UN CHOOSES AZERBAIJAN

From 25 to 27 April, Baku hosted the 7th Global Forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations under the slogan of "Living Together in Inclusive Societies: A Challenge and A Goal". To participate in it, about 2,000 visitors from 120 countries, including heads of state, ministers, parliamentarians, politicians and public figures, scientists, experts, representatives of international and regional organizations, as well as donors and foundations arrived in the capital of Azerbaijan.

The presidents of Azerbaijan and Turkey, Ilham Aliyev and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Garcia-Margallo y Marfil spoke at the official opening of the forum at the Baku conference centre. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon addressed the participants in the forum with a video message.

In his speech, President Ilham Aliyev said that Azerbaijan has been situated on the crossroads of different cultures and religions for centuries, they have been developing, and there has always been tolerance and ideas of multiculturalism here. The so-called "Baku process" initiated in 2008 became a broad platform for intercultural dialogue. Last year Baku hosted the first European Games, and next year it will host the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games. That is to say in two years athletes from European and Islamic countries will participate in the Games in the same city. The Azerbaijani leader expressed his disagreement with the fact that multiculturalism has failed, drawing attention to the fact that an alternative to it is xenophobia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, ra-cism, discrimination and hatred.

President Ilham Aliyev told the forum participants about achievements in the socio-economic and political development of our country, ongoing reforms and major regional projects implemented in the fields of energy and communications. He also expressed his principled position on the most painful problem - the occupation of the territory of Nagornyy Karabakh and seven other regions of Azerbaijan for more than two decades by Armenia, which brazenly tramples upon international law and refuses to comply with the numerous resolutions of the UN Security Council and General Assembly and other authoritative international organizations.

In the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, the Azerbaijani leader was resolutely supported by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In his speech, he drew the attention of the forum participants to the catastrophic situation in Syria, where hundreds of thousands have been killed and millions have become refugees, as well as the danger of the spread of terrorism. "We need to organize a global alliance against terrorism," the president of Turkey said. "We will be able to counteract the spread of terrorism only by joint efforts," he said, adding that "it is impossible to link terrorist acts in the world with Islam. Terrorism is an enemy of mankind."

During the three days of the forum, 41 events were organized. The First Lady of Azerbaijan, MP Mehriban Aliyeva, ministers and senior officials of the Presidential Administration took an active part in them. Activities of the youth section of the forum were organized and conducted under the direction of Leyla Aliyeva.

An clear position on the situation in the region and in the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagornyy Karabakh conflict was expressed on the panel dedicated to international security issues by the deputy head of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan, Novruz Mammadov. He said that the question of why the conflict has still not been resolved should be addressed to members and, mainly, the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group: Russia, US and France. According to Mammadov, the United Nations handed over this issue to the OSCE. For its part, the OSCE delegated it to the three co-chair countries who announced to the world that no one can interfere in the settlement of this issue. When Baku raised the question of the conflict with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe a month and a half ago, the co-chair states strongly recommended that it should not be discussed, and when that failed, they failed the adoption of the resolution.

At the panel meeting on the problem of "Media professionalism: Media for organizing resistance against the propaganda of violent extremism", the assistant to the president of Azerbaijan on socio-political affairs, Ali Hasanov, said: "We have to accept the bitter truth that in the region where Azerbaijan is located, there is violence and religious intolerance." He noted that the media is the most effective means to promote intercultural dialogue and tolerance, although the opposite often happens when the media is influenced by the trend of creating an enemy image when covering conflicts. Hasanov pointed out that conflicting approaches could be traced in the coverage of similar conflicts in the former Soviet Union. For example, if some conflicts are presented in the context of external armed intervention and restoration of national sovereignty, individual media present the conflict in Nagornyy Karabakh as a clash of civilizations. One can trace attempts to justify the occupier here - the initiator of the conflict is presented as a "victim" and the true victim as an aggressor.

An interesting discussion took place at the panel meeting on "Best practices in social integration". The chairman of the Senate of the Kazakh Parliament, Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev, the founder of the San Patrignano Community, Letizia Moratti, former Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos and others addressed it. Participants, in particular Moratti noted that both developed and developing countries face a number of challenges while forming an inclusive society: "Most of all in this area, we are faced with the problem of the low level of employment among young people. This factor leads to the risk of isolation of young people, social anxiety and causes the loss of preferences among young people. In the end, it all leads to the fact that young people join terrorist organizations and criminal groups. Other factors are the gap between generations and the migrant crisis, which face most countries in recent times."

A high-level meeting of the Group of Friends of the UN Alliance of Civilizations held during the Forum adopted the Baku Declaration. It stresses the importance of respect and understanding for cultural and religious diversity and promotion of tolerance, dialogue and cooperation among different cultures, civilizations and people. It welcomes the adoption of the sustainable development programme up to 2030. It offers to expand the functions of the moderator of the Alliance of Civilizations. The document expresses concern about the prolonged and widespread unlawful acts against cultural heritage, as well as acts of intolerance, radical extremism, violence and terrorism in various parts of the world, which caused the death of innocent people, destruction and forced relocation of people.

The holding of the Global Forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations in Baku is a sign of recognition of Azerbaijan's efforts in promoting values of multiculturalism and intercultural dialogue. This was stated by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the opening of the event. Indeed, thousands of visitors were able to familiarize themselves with the capital of Azerbaijan, witness our achievements and feel the wonderful aura of Baku, which combines the East and the West. During the event, we were able to inform the distinguished guests about the Azerbaijani perspective on global and regional issues and the truth about the essence of the Karabakh conflict. In general, the holding of our Global Forum of the Alliance of Civilizations in our capital will enhance the international prestige of Azerbaijan.

OUR REFERENCE: the Alliance of Civilizations initiative was launched by Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero at the 59th UN General Assembly on 21 September 2004. It was supported by Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The aim of the initiative was to create proposals in the shortest possible time by the end of 2006 to be adopted by UN member states. To this end, the UN secretary-general created a high-level group of 20 eminent politicians, figures of education, civil society, religion and media. After a series of meetings and discussions, they prepared a report containing recommendations on how the Western and Muslim worlds can overcome misunderstandings between them. According to the report, "Politics, not religion is the root of the growing divide between Islam and the West". The first forum of the Alliance of Civilizations was held in Madrid, Spain, in 2008 and the second forum in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2009.