Baku, September 29, AZERTAC 

Chairman of the Caucasian Muslims Office Sheikh-ul-islam Allahshukur Pashazade has addressed the Azerbaijani people.

The address sent to AZERTAC from the press service of the Caucasian Muslims Office says:

“Addressing the Azerbaijani people, I pray to the Almighty to prolong our victories achieved over the past few days in the legitimate struggle for the liberation of our lands from Armenian occupiers and to rest the souls of our brave sons who have become martyrs in peace. Our people rose to war for the territorial integrity of the Motherland. The War for the Motherland is a just war. From time immemorial, we have been a peace-loving people who have never coveted foreign lands. We treat universal human values with the same attention, care and respect as we treat our national and spiritual values. But the reality is that we are faced with the claims of the Armenian invaders to our ancestral lands, occupation, terror, ethnic cleansing against our people, a purposeful policy of destruction of our religious and cultural sites. This constant aggression has drained the patience of the Azerbaijani people. The occupation and moral aggression that has been going on for over 30 years must end. Justice must prevail. Now, in response to the regular provocations of the occupying country Armenia, Azerbaijan has found itself in the arena of military operations. This is an arena for the triumph of justice. The occupier, who has ignored the fair voice of Azerbaijan and the calls of mankind for peace for many years, undermined the efforts of the international community, desecrated our spiritual values, destroyed our religious hearths, turned the land of our fathers into ruins, razed cemeteries to the ground, tried to erase our traces and distort our history, who vandalizes sites of universal importance is finally being held accountable for what it has done in the arena of hostilities. The Armenians’ appeal to the European Court of Human Rights is a genuine hypocrisy that does not fit into any frames. As the head of our state has noted, what is the Armenian soldier doing on our lands?!

Azerbaijan is restoring its territorial integrity recognized by the international community and the United Nations, and is fighting for its own lands. As a civilized society based on international law, we hoped for a just negotiated settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. We pinned great hopes on the numerous visits, meetings and negotiations under the auspices of international organizations acting in the interests of a peaceful settlement of this conflict, and we value these efforts. However, the Armenian side is doing everything possible to render these efforts futile. The world community is not applying sanctions against extremism and terror in Armenia, a country that ignores international law, demonstratively fails to comply with UN resolutions, a country that has committed genocide against the Azerbaijanis in Khojaly, destroyed our mosques and cemeteries, desecrated our spiritual values, exterminated the civilian population, women, children, old people, destroyed their homes, thereby violating international conventions.

As a religious leader and Sheikh-ul-Islam of the Caucasus, I was joined by the heads of religious confessions in Azerbaijan all these years in our regular appeals to international organizations, parliaments of different countries, political and religious leaders, informing them about the crimes of the Armenian side. Since the beginning of the conflict, I have repeatedly held meetings with representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Georgian Orthodox Church, the World Council of Churches, the Vatican and Muslim religious centers in the name of a peaceful settlement of the conflict, participated in negotiations with the Armenian Church. As a result, we succeeded in making sure that the conflict did not slide into the plane of interreligious confrontation. Unfortunately, the Armenian side did not show commitment to the joint statements we signed. Trying in every possible way to disguise its occupation-extremist policy, Armenia tried to give the conflict a religious coloring, to portray it as a confrontation between Christians and Muslims. I declare absolutely unequivocally: we do not lay claims to anyone else’s lands. The only goal of the Azerbaijani people is to save the Motherland from aggression and liberate the ancestral Azerbaijani lands from Armenian invaders.

The Caucasian Muslims Office congratulates the Commander-in-Chief and all our people on the successes achieved by our glorious army in the name of the Motherland. These successes are the harbingers of the great victory we deserve. May Allah protect the glorious Azerbaijani army, which has given a fitting rebuff to the enemy! Our soldiers, filled with bright love of the Motherland, are forever in our hearts. We, religious leaders, pray for the victory in the legitimate struggle of our people and the triumph of justice. We are always ready to be shoulder to shoulder with our soldiers, to provide them with support. The homeland is calling us. Our national pride and courage, spiritual unity and solidarity against oppression and injustice must be higher than ever. All Azerbaijanis, regardless of their nationality, religion, political views and place of residence, must act as a united front against the common enemy, rally into a fist. As the head of our state emphasized, “Together we are strong!”

The appeal of the Commander-in-Chief and President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to the people on the occasion of the triumph of the Azerbaijani army filled all our people, including ourselves, believers and religious leaders who are an integral part of our society, with happiness and joy. The courage and bravery of our residents standing up against Armenian invaders, who committed provocative actions both in Karabakh and in the Tovuz direction, are an example of civic consciousness that inspires our people. The desire of millions of believers is in tune with the desire of our entire people to liberate the occupied lands under the leadership of the Commander-in-Chief. The believers of our country, as always, continue to support the decisive steps of the head of state and are ready to contribute to the achievement of a historic victory under the leadership of the Commander-in-Chief. Addressing the Azerbaijani people, we pray for the repose of the souls of our martyrs who gave their lives on the path of a just struggle for the salvation of our religious and spiritual values and the repose of our ancestors. We pray for the healing of the wounded. May the Almighty be with us! May Allah protect our Azerbaijan, may Allah grant victory to our Commander-in-Chief, our country, army and people! Amen!”