Speech by Ilham Aliyev at opening of the Ajdarbay Mosque in Baku after major overhaul and reconstruction

Your Holiness Sheikh!

Respected Muftis of North Caucasus republics!

Dear religious figures!

Dear friends!

My warm greeting to all of you! It is a wonderful and memorable day. The Ajdarbay mosque is reopening its doors after major overhaul. This is a great and historic event. The Ajdarbay mosque is our national treasure. This mosque was built by famous philanthropist Haji Ajdarbay Ashurbayov a century ago. After the October revolution it was closed, but resumed its activities in the 1940s. In recent years, both the external and internal appearance of the mosque required major resources. A few years ago I signed an Order to allocate funds from the Reserve Fund of the President, and the overhaul began. During the renovation, I repeatedly enquired about the situation and, at the suggestion of His Holiness Sheikh, the area of the mosque was considerably expanded. The mosque now covers an area at least 10 times bigger than before. The repair and reconstruction were carried out with great taste and love. I am very pleased that this historic religious monument has been repaired at a high level and is reopening its doors to us.

The people of Azerbaijani are very committed to their religious and historical traditions. Our religion, history, national and spiritual values are of utmost importance. In recent years, our historical and religious monuments have been repaired and reconstructed. Our highly important shrines and places of worship are protected and repaired by the state. At the initiative of great leader Heydar Aliyev, the main building of the Bibi-Heybat mosque was opened on 12 July 1998. The Bibi-Heybat sanctuary is a shrine with a centuries-old history. A mosque was built there in the 13th century. In the 1930s, on orders of Soviet leadership, the Bibi-Heybat mosque was destroyed. The reconstruction of the Bibi-Heybat mosque was carried out at the initiative of the great leader and, as I said, the first and the main building of it was opened in 1998. Exactly 10 years later, on 12 July 2008, additional buildings of the mosque were commissioned. It was significantly expanded to become one of Azerbaijan’s most beautiful mosques.

Afterwards, in 2009, also at the expense of the state, reconstruction, restoration and expansion were carried out at the Tazapir mosque. We celebrated the opening of the Tazapir mosque together with our valued guests.

Today, at the end of 2011, the beautifully renovated Ajdarbay mosque is provided for the disposal of believers, and this is a great and memorable event. I want to note that reconstruction and restoration are currently under way at the Juma Mosque is Shamakhi, which represents immense spiritual value for our people. The Juma Mosque in Shamakhi is the oldest mosque in Azerbaijan. Built in 743, it was exposed to natural devastation, suffered an earthquake. Some of it was destroyed and then rebuilt. In 1918, the Shamakhi mosque was destroyed and burned by the Armenians. Despite this, the Shamakhi mosque lived on in our hearts as a religious center, a historical and architectural monument.

The restoration of the Juma Mosque in Shamakhi has been our sacred duty. I am very glad that we have started this work and allocated funds. I have repeatedly enquired about the progress of repair and construction. After completion of the construction and repair, the Shamakhi Juma mosque will probably become one of Azerbaijan’s biggest and most spectacular mosques. The process of reconstruction of the Imamzadeh historical and religious complex in Ganja is under way. It is of great significance for our people. I am sure we will celebrate the opening of the Imamzadeh complex together in the near future.

I have laid out my thoughts on the ongoing restoration of several significant mosques. There are about 2,000 mosques in Azerbaijan. In the last eight years alone 117 mosques have been built. Some were built and renovated by the state, others by religious communities and others by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation. This in itself shows that it is our national cause. I want to repeat that our people are committed to their religious and spiritual traditions. We think that work in this direction should go even faster. There is complete freedom of religion and conscience in Azerbaijan. We are faithful to our holy religion, Islam. We must promote Islamic values in the world. Azerbaijan is doing a lot to that end – both believers of Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani state. We must not only promote our religion, but also protect it from unfounded attacks.

Unfortunately, sometimes we are confronted with such phenomena – unjust attacks on Islam, Islamophobia trends, media campaigns of slander against Islamic religion. Of course, we must and we do immediately react to these unpleasant phenomena, prove that the Islamic religion is a religion of peace, brotherhood, kindness and charity. Our religious festivals embody the ideas of charity. Our religious tradition is to help, reach out a helping hand to the poor.

These are universal human values. All these universal human values are part of the Islamic religion. So Islam encompasses all the great human values. This is the truth.

However, the dirty campaign against Islam is unfortunately ongoing. To put an end to this campaign, built on lies and slander, we should carry out our advocacy work more actively. At the same time, our unity, the unity of the Islamic world, may be the best answer to those engaged in this campaign.

Azerbaijan, for its part, is making every effort to strengthen Islamic solidarity. After joining the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, we have contributed to the enhancement of these positive trends. Two years ago, Baku was declared the capital of Islamic culture. It was a great honor and responsibility for us, evidence of the Islamic world’s respect for Azerbaijan and a high assessment of the Islamic world for the respect for the Islamic religion in Azerbaijan. I should also note that on our initiative another ancient Azerbaijani city, Nakhchivan, will be declared the capital of Islamic culture in 2018.

Such activities will be continued. Azerbaijan is hosting various international events to discuss religious matters. I am very glad that Azerbaijan is stepping up its role in the discussion of these issues. The international community is also very positive about conducting such events in Azerbaijan. Some time ago, during the anniversary of His Holiness Sheikh, a major international event in Baku was attended by representatives of different religions. They participated in it and said some sincere words. Then Baku hosted the summit of leaders of world religions. The focus of the First International Humanitarian Forum held in Baku last year was also on religious tolerance and cooperation among people of different religions.

Azerbaijan is ready to share its experience in addressing these issues. I am very pleased that our experience is being studied. Representatives of all religions live peacefully like one family in Azerbaijan. There has never been and I am sure will never be any confrontation or misunderstanding on religious or ethnic grounds in Azerbaijan. I am absolutely sure that someone who respects his own religion must have respect for other religions. The interreligious dialogue should be further strengthened. There are different views and approaches to this issue.

I should say that multiculturalism was one of the themes of the First International Humanitarian Forum. This topic was put on the agenda on our initiative because there is a great need for that. There are different approaches in the world today, some say that multiculturalism is dead, that it has no future. Azerbaijan’s activities and example show that multiculturalism is alive. One of its addresses is precisely Azerbaijan, but there are other addresses too. There is no alternatives to multiculturalism. An alternative to multiculturalism is self-isolation.

We want positive trends, the trends of cooperation, friendship, brotherhood to strengthen in the world, and religious leaders have a major role to play in this. For our part, we will continue to put forward initiatives. Azerbaijan is home to all the people living here. Representatives of all ethnic groups are our respected citizens. We treat all religions with great respect and sympathy. Christian and Catholic churches and Jewish synagogues are on a par with mosques in Azerbaijan today. These are Azerbaijan’s realities, our contribution to the world treasury. I believe that our experience has not been studied properly yet. If it is, I am sure that our situation can serve as an example.

At the same time, the relations between religion and the state are essential to the successful development of any country. These relations are also properly regulated in Azerbaijan. It is very important for any society to build the relations between religion and the state on a sound footing. These issues are handled at a high level in Azerbaijan. An exceptional contribution to building the relations between religion and the state at this level was made by great leader Heydar Aliyev.

His personal friendship with His Holiness Sheikh made a great contribution to the development of these relations.

Today, it is already my personal friendship with His Holiness Sheikh and our mutual respect that are contributing to the strengthening of these relations.

We should all strive to further develop and strengthen our country. We have excellent prospects. This year we have officially and successfully celebrated the 20th anniversary of the restoration of our independence. Over the 20 years Azerbaijan has covered a long and glorious path. The fact that, along with successes in all other areas and the solution of economic and social issues, the public situation in Azerbaijan is very positive is our biggest achievement. The words of influential people in this regard are of great importance.

I would like to specifically welcome those of you who have come to Azerbaijan to participate in this wonderful event together with us. Today, our brothers, the distinguished Muftis of North Caucasus republics, are attending this wonderful event. It is a symbol of our friendship. We have met several times and will meet again. There is a great need for the word of authoritative people. I am pleased that we are entering a new phase of cooperation in the Caucasus, and religious leaders have put much work into this. As a result of our meetings in recent years, several excellent events have been held. We have brought youth from Caucasian republics to Baku. Young people from all North Caucasus republics came to Baku for the Caucasus Youth Forum. Recently, the leaders of North Caucasus republics were our guests. After that, our large government delegation visited North Caucasus republics to establish relations and explore economic and investment opportunities. So a new stage of cooperation starts in the Caucasus. North Caucasus republics and Azerbaijan play a special role at the start of this stage. These relations also have a positive impact on Russian-Azerbaijani ties, Caucasus issues are always on the agenda of Russian-Azerbaijani relations. Our common view is that we should strengthen peace in the Caucasus, build security, cooperation and make joint efforts for people to live well.
I am very glad that religious leaders of North Caucasus republics and Azerbaijan are close to each other today. Of course, in the old days all Caucasian peoples were in constant contact with each other. We are historically tied by bonds of friendship and brotherhood.

This is a very important issue, a very important issue for the entire Caucasus. Of course, these ties have an impact on all other areas.

Now we are taking serious steps to promote stability and cooperation in the Caucasus.

The activities of Muftis of the North Caucasus, their authority in their republics and on the international arena, of course, also suggest that they are worthy representatives of their peoples.

On this remarkable day, I want to point to the activities of His Holiness Sheikh again. His Holiness Sheikh is an experienced religious leader, a public figure and a personality enjoying great respect in the world. The activities of His Holiness Sheikh to address issues of concern in the Caucasus is of particular importance. He has repeatedly visited Caucasus republics. His Holiness Sheikh enjoys great authority in the North Caucasus. He is held in high esteem in other countries too.

As I noted earlier, when the relations between the religion and the state are at a high level, it benefits all people of the region. It benefits Azerbaijan, as it strengthens Azerbaijan’s standing and introduces us to the world. It is also important for the region. Azerbaijan is known in the world as a regional stabilizing factor, international respect for Azerbaijan is growing, and an excellent indicator of that has been Azerbaijan’s election to the UN Security Council. A total of 155 countries have supported and believed in us by voting for Azerbaijan. This is Azerbaijan’s biggest foreign political success achieved in the 20 years of independence.

Dear friends, my greetings to all of you! It is really a wonderful and historic day. The completely different Ajdarbay mosque is reopening its doors. I congratulate you on this wonderful event and greet all the guests again. I wish you good health and success. Thank you!