The Chairman of the Caucasus Muslims Board, Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade, was on a visit to the Kyrgyz Republic on September 10-11 to attend the VI meeting of the Council of Muslim Religious Leaders of the Organization of Turkic States in Bishkek.

The VI meeting of the Council of Muslim Religious Leaders of the Organization of Turkic States began its work at the state residence on September 11. It was opened with an inaugural speech by Mufti Abdülaziz Zakirov, Chairman of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kyrgyzstan. Kubanychbek Omuraliev, the Secretary-General of the Organization of Turkic States, warmly greeted the participants and wished them blessings for their work.

The first speech at the meeting was delivered by the Chairman of the Caucasus Muslims Board, Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade. Expressing his honor in conveying the greetings and best wishes of His Excellency President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to the organizers and participants of the high-level meeting, Sheikh-ul-Islam A. Pashazade said: "Unbreakable ties and shared values connect us with the Kyrgyz Republic. The masterpiece of the Turkic world, the historical heroic epic of the Kyrgyz people—the epic of Manas—along with religious scholars like Imam Sirajuddin al-Oshi and Imam al-Saraxsi, and other prominent figures who have made invaluable contributions to human history, have paved the way for the formation of the Turkic-Islamic cultural and spiritual heritage of the East and Central Asia."

Stressing that the peoples of the member states of the Organization of Turkic States have always been and are proud of being loyal to our sacred religion and our Turkic identity, our religious and spiritual values, and our national traditions, CMB Chairman A. Pashazade stated that Turkic-Islamic unity benefits from the joint cooperation, regular consultation, and deliberation among the Muslim religious leaders of the Organization of Turkic States. "We are moving towards our common goals with great confidence and strong faith," he said.

"As the Council of Muslim Religious Leaders of the Organization of Turkic States, we have set it as our honorable task to utilize all opportunities to convey the decisions and ideas of our wise state leaders, which are of human significance and serve the interests of our states, to religious leaders and the international community worldwide. Thanks to the friendship and fraternal relations between our wise political leaders, His Excellency Mr. Ilham Aliyev and His Excellency Mr. Sadyr Japarov, the comprehensive cooperation between our states and peoples is further strengthening and developing. During every visit of the Kyrgyz Republic's President to Azerbaijan, we witness his attention and respect for our country and people. The participation of the brotherly country's leader in the Khankendi Summit is one of the events that fill our hearts with pride. In particular, His Excellency Ilham Aliyev’s joint participation with Mr. Sadyr Japarov in the opening of the Aykol Manas-named Khidirli secondary school, built by the Kyrgyz side in the Aghdam region at Mr. Japarov's initiative after Azerbaijan fully restored its territorial integrity and sovereignty, was met with great approval by the Azerbaijani people."

Sheikh-ul-Islam A. Pashazade proudly noted that the heads of state of the Turkic world demonstrate true examples of brotherhood by being together in good times and difficult moments. "Unfortunately, there are forces that cannot tolerate us. At such a time, we religious leaders must provide spiritual support to our state leaders in their wise policies for the sake of our peoples and states. It is the civic duty and spiritual responsibility of us religious figures to work to prevent foreign interference, ideological provocations, including the ideas of Islamophobia, Turkophobia, separatism, sectarianism, takfirism, and religious and racial intolerance, and calls for hatred in the religious and spiritual environment of the Turkic-speaking countries."

Expressing the intention for the next VII meeting to be held in Azerbaijan, Sheikh-ul-Islam A. Pashazade offered prayers for the permanence of the unity and spiritual solidarity of our brotherly countries, and for peace and tranquility in the world.

Following that, Grand Mufti of Kazakhstan Naurizbay Taganuly, President of the Presidency of Religious Affairs of the Republic of Turkey Ali Erbas, and Mufti of Uzbekistan Nuriddin Kholiknazarov also spoke at the VI meeting of the Council of Muslim Religious Leaders of the OTS.

At the VI meeting of the Council of Muslim Religious Leaders of the OTS in Bishkek, documents discussed at the meeting of the Fatwa Council were adopted. The document titled “Unity of the Ummah in Islam” and the “International Call on Combating Climate Change, Environmental Protection, and Maintaining Ecological Balance” were signed by the Council members. The Muslim religious leaders of the OTS addressed a letter of gratitude to His Excellency Mr. Sadyr Japarov, President of the Kyrgyz Republic.

It was confirmed and announced that the next meeting of the Council of Muslim Religious Leaders of the Organization of Turkic States will be held in Azerbaijan.

The VI meeting of the Council of Muslim Religious Leaders of the OTS, whose foundation was laid in Istanbul and whose Statute and Joint Statement were signed and adopted in Shusha in 2022, continued its work in Bishkek after previous meetings in Istanbul, Baku, Shusha, Turkistan, Tashkent, and Astana with an international scientific and theoretical conference on the topic "Imam Sirajuddin al-Oshi and his contribution to Islamic sciences." Jeyhun Rustamov, Deputy Chairman of the Caucasus Muslims Board, delivered a speech at the conference.

In a warm bilateral meeting between the Chairman of the Caucasus Muslims Board, Sheikh-ul-Islam A. Pashazade, and Mufti Abdülaziz Zakirov, Chairman of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kyrgyzstan, views were exchanged on issues of mutual interest. Future cooperation activities aimed at deepening religious and spiritual ties between our brotherly peoples, as well as the joint discussion of fatwas on important legal matters, were recommended.

Latif Gandilov, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Kyrgyz Republic, participated in the events.

CMB Press Service

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