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“Azerbaijan has become a place of discussions on religious and inter-cultural dialogue”, the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe Gabriella Battaini Dragoni told the news conference dedicated to the meeting on “Intercultural dialogue: interaction between culture and religion” within the framework of the 2014 Council of Europe exchange on the religious dimension of intercultural dialogue organized in Baku.
Chairman of the State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations Mubariz Gurbanli said that Azerbaijan is known in the world as an exemplary country in terms of tolerance.
He noted that though Azerbaijan is a Muslim country, different religious communities are freely operating here and representatives of the Council of Europe hold positive positions on religious tolerance in Azerbaijan: “They visited Guba and familiarized with the activity of the synagogue.”
Touching upon the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Gurbanli said that Armenians have occupied Azerbaijani lands and this conflict is not religious in character: “There are about 30,000 Armenians and an Armenian church in Baku. This is an indicator”.
Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni thanked Azerbaijan for the organization of such an event: “We held such an expanded meeting with journalists at the sport-related event in 2009. The Ministry of Youths and Sport held event on gambling and corruption. In this regard, a convention will be adopted soon and 27 states will sign this convention.”
Mentioning that religious and cultural forums have been held in Azerbaijan since 2008, Battaini-Dragoni said these events turned Baku into a place of religious and intercultural discussions. According to her, the event in Baku is related to religion and democracy: “Catholics, Buddhists lived in Azerbaijan and were engaged in trade here for a long time. All this allow protection of diversity in the society. Representatives of different conventions in Azerbaijan made speeches at the event”.
Permanent Representative of Portugal to the Council of Europe, Chair of the Rapporteur Group on Education, Culture, Sport, Youth and Environment of the Committee of Ministers Luis Filipe Castro Mendes thanked Azerbaijan for the excellent organization of the event.
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