President Ilham Aliyev:President Ilham Aliyev: Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity recognized by int’l community must be restored - UPDATE - PHOTOS

Unfortunately, the negative news is in the foreground in the world media, including Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said during the opening ceremony of the Third Baku International Humanitarian Forum today.

"The preference is given to sensations, disasters and terror acts. While reading the news, it seems as if the world is on fire, there are clashes, wars, explosions and terror everywhere," the President noted.

"However, many wonderful, positive events also happen in the world," the President said. "Unfortunately, they are slightly in the background."

He went on to add that it is the responsibility of the media representatives.

"If we want to strengthen the cooperation and inter-civilization dialogue in the world, we must use all opportunities," Ilham Aliyev underscored.

The President believes that the positive events in the world must become major topics in the media, otherwise the information will be one-sided.

"Of course, politicians can not interfere in this issue," he said. "There are free media outlets in Azerbaijan. Any intervention is out of the question. As a citizen, I wanted to share my thoughts and I believe that the media responsibility will gradually increase. Therefore, I believe that responsible approach would be beneficial for everybody."

According to the Head of State, the urgent issues of media in the globalizing world will be discussed within the Humanitarian Forum, which by itself is a very interesting topic.

"I know that there are various opinions in connection with this issue and they are very different. On one hand, we live in the era of Internet and this is our biggest advantage. I should stress that the Internet is completely free in Azerbaijan and 70 percent of our population are internet users. In this case, the main condition is the development of free media," Ilham Aliyev said.

"On the other hand, there is great influence of news in the globalizing world. Every word anywhere can cause immediate resonance. Today, people get more news through the Internet. The responsibility of politicians, media representatives and public figures is on the foreground," he underscored.

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15:45
Unfortunately, Azerbaijan confronted with a humanitarian catastrophe, as country's lands recognized by the international community have been under occupation for many years, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said during the opening ceremony of the Third Baku International Humanitarian Forum today.

"Ancestral lands of Azerbaijan - Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding regions are under the occupation of aggressive forces of Armenia," the President noted, adding that more than one million of Azerbaijanis became refugees and IDPs in their native home land.

"Some 20 percent of our lands are under occupation. All our cultural heritage and historical and religious monuments were destroyed in the occupied territories," Ilham Aliyev said.

"International organizations, in particular the OSCE, sent the fact-investigating missions to the occupied regions twice. It is clearly indicated in their reports that everything was destroyed. International organizations indicated their principled position on this issue in the documents. Four UN Security Council resolutions call for withdrawing of the Armenian forces from the occupied territories. The European Parliament, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Council of Europe and other organizations made similar decisions and resolutions. But, unfortunately, these decisions and resolutions are not fulfilled," the President noted.

According to him, it is necessary to raise the question of the effectiveness of international organizations because their decisions have remained on paper and they are not being fulfilled.

Azerbaijani President said that in some cases the resolutions adopted by the international organizations are fulfilled within hours, while the aforementioned resolutions have remained on paper for more than 20 years.

"The negotiations are being held in connection with this issue," he said. "Of course, internationally recognized territorial integrity of Azerbaijan must be restored. More than one million refugees, internally displaced persons must return home. This is their fundamental right. This conflict is also a gross violation of human rights."

"More than one million Azerbaijani citizens can not return home. Of course, this major humanitarian catastrophe caused great impact on the entire development of our country," the President said.

Ilham Aliyev underscored that Azerbaijan's current development attracts more attention because being occupied the country could achieve this development.

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14:56
Azerbaijan has been recently holding prestigious international events, summits, international conferences on various topics, and Baku has turned into one of the centers of international cooperation, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said during the opening ceremony of the Third Baku International Humanitarian Forum today.

According to him, humanitarian issues and cooperation in this sphere unite peoples and countries.

"There is great interest towards the work of the forum," the President said. "Around 800 guests from 70 countries are participating, and one can say that our guests today are the intellectual elite of most of the world's community," Ilham Aliyev said.

The President underscored that in all times Azerbaijan has paid attention to humanitarian cooperation, adding that this issue is constantly in the spotlight.

"I think that our country has gained great experience in this field. Along with political, economic, energy issues, humanitarian issues are being discussed in Baku at a high level," the President noted.

According to him, the Davos World Economic Forum and the meeting of the Club of Madrid were held in Baku for the first time in South Caucasus and Central Asia, the forum on inter-cultural dialogue was held twice, and the Baku International Humanitarian Forum was also significant among them.

"I am confident that the discussions and exchange of opinions, to be held within the forum will contribute to the international humanitarian cooperation," the President said. "Holding such events in Azerbaijan is natural because representatives of all peoples and religions in Azerbaijan in all periods lived in peace, safety and brotherhood."

"Regardless of the socio-political system in the country, justice and tolerance have been always observed in Azerbaijan in all periods," the President said. "Independent Azerbaijan is creating its policy today on the basis of this solid foundation. There is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious society in Azerbaijan today."

"This is our great property and value" he said. "We protect and we will protect this heritage. The historic monuments of representatives of all peoples and religions are being protected and restored. The ancient temple of worshippers has been restored in Azerbaijan. The Caucasus' oldest church is also in Azerbaijan. It was also overhauled. One of the oldest world mosques - Shamakhi Juma mosque was also overhauled. The mosque is 1270 years old. That is, restoration, protection of monuments of all religions is the state policy."

Ilham Aliyev noted that this brilliant historic experience in Azerbaijan is observed today in modern conditions.

"I believe that the formation of civil society and development of international relations in the positive direction are our greatest achievements. I want to reiterate that's why the issues related to humanitarian cooperation are being discussed in Baku."

The president expressed confidence that this forum has brilliant future and the platform of international cooperation will have its positive impact on the positive processes in the world.

"The forum has a broad agenda," he said. "Very interesting topics will be discussed. According to the information presented to me, the sections of greatest interest, "round tables" will cover issues related to multiculturalism. And I can say that the forum focused on this topic because it requires constant attention, and there are different opinions on this in the world. Of course, there is positive and negative experience. I believe that our cause is to celebrate the positive aspects of multiculturalism, promote them and eliminate the biased attitude in the issue."

"Multiculturalism is the state policy in Azerbaijan," the President said. "I must stress that this was also dictated by our historical past. At the same time, multiculturalism is a way of life in Azerbaijan. We follow these principles in our daily life and these principles are supported and maintained by an absolute majority of the society."

According to him, there is no alternative to multiculturalism in the XXI century.

"An alternative is biliousness, discrimination, xenophobia, Islamophobia and, of course, we can not remain indifferent to such undesirable tendencies in the XXI century," the President added.

"Therefore, the formation of multicultural societies, the promotion of these ideas must be part of the activity of every responsible politician public figure," he said.

"Unfortunately, sometimes we hear other opinions that multiculturalism has no future and pessimistic mood dominates in a number of countries in connection with this issue," Ilham Aliyev added. "I believe that we must analyze on the basis of the positive world experience and promote positive experience."

According to him, there are multinational societies in most of the world countries.

"The coexistence of different religions, peoples was dictated by the time," the President said. "Today the universal values are the basis of every normal society. Of course, in this case, the problems associated with multiculturalism must be discussed in an open form."

"These problems must not be hidden, they must be openly discussed," the President said. "The positive and negative experience must be analyzed. I want to reiterate that our main goal is to contribute to the development of multicultural societies. I can say that the experience gained by Azerbaijan in this direction is positive. As I said, this is our state policy, our way of life. I believe that holding the Humanitarian Forum in Baku is an estimate of the positive aspects of this experience."

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14:00
Azerbaijan has been recently holding prestigious international events, summits, international conferences on various topics, and Baku has turned into one of the centers of international cooperation, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said during the opening ceremony of the Third Baku International Humanitarian Forum today.

According to him, humanitarian issues and cooperation in this sphere unite peoples and countries.

"There is great interest towards the work of the forum," the President said. "Around 800 guests from 70 countries are participating, and one can say that our guests today are the intellectual elite of most of the world's community," Ilham Aliyev said.

The President underscored that in all times Azerbaijan has paid attention to humanitarian cooperation, adding that this issue is constantly in the spotlight.

"I think that our country has gained great experience in this field. Along with political, economic, energy issues, humanitarian issues are being discussed in Baku at a high level," the President noted.

According to him, the Davos World Economic Forum and the meeting of the Club of Madrid were held in Baku for the first time in South Caucasus and Central Asia, the forum on inter-cultural dialogue was held twice, and the Baku International Humanitarian Forum was also significant among them.

"I am confident that the discussions and exchange of opinions, to be held within the forum will contribute to the international humanitarian cooperation," the President said. "Holding such events in Azerbaijan is natural because representatives of all peoples and religions in Azerbaijan in all periods lived in peace, safety and brotherhood."

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10:25
The third Baku International Humanitarian Forum started in Baku on Thursday.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his spouse, Mehriban Aliyeva attend the opening ceremony.

The guests from over 100 world countries are participating in the forum.

According to the forum's official website, Round tables will be organised in eight directions: the convergence of technologies and the shape of the future: the main challenges of the 21st century; humanitarian aspects of economic development, scientific innovations and their transfer to the education sector; multiculturalism and identity: in search of value consensus in society, national identity in the post-modern era; sustainable development and ecological civilization; achievements of molecular biology and biotechnology: from theory to practice and relevant media issues under the conditions of globalisation of information space.

Baku International Humanitarian Forum is an annual event comprising the outstanding representatives of political, scientific and cultural elite of the world community, including well-known statesmen, Nobel Prize winners in various branches of science and heads of influential international organisations.

The purpose of the forum is to hold dialogues, exchange the views and discussions on wide range global issues of concern to all of humanity.

The objective of the forum is to form a platform for constructive debate and discussion, exchange the ideas, theoretical and practical knowledge.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev were the initiators of the Forum in 2010.

The representatives of natural, social sciences and humanities, as well as the cultural elite of the world who have set the ambitious task of forming a new humanitarian agenda with a view to further consider it at the international level are the organizers and participants of the forum.

/Trend/