Opening the event with an introductory speech, SCWRO Deputy Chairman Sayavush Heydarov spoke about the events taking place around the world on religious grounds. He noted that the world’s leading power centers, some ambitious countries use human rights and the concept of religious freedom as a tool to achieve their geopolitical and geo-economic interests. The deputy chairman said the sad result of it all manifests itself in the Middle East, emphasizing that the main point of concern is that no lessons are learnt from these negative and dangerous processes and the processes occurring on these grounds are further expanding.     

The deputy chairman of the Committee pointed out that at such a time Azerbaijan carries out exemplary state-religion relations and modern multiculturalism policy, whose foundation was laid by the National Leader. According to him, this policy has become a very important strategy in preventing threats emerging against the system of human values, especially the international security. Heydarov underlined that the Azerbaijani strategy has no alternative in the fight against the consequences of radicalism and extremism in the world. He said that Azerbaijan not only says that it is an ambassador of peace, but shows it in action. “Unfortunately, we see that the actions taken by international organizations and the international community are in many cases just a pretense. Tolerance has weakened in many countries due to islamophobia and xenophobia,” the Committee’s deputy chairman added.

Executive Director of Baku International Multiculturalism Center Ravan Hasanov noted that if the policy of multiculturalism has become an official policy of any state, then multicultural security should also become an integral part of its national security. This issue is becoming increasingly more relevant. Today there are rare countries that are mono-ethnic. Hasanov said that multicultural security is not just a mere phrase, but a concept that has been developed very recently and continues to be improved. One of the most important underlying features of this concept is ensuring the right to equality.  

Next, BIMC analyst Araz Gurbanov made a presentation on the topic of “Multicultural security: challenges and responsibilities.”

Member of Parliament Hikmat Babaoglu noted that we must keep constant focus on this topic, because some global centers always try to exploit it. He stressed that today we live in an era of wars and unfortunately, religion has also become a tool for wars. Speaking of the importance of ensuring the integrity and harmony of the society, the MP said that through the work of the Caucasian Muslims Office and the establishment of SCWRO, the relations between religion and state in Azerbaijan created a real system, which has evolved into an institute that helps preserve historical traditions.   

Chief of Staff of Caucasian Muslims Office Simran Hasanov said that tolerance, multicultural environment and prosperity in any country or society are built on three factors: the dominant ethnic group’s attitude towards other ethnic groups; the policy conducted by the state; and the attitude of the country’s leading religion towards multicultural values, other religions and ethnicities. He added that where these factors do not complement each-other, the system will inevitably fail.

During his speech, Rector of Azerbaijan Institute of Theology Jeyhun Mammadov noted that the complex processes and conflicts taking place in the modern world have turned the necessity of preserving the national-moral and religious values of all ethnic groups into one of the topical issues of the era. Mammadov emphasized that the countries that are unable to ensure their multicultural security today suffer from terrorism and extremism. Currently, the events going on between religions and civilizations have replaced the ideological conflict of the “Cold War” period of the 20^th century. In such cases, religion is used as a tool for political games and loses its true mission and essence.     

Director of the Institute of Philosophy of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences Ilham Mammadzade, Chairman of the Albanian-Udi Christian Religious Community Robert Mobili and Executive Director of Moral Values Promotion Fund Mehman Ismayilov made speeches and shared their views on the importance of promoting the values of multiculturalism and tolerance, as well as the roles that these values play in ensuring religious security.  

At the end of the event, first-year student of Azerbaijan Institute of Theology Nijat Huseynov’s speech was heard.

The Conference concluded its work with discussions.