 2012-2013, the speaker noted that Azerbaijan, during his membership in this structure, nominated and realized a number of proposals that correspond to the interests of the Islamic world.
Speaking about the terrorist attack against the Azerbaijan Embassy in Iran, Gafarova resolutely condemned this attack, noting that he caused a serious international reaction. Having stated that all the responsibility for this terrorist attack lies on the Iranian side, the chairman of the Milli Majlis said that, being the country where the embassy is located, Iran had to fulfill its obligations arising from the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations in connection with ensuring the security of the embassy and its employees . Azerbaijan demands that the perpetrators in this terrorist attack, as well as its customers be established and punished as soon as possible.