On September 24, 2025, an event dedicated to September 27 – Commemoration Day was held at the Caucasus Muslims Board (CMB).

The event, attended by religious figures, socio-political figures, and media representatives, began with the playing of the Azerbaijani State Anthem and a recitation from the Quran.

The event was opened with an introductory speech by the Chairman of the CMB, Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade.

Bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim!

Dear Heads of Religious Confessions, our Qadis, and Religious Figures!

Honorable Deputies of the National Assembly of Azerbaijan!

Valuable Statesmen! Distinguished Participants!

Today, we are on the eve of the magnificent anniversary of the history of our people and our state. Five years have passed since the start of the Patriotic War that put an end to 30 years of Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani lands. The history of our Righteous War on the path to restoring historical justice is a day of honor and a source of pride for every Azerbaijani. God willing, we will specifically celebrate the 5th anniversary of the Victory we achieved in 44 days, but the significance of September 27 – Commemoration Day remains quite special in the memory of the nation as the zenith of our national revival, state power, and love for the Motherland.
On September 27, the Azerbaijani people entered the greatest trial in their history. They began a righteous struggle to liberate their ancestral lands—which they had longed for for years—from the occupier, to free their national and cultural monuments from subjugation, and to save their mosques from desecration and their wealth from plunder. Under the leadership of our Victorious Commander-in-Chief, the Azerbaijani Army carried out the honorable task of restoring our rights and re-establishing our territorial integrity, which is recognized by international law but which international law failed to secure. May the Almighty God have mercy on our heroic martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the Motherland in this just war, and grant healing to our brave veterans (ghazis)!
In those days, the heart of each of us beat with Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani soldier, believing that the 30-year longing would end. We were confident that under the leadership of the Commander-in-Chief, the Azerbaijani people would win the victory in Karabakh, and peace and justice would be established. Our religious figures stood by the people day and night during those fateful days, providing religious and spiritual service to our soldiers, their families, and their loved ones. This is our moral duty as religious figures, and we performed this duty commendably during the days of the Patriotic War. We jointly attended the funerals of our Motherland's martyrs of various faiths—Muslim, Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish—participating together without distinction. Both during the Patriotic War and after our blessed Victory, we, the heads of the religious confessions operating in Azerbaijan, have repeatedly met online and in person to discuss the sacred goals of the Second Karabakh War in detail, and we spared no effort to convey extensive information about our righteous struggle to the world community. We worked intensively with all the religious centers and international organizations we cooperate with to expose the war crimes committed by the Armenian side, the inhumane actions they carried out against our people, and the disinformation and insidious accusations they spread. It is a source of pride that our esteemed Head of State, Mr. Ilham Aliyev, during his historic speech on the Jidir Plain in our cultural capital, Shusha, specifically noted and highly appreciated the contribution of Azerbaijani religious figures and the faithful to the Karabakh Victory. Today, Catholics, Orthodox, Jews, and Albanian-Udis in Azerbaijan, along with Muslims, surround the families of the Motherland's martyrs with attention and care, and commemorate their memory fittingly. This unity of ours is undoubtedly an integral part of the Azerbaijanism ideology of the National Leader Heydar Aliyev, and thanks to our multicultural traditions, the power of the Azerbaijani state will always continue with victories.
His Excellency, our esteemed President Mr. Ilham Aliyev, elevated Azerbaijan to the standing of a victorious country and the Azerbaijani people to a victorious nation; he fulfilled his father’s will—the will of the National Leader of the Azerbaijani people. Today, the victorious leader of Azerbaijan is writing new pages of our epic victory. In 2025, a year His Excellency declared the "Year of Constitution and Sovereignty," and on the eve of the 5th anniversary of the Great Karabakh Victory, he brought another unparalleled pride and joy to the Azerbaijani people, bestowing a new, world-scale Victory, and achieving the restoration of historical justice on the global political-diplomatic stage and the confirmation of our sovereignty at the highest level.
With wise statecraft and an iron political will, His Excellency, who fully restored Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and sovereignty, displayed the manifesto of our victory on the international stage to the entire world community at the Washington Summit. Justice prevailed, and the repeal of Amendment 907—a symbol of bias against Azerbaijan—by U.S. President Mr. Donald Trump became an embodiment of the respect and confidence shown to His Excellency and, in his person, to the Azerbaijani state. Thanks to the foundation laid for strategic cooperation between Azerbaijan and the U.S., and the value and essence of the documents signed during His Excellency’s high-level reception in the world's leading country, the decades-long meaningless and fruitless efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group were terminated. Another triumph of President Ilham Aliyev's policy for the sake of Azerbaijan was the introduction of the Zangezur project, named the "Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity," which guarantees stability and security in the region, ensures the national interests of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and provides unhindered connection between Nakhchivan and the main part of Azerbaijan. We, religious figures and the faithful, will demonstrate our support for our state's peace agenda and our Head of State’s wise political course by proclaiming in our Statement the historic importance of the Washington Agreement in establishing lasting peace in the South Caucasus.
Distinguished Participants! We are immensely delighted by the rapid restoration of the savagely destroyed cities, villages, and spiritual sites—the bitter consequences of Armenian vandalism on Azerbaijani lands—the clearance of our lands from mines, and the rapidly advancing large-scale construction work. Although it is deeply saddening for religious figures to see our mosques destroyed, martyred, and insulted during their visits to the liberated territories, we are equally happy about the new, magnificent mosque building whose foundation was laid in Shusha, the rising calls to prayer (Azan), the restored and rebuilt mosques and houses of worship, and our visits to Christian temples. This is a manifestation of the cultural and spiritual superiority of the Azerbaijani state, which values its spiritual heritage and multicultural religious legacy as national wealth, reviving and preserving it, and a display of its tolerant state policy. The entire world is a witness to the traditional attention and care given to high moral values by His Excellency and the First Vice-President of our country, Mrs. Mehriban Aliyeva, and their contributions to the restoration of catacombs in the Vatican and the restoration of mosques and churches in Serbia, not only in Azerbaijan but also in various parts of the world. Our state, which preserved the Armenian church in the center of Baku, is restoring Orthodox and Armenian churches in Shusha alongside our mosques. This is the multicultural policy and moral superiority of the Azerbaijani people and the Azerbaijani state.
With the help of the Almighty God and the unparalleled efforts of our wise Head of State, the airports in Fuzuli, Zangilan, and Lachin, the Victory Road leading to Shusha, the reconstruction in Khankendi, the Great Return, the new, beautiful appearance of the Karabakh lands, and its transformation into a traditional venue for international summits increase our confidence and optimism. The Statute of the Consultative Council of Heads of Muslim Religious Boards of the Organization of Turkic States, which was held in Bishkek these days, was adopted right here in Shusha. By visually demonstrating the atrocities committed during the occupation period when we visit liberated Karabakh with high-ranking religious leaders attending the Summit of Religious Leaders during the COP 29 Baku meeting, and by cooperating with the World Council of Churches to regularly inform them of the realities of Azerbaijan, we present solid facts against the anti-Azerbaijani propaganda and revanchist disinformation spread by the Armenian Church, which continues to this day. My election as Co-President of the "Religions for Peace" organization—the largest international interreligious peace-missionary organization with high global prestige—and my membership in its World Council, is undoubtedly another manifestation of the international value given to the Azerbaijani state and the efforts of its leader.
It is highly significant that our country's name is highlighted globally as an exemplary model for inter-religious dialogue, as well as for intra-Islamic understanding. At the event in Bahrain dedicated to exploring the problems faced by intra-Islamic dialogue and ways to overcome them, the unique example of inter-sectarian understanding and brotherhood in the person of independent Azerbaijan is presented as a model to the whole world. This is another successful result of the policy pursued by the Azerbaijani Head of State. I would like to present the publication, "A Call to the People of the Qibla," to you with great pride. The exemplary model based on the religious realities of Azerbaijan was referenced during the preparation of the document. "A Call to the People of the Qibla" is a historical document of special importance in the history of the Islamic world, and I am confident that, God willing, this Call will be a means of bringing goodness to the entire Islamic world.
Distinguished Participants! The power of the Azerbaijani state is unshakeable, and our victories will continue as long as the wise line of statecraft is pursued. Today, Khankendi is on the world's agenda as a venue for Azerbaijan's International Summits. A Memorial monument for the victims of the genocide is being erected in Khojaly. And the Victory Arch in Baku embodies our proud victory. This means the triumph of Divine justice. Azerbaijani religious figures and all our faithful always support the wise domestic and foreign policy and the victorious political course of His Excellency President Mr. Ilham Aliyev and always pray for him. May the Almighty God protect Azerbaijan and preserve our Head of State! May Allah-Taala have mercy on all the martyrs, the heroic martyrs of our 44-day Patriotic War! Amen!
The participants then delivered speeches. Our martyrs were commemorated. The Joint Statement of the Religious Confessions in Azerbaijan was read.