President: Pope's Azerbaijan visit important for entire humanity

The visit of Pope Francis to Azerbaijan has a great meaning, said Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev Oct.2.

Ilham Aliyev made the remarks during the meeting of Pope Francis with representatives of the general public at the Heydar Aliyev Center.

“Your Holiness, Pope Francis. Dear guests, ladies and gentlemen. Your Holiness, first of all, I sincerely greet you in Azerbaijan and welcome your delegation,” said President Aliyev.

“During the meeting in Vatican last year, I invited you to Azerbaijan and I am very glad that you accepted my invitation and visited our country,” said Ilham Aliyev. “This visit has a great meaning. This is a historic visit.”

President Aliyev noted that this visit will make a great contribution to the development of relations between Vatican and Azerbaijan.

“This visit is important for the entire humanity, because it also shows that the dialogue among civilizations exists, continues and is getting stronger and we try to give a new impetus to this dialogue,” said Ilham Aliyev.

The relations between Vatican and Azerbaijan have been developing successfully for 24 years, said the president, adding that high level reciprocal official visits have been paid.

“An exhibition dedicated to Azerbaijan was held in Vatican museums in 2012 on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of our relations. Azerbaijani exhibition was the first exhibition of a Muslim country,” said President Aliyev.

“At the same time, our relations are supported by public organizations. Vatican’s Saint Marcellino and Pietro's Catacombs were opened in February 2015 after the major overhaul and repair work with support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, which is the largest non-governmental organization in the South Caucasus,” he added.

This great event once again shows that the bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Vatican are developing successfully and the strengthening of the interreligious and intercultural dialogue is a reality, according to the president.

“Representatives of all religions and nations have lived in Azerbaijan in peace, dignity and friendly atmosphere for centuries and this continues in the same way today as well,” he added.

“Regardless of the socio-political structure, civilizations have always come together in our land. Azerbaijan has always played a role of a bridge between the East and the West. This is both a geographical and moral bridge,” said Ilham Aliyev.

The president pointed out that the historical monuments of all religions are protected and restored in Azerbaijan.

“Azerbaijan is a very ancient land. We are proud that one of the oldest mosques in the world, the Juma Mosque of Shamakhi, which was built in 743, is situated in Azerbaijan,” said President Aliyev.

“At the same time, one of the oldest churches in our region, the Church of Caucasian Albania, is also situated in Azerbaijan,” said the president. “The ancient temple of fire worshippers, Orthodox and Catholic churches, synagogues are protected and restored by the state in Baku.”

President Aliyev added that a very remarkable event took place in the history of relations between Vatican and Azerbaijan in 2008.

“We marked the opening of a Catholic Church in Baku in 2008. The Catholic Church was built in Baku in 1912, but was destroyed by the Soviet government in 1934,” said the president. “Like other religious monuments, the mosques, Orthodox churches and synagogues were also destroyed.”

“Independent Azerbaijani state decided to re-build the Catholic Church in Baku and today, in the morning, Your Holiness held a religious ceremony in this church,” said President Aliyev. “This is remarkable. First of all, we eliminate the historical injustice. On the other hand, this is a great gift for Catholics living in Azerbaijan.”

“Currently, the relations between religions, peoples and nations in our country can serve as an example. This is said not only by us, but also by foreigners becoming familiar with Azerbaijani realities,” said the president.

“We have put forward many initiatives. Baku Process, which has already gained a great fame in the world, is among them. Baku Process started in 2008,” he added.

President Aliyev pointed out that Azerbaijan is among few countries which is a member of both the Council of Europe and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

“We invited the ministers of culture of Muslim countries to the meeting of the ministers of culture of the Council of Europe’s member states in 2008,” he added.