On 15 September, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received a delegation comprising members and observers of the Council of Heads of Muslim Religious Boards of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS), co-organisers of the Yahya Bakuvi International Conference, and members of the Supreme Religious Council of the Peoples of the Caucasus.
The delegation included OTS Secretary-General Kubanychbek Omuraliev; Chairman of the Spiritual Board of Muslims of Kazakhstan Nauryzbay Taganuly; Chairman of the Muslim Board of Kyrgyzstan Abdulaziz Zakirov; President of the Presidency of Religious Affairs of Türkiye Safi Arpaguş; Chairman of the Muslim Board of Uzbekistan Nuriddin Kholiknazarov; Chairman of the Spiritual Board of Muslims of Turkmenistan Rahman Gurbanmuradov; Head of Religious Affairs of Northern Cyprus Hakan Moral; Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Elders Muhammad Abdulsalam; Director-General of IRCICA (Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture) Mahmut Erol Kılıç; Chairman of the Spiritual Board of Muslims of the Chechen Republic and Chairman of the North Caucasus Coordination Centre Salah-Haji Mezhiyev; Secretary-General of the International Islamic Fiqh Organisation Seyyed Abdul-Qasim Al-Dibaji; Qadi of the Caucasus Muslims Board for the North Caucasus and Imam of the Derbent Friday Mosque Shagabitdin Kerimov; Sheikh of the Board of All Muslims of Georgia Faig Nabiyev; Mufti of Eastern Georgia Etibar Eminov; Mufti of Western Georgia Adam Shantadze; Secretary-General of the World Assembly for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought Hamid Shahriari; and Syria's Minister of Endowments Muhammad Abu Al-Khayr Shukri.
As reported by AZERTAC, the Head of State delivered an address at the event.
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**Address by President Ilham Aliyev**
— Respected Your Eminences.
Dear guests.
I sincerely welcome you. I say to the guests: "Welcome to Azerbaijan!"
These days in Baku, the 7th Meeting of the Council of Muslim Religious Leaders of the Organization of Turkic States is being held. This is in itself a major international event. At the same time, these days in Baku an international conference dedicated to the great poet and thinker Seyid Yahya Bakuvi is being held, and many of our guests are participating in this conference.
The holding of these two events simultaneously in Baku carries great significance. Because we always take pride in our great figures, our thinkers, our poets. Seyid Yahya Bakuvi is one of them. Yahya Bakuvi, who lived and created in the 15th century, left a very great mark.
The Azerbaijani people have given the world many great figures, poets and thinkers. Simply listing their names shows how rich our people and our land are in talents: in the 12th century, Nizami Ganjavi and Khaqani Shirvani; in the 14th century, Imadaddin Nasimi; in the 15th century, Yahya Bakuvi; in the 16th century, Shah Ismail Khatai and Muhammad Fuzuli. Each of them is a great world unto themselves. The legacy they left behind, the historical and cultural heritage, is of immense value today — for us, for those who carry on their traditions, for the entire Azerbaijani people, and I can say, for the entire Islamic world.
I know that many religious leaders from many countries are participating in our events. I extend special greetings to them. In addition to the religious leaders of OTS member states, participating today are the religious leaders of Georgia and Syria, representatives of the North Caucasus republics, and in particular religious leaders from Dagestan and Chechnya. This is an example of unity. Naturally, Azerbaijan has a special role here. Because Azerbaijan is both a part of the Turkic world and a Caucasian country. Looking at the history of our country, everything becomes clear. Ancient Caucasian Albania existed precisely on our territories, and the capital of the ancient state was the city of Gabala, which today remains one of the most beautiful places in our country.
The capital of the ancient Atabeg state was our other beautiful city, Nakhchivan. This once again shows that the Turkic world and the Caucasus — these two spaces — in fact encompassed a unified geography, and Azerbaijan is the only Caucasian country that is a member of the Organization of Turkic States.
Naturally, we have close ties with the Turkic world and close bonds of kinship and friendship with the peoples of the Caucasus. Naturally, your being together here carries very great symbolic meaning. Because it is precisely such joint events that unite us further, strengthen the bonds of friendship and brotherhood among us, and send very fine messages to the world.
Every word of Muslim religious leaders is, of course, of great value and significance for Muslim communities. If these words are directed towards peace, cooperation, security and reconciliation, then peace and security will also prevail in the regions we inhabit.
Certain events taking place in today's world, and especially in the Muslim world, naturally concern all of us. In Azerbaijan, we have always strived and will continue to strive to strengthen Islamic solidarity through practical steps and through our own actions. Many events have been held in Azerbaijan through the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and ICESCO. Even approximately 10 years ago — in 2017 — at our initiative and with the support of all Muslim countries, the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games were held in Baku. We regarded these Games not merely as an athletic competition, but as a great festival of unity.
Next year, the Summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation will be held in Baku. Against the backdrop of the processes taking place in the world, I believe it is no coincidence that such an event is being held precisely in Azerbaijan. True, this decision was made somewhat earlier, but in fact it is a very correct decision. Because I want to say once again that Azerbaijan, in all the organisations of which it is a member, acts as a unifying, reconciling country that promotes cooperation. I am confident that this Summit to be held in Azerbaijan next year will yield very fine results. Our hope is that by the time of that Summit, the processes, misunderstandings and, in some cases, clashes occurring between certain Muslim countries will have come to an end. On our part, we will do everything we can to ensure that the Muslim world is united as one family, that all unnecessary disputes are set aside, and that confrontations are halted. And those elements that seek to divide us and thereby strike a blow at the religion of Islam should know their place. Of course, we can only achieve this through joint efforts.
For that reason, I believe that your presence in Baku and your joint participation in the events will, again I say, send very serious and unambiguous messages both to our region and to the world.
I know that during your visit you will also go to Karabakh. According to the information I have been given, you will be in the cities of Aghdam, Khankendi, Khojaly and Shusha. I am confident that this trip will be very interesting for you. Because you will see both the consequences and the destruction of 30 years of occupation, and at the same time you will see the new face of a resurgent Karabakh. These lands were under Armenian occupation for 30 years. Military crimes were committed against our people. A bloody genocide was perpetrated in the city of Khojaly. The Khojaly Memorial Complex has now also been created in Khojaly, and if you have the time, you may visit it as well.
All our cities and villages located in Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur were razed to the ground. Ethnic cleansing was carried out against our people. Nearly one million Azerbaijanis were driven from their native lands as a result of the ethnic cleansing policy of the Armenian state. As you know, the 30 years of negotiations yielded no result. Because Armenia did not wish to leave our territories of its own accord. The great powers that supported Armenia wanted not to resolve the issue, but to prolong it and make this occupation permanent. These states, by providing Armenia with military, economic and political support, were in effect rewarding the occupier.
The Azerbaijani people put an end to this injustice and created a precedent in the world. Because until that time, occupied territories were, regrettably, not being liberated. At least, such instances were not encountered in the 20th and 21st centuries, or were encountered only very rarely.
The Azerbaijani people, shedding blood and fighting, liberated these lands. May God have mercy on all our martyrs. At the cost of their lives and blood, through the self-sacrifice of our heroic sons and daughters, we restored our justice, our rights and our national dignity. We drove the occupiers from our lands, raised the Azerbaijani flag in every corner of Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur, and put an end to separatism. The separatist leaders, war criminals and child murderers are today serving their sentences in Azerbaijani prisons. This too is the triumph of justice. That is to say, justice has been fully victorious, and the Azerbaijani people, united as one fist, have restored their territorial integrity, sovereignty, international law and justice.
When we returned to these lands after 30 years, what did we see? Now the whole world can see this: devastated cities and villages, demolished buildings, plundered national wealth, destroyed mosques. 65 mosques were completely destroyed by the Armenian state — I particularly wish to emphasise this, it was the state policy of Armenia — completely destroyed by the Armenian state. Some were in a semi-destroyed condition. You have probably seen those photographs: Armenia deliberately, intentionally kept livestock in the mosques, kept pigs, kept cows. That is to say, to insult us, to humiliate us, being well aware of our sensitivities, and deliberately to inflict further pain on our people, they did not refrain even from such barbaric acts. In fact, this was an insult not only to us, to our people, but to the entire Islamic world. This is the true face of the Armenian state. We must never forget this, and we will not forget it.
Yes, today there is peace and the war has stopped. A peace process is underway between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and I am confident that it will be long-lasting. At least, that is the position of the Azerbaijani state. But we will never forget the atrocities committed against us and against our people. We will not forget the victims of Khojaly, we will never forget our destroyed mosques and our desecrated cultural hearths, and this memory will keep us even more vigilant. This memory will not allow us to be deceived again by sweet words, will not allow any insidious plans against our people to succeed. We must be vigilant, we are vigilant, and at the same time we are also increasing our military strength. It is precisely as a result of military power and the heroism of our sons and daughters that we have driven the Armenian occupying army from our lands. For this reason, military and patriotic education is today very widely promoted in Azerbaijan. Everyone can see that today the world has changed completely and the factor of strength has come to the fore. We did not introduce the principle of "whoever is stronger is also right." But we must reckon with existing realities, and naturally we do. We know that the sovereignty, territorial integrity and continued free and independent existence of our people has one guarantee, and that is our will, our resolve, our military strength, our people's unity as one fist, our faith and our national values.
Of course, your trip to Karabakh, again I say, will be very interesting. Because you will also see a resurgent Karabakh. Today in Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur, people are already living in 48 cities and villages. That is to say, former displaced persons have returned, and those who work and study there have settled. The "Great Return" Programme is being successfully implemented. In the very cities and villages I mentioned, more than 90,000 people are now living. That is to say, life has returned, and this is our great achievement, our historic achievement. Our people lived in suffering for 30 years. Today we live as a victorious people, as a triumphant state.
I must also say that despite all these sufferings, tortures and genocides, we have not taken retaliatory steps against Armenia or the Armenian people. During the Second Karabakh War we only fired upon military formations. Unlike Armenia, we have never waged war against unarmed civilians. This is contrary to the mentality and the customs of our people. I said even during the war that we must take our revenge and our vengeance on the battlefield, and we took it in full measure. The blood of our martyrs was not shed in vain. We took our revenge for our martyrs from the enemy, we destroyed the enemy, we compelled them to surrender. Once again I say: today we live with pride as a victorious people, and we are proud.
Over thirty years of occupation, the Armenian state in Karabakh did not lay one stone upon another, did not build a single building, but built villas and mansions for its predatory, corrupt and bloodthirsty leaders. Now when you go and see for yourselves, you will see what we have done in 4–5 years with all that vast territory — approximately 15,000 square kilometres, that is, a territory the size of a country. You will see that for yourselves.
I once again welcome you. I particularly wish to express my gratitude to His Eminence the Sheikh. His Eminence the Sheikh is a personality who commands great respect in Azerbaijan, in the Caucasus, in the Turkic world, in the Islamic world and throughout the world. His activities are highly valued both by the Azerbaijani people and by neighbouring states and peoples. The events held under his patronage and at his initiative carry very great significance — for our people, for the Caucasus, for the Turkic world, for the Islamic world. Therefore, respected Your Eminence the Sheikh, I wish to express my gratitude to you. I also express my gratitude to the guests for being here with us today. I wish you success, and to the peoples and countries you represent, happiness, security and good health.
Thank you.
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**Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade** took the floor and said:
— Bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim.
Respected President Ilham Aliyev, Your Excellency.
The strength of your words — I, as a Sheikh-ul-Islam, by the grace of God Almighty, witnessed even the beginnings of these developments in a somewhat later period of Azerbaijan's history. Today, in my advanced years, I have been blessed to witness a flourishing Azerbaijan. For this I give thanks to my God. I also express my gratitude to you, for it is under your patronage that we, the leaders of the Organization of Turkic States, have gathered in the light of the great philosopher and proponent of moderate Islam, Seyid Yahya Bakuvi. It is you who provided this patronage, you who assisted in every way, and for that I express my gratitude.
Indeed, the deeds you have done, the steps you have taken, take me back to yesterday and bring me to today. My yesterday — may God have mercy on him — is with National Leader Heydar Aliyev; we walked side by side with him, we saw things together, he showed us the future. Even back then, after he came to lead Azerbaijan for the second time, he gathered us — the religious figures — together with representatives of other faiths, taught us the path of multiculturalism, taught us the right path, the path of being together with religions, of being brothers and friends. But let me also say this: he used to tell me, "Sheikh, I sent you to study. You were my student in that period." I also want to mention that back in 1968, my going to study at the madrasa was at the wish of Heydar Aliyev. I did not know this; he told me in later years.
Today I see that Azerbaijan flourishes, that under your leadership it conquers summits in the world. In particular, the full restoration of our sovereignty and territorial integrity under Your Excellency's leadership has been a great gift to us. We used to see it only in our dreams, we used to think about it. But in life, God Almighty blessed me to witness it. Because there were some people who said it was impossible, who said they did not believe in it. But alhamdulillah, under your leadership, through your policies, through both your domestic and foreign policy and the unity of our people, we achieved Victory, we achieved Triumph. May God Almighty always exalt you, may He exalt your Victory, our prayers are with you. I am grateful that you have given and continue to give me such high regard, and that you set ever greater tasks before me. That is to say, for the regard you have shown me, I will, within my means, do everything in my power throughout my life so that in the future too I may spread and convey the Islamic solidarity, tolerance and moderation of Azerbaijan throughout the Islamic world, among the religions.
I once again thank you for receiving us despite your busy schedule. This means the high value you place on national and spiritual values. For receiving us, we express our gratitude. May God Almighty grant you good health! May God Almighty protect our Azerbaijan! May God Almighty grant you new Victories, inshallah!
**President Ilham Aliyev:** Thank you.
**Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade:** I would like to give the floor to the Secretary-General of the Organization of Turkic States.
**President Ilham Aliyev:** Thank you, I am grateful.
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**Kubanychbek Omuraliev**, Secretary-General of the Organization of Turkic States, took the floor and said:
— Your Excellency, we highly value your efforts for the sake of our common brotherhood, and you demonstrated this once again today.
Yesterday as well, we held the 7th Meeting of the religious leaders of the Turkic world. And of course, the subsequent international conference shows how Baku has become the capital of the international arena.
Since that Victory, not only the Azerbaijani people, but Azerbaijanis living throughout the world take pride in your qualities of leadership.
I will be very brief. As you know, thanks to the leadership of our Turkic world, we cooperate in more than 60 areas, and one of these areas is religion. This matter is very important. In particular, we adopt decisions to announce the decisions of the Fatwa Committee.
Allow me, on behalf of our muftis, to present to Your Excellency the letters.
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**Allahshukur Pashazade:** Thank you very much. I would also like to say that the idea for this gathering of the religious leaders of the Turkic states also originated with you. They came on your behalf, it was deliberated, and we carried it out. Inshallah, we will continue it.
**Safi Arpaguş**, President of the Presidency of Religious Affairs of Türkiye, speaking on behalf of the religious leaders of the Turkic-speaking states, said:
— Dear President, first of all I wish to express my gratitude for receiving us. I convey to you the greetings of your respected brother, our President, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
**President Ilham Aliyev:** Thank you.
**Safi Arpaguş:** I wish to express our pleasure that the 7th Meeting of the Council of Heads of Muslim Religious Boards of the Organization of Turkic States and the International Scientific-Practical Conference dedicated to Sheikh Seyid Yahya Bakuvi Shirvani are being held in this beautiful Azerbaijani city. On behalf of all my friends, I convey our respect for your hospitality and generosity. We wish the Azerbaijani people and the Azerbaijani state eternal and lasting unity, solidarity and brotherhood within the Islamic Ummah, and we pray that this continue for as long as the world exists. With these sentiments, I once again thank you for receiving us and convey my respect to Your Excellency.
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**President Ilham Aliyev:** Thank you, I am grateful.
**Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade:** We have also decided to continue this conference in the Aghdam Mosque, where Your Excellency stood and delivered an address. Because I remember that during that period, the religious ceremonies for all the martyrs of Karabakh were held in that mosque.
**President Ilham Aliyev:** Yes, including the victims of Khojaly.
**Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade:** Yes, that mosque has witnessed many things. For this reason, it was decided that we should set out there today. Tomorrow, inshallah, we will continue there both the Seyid Yahya Bakuvi conference and the conference of religious leaders of the Organization of Turkic States in that mosque. We will also visit Khojaly, inshallah. This is our intention.
**President Ilham Aliyev:** That is right, Your Eminence the Sheikh, you are absolutely right. The Aghdam Mosque is a historic mosque, and we all know well that during the occupation, while Aghdam had not yet been occupied, the religious events and ceremonies for our martyred compatriots were held there, including all the ceremonies for the victims of Khojaly. I must also mention that we began restoration work almost immediately after the Second Karabakh War ended — from 2021. The first facility to be restored was the Aghdam Mosque. To date, 12 mosques — which were either completely destroyed or half-destroyed — have been restored and rebuilt, and this process continues. You will also become acquainted with the construction of the newly built mosque in Shusha.
That is to say, once again I want to say that our people's great love and respect for our national, spiritual values and our religion is such that we began the restoration work with the mosque first, and this process continues today. So it is a very good decision, and Aghdam is in fact now being reconstructed. I must also mention that during the occupation, not a single building remained in Aghdam — neither in the city nor in the villages under occupation. All buildings were demolished, the stones were looted, taken away, sold in markets. The main purpose of this was to destroy the cities so that Azerbaijanis would never return. That was the first purpose. The second purpose was, of course, greed — looting. The stones that were taken, the roofing of buildings, the window frames — all of them — even the gravestones — they took those away as well. Then they erased the names carved on those gravestones of the deceased and sold them as marble, as granite, in markets. So that is the unprecedented plundering we faced. They even dug up graves and extracted the gold teeth of the deceased.
All of this the world must know. The world turned a blind eye to this for 30 years. The great powers standing behind Armenia, including and above all the co-chair countries of the despicable Minsk Group, wanted to cover all of this up. Armenia did not allow any foreign observers into the occupied territories. It only brought some politicians and public figures from the West and other countries — those paid with money — to show them how they lived there. But international organisations remained silent about this. The United Nations — whose Security Council had adopted four resolutions calling for the withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories — remained silent; the OSCE remained silent. The Council of Europe in effect supported the occupation. The European Parliament always supported occupying Armenia, and this continues to this day. So that is a brief picture of the attitude towards us. See who we were left to face — Armenia was not alone. Had Armenia been alone, this issue would have been resolved long ago. Or had international sanctions been imposed on Armenia for this occupation, this barbarism, this genocide, the issue would have been resolved long ago. They did not do so, deliberately, intentionally. Now, on any pretext, sanctions are imposed everywhere. But look, Armenia had seized 20 percent of another state's territory, expelled 700,000 people from it, expelled 250,000 Azerbaijanis from Armenia itself, destroyed everything, all the cities. Why didn't you impose sanctions on them? This is double standards. Where do these double standards come from? It is obvious. At any rate, they do not come from the Islamic world. For this reason, we must all be aware of this.
I return to my opening remarks: our unity will strengthen each of us. Because when we stand alone, each of us can face difficulties. But when the Turkic world, the Caucasus and the Islamic world stand together, no one can prevail against us. No one can commit injustice against us. For this reason, as a state and in conducting state policy, we always prioritise this factor. Because we faced this injustice. For 30 years we raised our voice in all European organisations, we tried to convey the truth. Even I personally, in 2001 — at that time I was a member of the Milli Majlis, Azerbaijan had become a member of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly, and I was the head of the Azerbaijani delegation — when our delegation arrived there, we raised this issue first of all: that an end must be put to injustice, and what did we demand? We did not demand that the Council of Europe go and fight against Armenia. We demanded that they adopt a political decision, that they call the occupier by its name — occupier — and that the adoption of a political decision is in effect a political assessment. They did not wish to do this. No political assessment was given. On the contrary, they were blackening us, smearing us, and this continues to this day. Look, now, as Azerbaijan grows stronger and, so to speak, puts its full potential to work, there is again a dirty media campaign being waged against us from the West. They are blackening us, articles full of lies, slander and defamation about Azerbaijan are published every day.
In the Council of Europe, sanctions were not imposed against Armenia. But when we fully liberated Karabakh in September 2023, eradicated separatism at its roots and arrested the separatists, four months after that the Council of Europe imposed sanctions against us. That is their true face. The European Parliament is a nest of corrupt individuals. I say this with full responsibility — the European Parliament is a nest of corrupt individuals. From the home of its vice president, millions of dollars in suitcases were found, and they covered it all up, as if it had never happened. That person is known — she is a female deputy from Greece. How many years have passed over that? Has any measure been taken against her? No! Has she been held accountable? No! She was set free. The European Parliament consists of these Islamophobes, and this must always remain a focus of attention.
There is an undeclared war being waged against our religion, against the Islamic world, and Islamophobia is a small part of it. Discrediting the Muslim world, smearing it, equating it with terrorism, those insulting acts against our values and against the Holy Quran — do you think these happen by chance? No! This is a deliberate policy. And what must we set against it? Only our unity! For this reason, the call to unity is not merely a slogan. Azerbaijan is one of the very few Muslim countries that participates in European organisations. For this reason we know what goes on there. As a member of the Council of Europe, we have faced and continue to face these injustices, and we will doubtless continue to face them. This undeclared smear campaign against us will never stop. Why? Because we bow our heads before no one and will not do so; we say what we have to say; we protect our national identity; we protect our way of life. We do not allow certain tendencies alien to our people and our religion to take root in Azerbaijan. We are the guardians of morality. That is why these campaigns are waged against us. I have expanded the framework of our meeting somewhat — that is to say, simply to substantiate my views with evidence. That is to say, once again, the main message is that we must all strive for unity. Again I say: the words of religious figures carry special meaning for all Muslim countries. Please.
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**Muhammad Abdelsalam**, Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Elders, took the floor and said:
— Bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim.
Your Excellency President Ilham Aliyev.
Your Eminence Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade.
Respected scholars, honoured participants of the esteemed conference.
Dear President, with your permission, I would like to begin my address by responding to your words.
Dear President, you have succeeded in presenting your country to both the world and the Islamic world as a leading example of Islamic brotherhood. This brotherhood, transcending all divisions, confrontations, and sectarian distinctions, declares, as you also noted, that the path to resolution lies through Islamic solidarity and unity.
The role of scholars and jurists is an extremely important matter. Because alongside the voice of diplomacy and politics, the scholars and thinkers must also have a strong voice.
With your permission, allow me to share with you a thought that came to my mind as you were speaking and recounting so vividly the important and sensitive stages through which your country has passed. This is not a thought that those listening to you are hearing for the first time. I have listened to you on several occasions and have witnessed you speaking with faith and conviction about your own cause and your own ideals.
I would like to describe all of this with one expression: just as you were a Commander in war, you are also a Commander in peace. This is precisely what we need today.
Dear President, with your permission, allow me, in your person, to convey to the entire Azerbaijani people the greetings, respect, affection and prayers of the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Tayyeb. He holds this country in great esteem, and he asked me to announce at yesterday's conference that he is one of the disciples of Sheikh Yahya Bakuvi, and that he belongs to the Khalwati order whose followers in Egypt stand among Bakuvi's successors. One of the main pillars and great figures of this order is the Muslim philosopher of the ancient era and of our modern world, Sheikh Seyid Yahya Bakuvi.
As you also noted and emphasised, at a time when our world faces ever greater confrontations and divisions, we need the legacy of such scholars. We need the scholarly legacy, the thought and the teaching of Seyid Yahya Bakuvi, to reaffirm once more that values such as moderation, good neighbourliness, respect for the sovereignty of states, and the protection of the security of peoples and countries are not merely accepted norms in international relations, diplomacy and politics, but are also religious, moral and human values.
As you stated in your address, and as the eminent scholars emphasised at the conference, there can exist no concept of loyalty in the name of religion that exceeds the boundaries of one's homeland, that undermines its dignity and stability, and that threatens the security and stability of one's homeland and of other countries.
Dear President, we — on behalf of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, on behalf of the Muslim Council of Elders of which this wise man, His Eminence Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade, has the honour of being a member, and on behalf of the respected scholars of the Turkic states — declare that the scholarly legacy of Sheikh Seyid Yahya Bakuvi and his Sufi philosophy of Islamic solidarity are among the values most needed in our world today. This legacy serves to protect human dignity and the stability of peoples and states.
Dear President, in conclusion I wish to say to you: just as your people take pride in you, so do we take pride in you. We take pride in your work, your self-sacrifice, your loyalty to the Islamic Ummah, your service to Islam and to Muslims, to your people and your region, and also in the respect and esteem you show for the legacy of scholars.
It was very moving for me that at the beginning of your address you mentioned chronologically the scholars who lived in and passed through and were nurtured in this country. You emphasised that this legacy is a value for our lives even today. This is exactly the approach we need from leaders, thinkers and scholars throughout the world.
Once again I say: you were a hero in war, and at the same time you are a hero in peace.
Yesterday you declared with great love and respect that you are donating the Zayed Award for Human Fraternity — which you deservedly earned and won for your great services, including your great efforts in achieving the historic peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia — to your people, to the liberated territories and to their development. This is yet another example of your loyalty to your homeland and to your Ummah.
I extend my deep gratitude to you. May God bless you, may God bless Azerbaijan.
As my brother also noted, Azerbaijan has become the capital of conferences. Truly, Azerbaijan has become the capital of important and significant conferences.
We convey our deep respect, gratitude and best wishes to Your Excellency, to all those who work alongside you, and also to our respected Sheikh-ul-Islam, whom we consider our brother and our elder.
May God bless you. Thank you.
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**President Ilham Aliyev:** First of all, I ask you to convey my greetings and respect to the Grand Imam. My meeting with him in Egypt, at Al-Azhar, I will never forget. I also recall with pleasure his visit to Baku. I would very much like to see him in Baku again, and appropriate letters have been sent. I hope he will accept our invitation.
At the same time, I wish to once again express my gratitude for this award named after Sheikh Zayed. This award carries great meaning, of course, for me. Because the decision was made by a very authoritative jury, and I know that the selection process there is very precise and very careful, and that many factors are taken into account. For this reason I wish to express special thanks. At the same time, this award was a further step towards peace. It was a step that supported our peace agenda. Because I wish to say once again that we are now living in a state of peace with Armenia. But the wounds in our hearts have not healed. The wounds in the hearts of our people have not healed, and no one can know when they will heal.
To step towards peace less than two years after the bloody confrontations and the 30-year occupation requires great courage, great foresight, and at the same time demonstrates once again Azerbaijan's peace agenda. Of course, different paths could have been chosen, and naturally the choice was Azerbaijan's. Because Azerbaijan was victorious in the war. Armenia was completely defeated, it signed the act of capitulation, and of course we could have dictated any agenda we wished. But we chose a peace agenda, and how wise this choice was is, so to speak, clear to the whole world today, and the whole world sees this. Because this confrontation, this war, had to stop at some point, and if we did not stop it, no one else could have stopped it. Had we not stopped it, it would have continued forever, blood would have been shed, martyrs would have been lost, and the normal development of our country would not have been possible. For this reason, what supported this peace agenda in practical terms was precisely the award you gave to me and to the Prime Minister of Armenia. Yes, statements have been made. Almost all of the international community has expressed support for the initialling of the peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan — political statements have been made. But this award strengthened them further. The solemn ceremony you organised in Abu Dhabi, your personal attitude, and the support of world leaders for the peace process there certainly strengthens these positive trends.
We have been living in peace for just over a year — one year and one month. Peace has not yet fully settled. Yes, we have a strong will. We are committed to the peace agenda. But the processes taking place in the world and around us — now everyone sees it — have in effect reached an unmanageable level, and even a chaotic situation may deepen, both within the framework of existing conflicts and by expanding. We see that many countries are already in confrontation in various regions — not confrontations between two countries; many countries are actively involved in these confrontations, and the geography of these bloody clashes is expanding. For this reason, each of us must make great efforts to keep the Turkic world and the Caucasus region in a state of peace and to preserve peace. For this reason I once again thank you: the award you gave us played a very great role in shaping public opinion, in the subsequent taking of political steps and in making peace already irreversible. So once again I thank you and am grateful to you for all your kind words.

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**Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade:** The representative of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Director-General of IRCICA, Mr. Erol Kılıç, would also like to say a word or two.
**President Ilham Aliyev:** Please.
**Mahmut Erol Kılıç**, Director-General of IRCICA (Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture), took the floor and said:
— On behalf of IRCICA, a cultural subsidiary body of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), I wish to once again express my gratitude to you, dear President, for the warm hospitality shown to us in the beautiful city of Baku. As you know, the OIC brings together 57 member states, one of which is Azerbaijan and another my own country, Türkiye. IRCICA, the OIC's subsidiary body working in the fields of history, culture and art, is headquartered in Istanbul. We organise fine conferences. I would like to share one of my thoughts with you. Particularly in the Islamic world, the understanding of religion is being terrifyingly distorted. In some regions this is given names such as Salafism and the like. Such concepts are destroying the religion. But we know that Azerbaijan has a beautiful history of Sufism. There were moderate Sufi thinkers such as Fuzuli, Seyid Yahya Shirvani, Nematullah Nakhchivani and many others. For this reason I personally request of you that more steps be taken on our part especially to show to the Islamic world and to the whole world this beautiful and moderate aspect of Islam.
Thank you very much.
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**Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade:** I also wish to thank you. Do you know for what? The madrasa, Mir-i Arab madrasa — you visited it.
**President Ilham Aliyev:** We also had a photograph taken in front of your portrait. I told Mehriban Khanim, come, let us have a photograph taken and send it to the Sheikh. That photograph we had taken with our friend in his madrasa.
**Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade:** The grandfather of Shavkat Mirziyoyev also studied there.
**President Ilham Aliyev:** Yes, there is a photograph, and yours is there as well.
**Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade:** Yes, my photograph is there too. I am grateful that you once again showed such high regard for those national and spiritual values. Of course, this meeting greatly gladdened all of us. This was a special meeting of the Turkic states.
**President Ilham Aliyev:** You gather like this quite often.
**Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade:** There is a gentleness, a compassion in these meetings. These meetings unite the Turkic-speaking peoples ever more closely.
**President Ilham Aliyev:** Naturally, now the meetings of Muslim leaders of the Turkic states are held in various countries and will continue to be held in rotation. But this conference being held — we could make this a tradition. We could make it a tradition, either annually or every two years, as both a fine gathering for an exchange of views and discussion, and as a demonstration of unity. For this reason, think about this as well. Again I am the one proposing the initiative, and I expect concrete suggestions from you.
**Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade:** We express our gratitude, thank you very much for devoting so much time to us.
**President Ilham Aliyev:** Thank you.
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At the end, a commemorative photograph was taken.