Statement by Elmar Mammadyarov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, at the 12th Session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation

Cairo, February 11, 2013

Dear Mr. Chairman,

Dear Mr. Secretary General,

Highnesses,

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

At the outset, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Mr. Chairman, His Excellency Mohamed Morsi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, for the initiative and excellent organization of the 12th OIC Summit, as well as to the people of Egypt for the warm welcome and gracious hospitality extended to us. We are privileged and honoured to congratulate the Arab Republic of Egypt upon the assumption of the Chairmanship of the OIC Summit and wish the leadership of this remarkably hospitable country every success in the implementation of these challenging responsibilities.

It is also a great pleasure for us to observe that so much progress has been achieved in spheres of activities and programs of the OIC. In this regard, I would also like to express my gratitude to the Republic of Senegal for the successful completion of its OIC Chairmanship mission.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are living in the times of rapid change that sometimes bring large scale impacts around the world. We face challenges that call for a collective reaction and action providing opportunities for effective collaboration.

Azerbaijan is deeply concerned with the development of worrying events currently taking place in Muslim world, particularly in the Middle East, African continent and other regions. We express our full support to brotherly Palestinian people in their struggle for achieving peace, stability and establishment of their independent state. We are very pleased to see already achieved positive developments such as the acceptance of the State of Palestine to the UNESCO, as well as the recognition of Palestine as observer state at the UN.

At the same time we are witnessing today the horrible violence scenes in Syria. These are a cause of concern. Azerbaijan expresses its profound saddness regarding the situation in Syria and calls upon immediate solution of the crisis. As a member of the UN Security Council, Azerbaijan actively supports the process of diplomatic dialogue and expresses its full support and readiness to engage in all the activities led by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in order to guarantee peaceful solution of the crisis.

Azerbaijan follows the ongoing developments in Mali with a great concern. We stand for strong response to the terror groups and separatism, as well as expressing our full support to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Mali.

Azerbaijan express sincere gratitude to the Islamic Ummah, to each member state of our Organization and the OIC Secretariat for their long standing position in condemnation of the Armenian occupation of 20% of my country’s territories with notorious ethnic cleansing on the seized lands. We also appiciate OIC Member States for their call for immediate, unconditional and complete withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from all our occupied territories, as it demanded by the relevant resolutions and decisions of UN Security Council, OIC and other international organizations.

We would also like to draw your attention to the “Justice for Khojaly” international civil awareness campaign initiated in the framework of the “OIC Memorial Day Program” and aimed at disseminating of historical truth on the acts of genocide against Azerbaijani civilians perpetrated by Armenian armed forces in the town of Khojaly in February 1992, which constitutes the case of crime against humanity. Azerbaijan calls OIC member states for recognition of this genocidal act on national and international levels as a crime against humanity.

Having all these in mind, Azerbaijan fully supports the efforts undertaken by the Governments of OIC Member States to restore peace and security in all conflict situations happening in the Islamic Ummah. We will continue to take further steps in order to contribute to these efforts and improve them in our full capacity, including in providing an appropriate humanitarian and financial asistance to those who suffered and in need.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Historically, Islam has always been bearing and disseminating its noble aims and culturally rich heritage. Adhering to its principles promoting peace and tolerance in the world, Islam made great contributions to the development of civilizations, leading to the harmony and prosperity among nations. Nevertheless, it is a matter of surprise to observe the existing trends of Islamophobia against the Islamic Ummah. Being one of the most tolerant countries in the world, the Republic of Azerbaijan has always called for toughened combat against defamation of religions and incitement to religious hatred. Continuing this tradition, we also strongly support OIC's efforts aimed at exploring the possibility of evolving a binding international framework for preventing defamation of all religions. We believe that these measures should be actively coordinated through appropriate OIC structures which will hopefully achieve positive results.

Azerbaijan for centuries played the role of a bridge connecting Eastern and Western civilizations since it located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. Promoting OIC objectives and Islamic values, we are engaged in all the activities and programs being implemented by the OIC. One of the main priorities in the Foreign Policy of the Government of Azerbaijan is to strengthen the cooperation with OIC Member States in political, economic, cultural and other areas.

Besides this, Azerbaijan supports the adopted Ten-Year Program of Action and accordingly all the measures that have been accepted based on it. In this framework, Azerbaijan by supporting the programs and initiatives of the OIC, last year voluntarily contributed three millions US Dollars to the General Secretariat of OIC.

As part of our sustained engagement with the UN in the field of counter-terrorism, we are pleased to host the International Conference on “Strengthening International Cooperation in Preventing Terrorism”, jointly organized by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and ISESCO on 18-19 March 2013 in Baku under the patronage of His Excellency Mr. Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Also, responding to the call for the convening of an OIC Labor Ministers Conference, the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan is very pleased to host this Conference in Baku on 23-26 April 2013. We call upon Member States to actively participate in these significant events.

The Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan pays special attention to the issue of protection of women’s rights, increasing of women's participation in social and political life of the country. We also take active part in the process of promotion of women rights on the international level. In this regard, we are very delighted to host the 5th Session of the Ministerial Conference on Women’s Role in the Development of OIC Member States in the year of 2014 in Azerbaijan.

Taking this opportunity, I express my sincere gratitude to OIC Secretary General Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu and his highly dedicated team and appreciation for their professionalism in realization of the goals and principles of our Organization and congratulate Mr. Iyad Ameen Madani as a next Secretary General.

In conclusion, for the sake of solidarity and unity within Islamic Ummah I would like to announce that Azerbaijan has decided to withdraw its candidature for hosting of the next OIC Summit. I would like to congratulate Türkiye as a next host country for OIC Summit in 2016. I am confident that through our joint efforts we will be able to successfully pursue the noble aims for assurance of peace, stability and prosperity of each country of the Islamic Ummah.

Thank You!