Political analyst: The term "shahid" has much broader meaning in Azerbaijan than Armenian FM understands

The term “shahid” has much broader meaning in Azerbaijan than Nalbandian understands, Azerbaijani political analyst Parvin Darabadi said commenting on Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian’s interview with Russia Today in which he tried to accuse Azerbaijan of attempting to introduce Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as an inter-religious one.

"The term “shahid” in Azerbaijan may also refer to a man who gave his life for his country and for restoration of its territorial integrity. In this context, the term “shahid” has nothing to do with religious factors. Nalbandian wants to present the Karabakh conflict as a confessional and give it a religious coloring,” Darabadi said.

”Apparently, Yerevan no longer has any other arguments to convince the international community to support them. But everybody understands that the Karabakh conflict has neither interfaith nor interethnic nature. It is merely a conflict between two states. Azerbaijan has always been noted for its religious tolerance, and no religious conflicts have occurred here for many years. But Yerevan, resorting to populist terms such as "Islamic fundamentalism" or "extremism", wants to gain "Christian sympathy" from other countries.”

“Azerbaijan has announced many times that Karabakh Armenians are our citizens. Baku is ready to provide them with all rights enjoyed by all other citizens in our country, regardless of denomination, ethnicity or region of residence. We are also ready to give autonomy to Karabakh region within Azerbaijan's borders. For all these reasons is inappropriate and futile to accuse Azerbaijan of a religious intolerance," said the analyst.
 
Talking about Nalbandian remarks that except for the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), no other international organization supports Azerbaijan, Darabadi said: "OIC's has adopted decisions on the Karabakh conflict in favor of Azerbaijan. But they are all based on international law and the principle of territorial integrity of countries.”

“By the way, all these decisions, of course, demonstrate the solidarity of the Muslim states with Azerbaijan, without going beyond simple documents. In other words, OIC does not pose any threat to Armenia's statehood. But, contrary to what Nalbandian has said, that the OIC is not the only organization that supports Azerbaijan. Apparently, the Armenian foreign minister has forgotten about the four UN resolutions, the EU and NATO Lisbon Summit decisions. They all voice a support for territorial integrity of Azerbaijan,” the analyst pointed out.


/Day.Az/