Russian Orthodox Church: NagornoKarabakh conflict has no religious ground
The Russian Orthodox Church invariably and consistently supports the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan NagornoKarabakh conflict and the search for mutually acceptable solutions for existing disagreements within the framework of the law.
This was stated in a letter of the Church addressed to Azerbaijan’s Embassy in Russia in response to the Embassy’s request on the final declaration of the 23rd annual conference of the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy, the Azerbaijani Embassy told Trend on August 26.
The final declaration included a paragraph of anti-Azerbaijani nature that was the reason of the Azerbaijani Embassy’s quick respond.
The letter says that since 1993, with the mediation of Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, a number of meetings of Armenian and Azerbaijani religious leaders were held. At the meetings, participants have repeatedly stated that the NagornoKarabakh conflict is devoid of religious ground – it has a political nature and the inciting of ethnic hatred is a sin from both the Christian and Islamic points of view.
Patriarch of Moscow today also supports the same position and makes efforts for the peaceful and fair solution of the conflict, the letter reads. The concern of the Azerbaijani side will also be brought to the attention of leadership of the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy.
Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.
While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign State with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years.
Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region.