Ilham Aliyev:" Pope’s visit crucial for dialogue among civilizations."

"Pope Francis regards and values Azerbaijan as a tolerant country. Azerbaijan and the Vatican enjoy good relations.  Azerbaijan's role in the reconstruction works in the Vatican contributed to the improvement of these relations. The Pope`s visit to Azerbaijan in the year of multiculturalism proves that he considers and values Azerbaijan as a tolerant country." Ordinary Fekete said.

Pope Francis  finished his visit to the conflict-torn Caucasus region with a stop in Azerbaijan, a predominantly Shiite Muslim country, where he pleaded with leaders of all religious faiths to leave future generations “a better world than the one we have received.”

Following the official welcoming ceremony, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and his spouse, First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva met with Pope Francis. Pope Francis expressed gratitude to President Aliyev for the warm welcome. President Aliyev said he is glad to greet Pope Francis in Azerbaijan.

“Your visit to Azerbaijan is a historic visit,” said Ilham Aliyev and expressed gratitude to the Pope for accepting his invitation and visiting Azerbaijan.

“I hope that you will return to your homeland with good impressions. Your visit is very important for the relations between Vatican and Azerbaijan and for the dialogue among civilizations,” said Ilham Aliyev.President Aliyev noted that representatives of all religions live in Azerbaijan as one family, in peace and good neighborliness and  the relationship between religions and nations in Azerbaijan can be an example.

 “We have put forward many initiatives. Baku Process, which is one of them, started in 2008,” he said.The president emphasized that Azerbaijan is among few countries which is a member of both the Council of Europe and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.“We invited representatives of the Council of Europe to the meeting of the ministers of the culture of the OIC member states held in Baku in 2009,” he said.

“We hold the Baku International Humanitarian Forum. The World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue is held in Baku every two years,”’ said President Aliyev, noting that the main goal of these events is to prevent a religious confrontation.

“As a result of all that activity, Baku hosted the 7th Global Forum of theUnited Nations Alliance of Civilizations,” he added.  Pope Francis said all religious freedoms have been ensured in Azerbaijan. He mentioned that currently, moral and cultural wealth is of great importance particularly in European countries.“Currently, this is an important factor for people. Thereby, we can talk about the fruitfulness of our relations,” said Pope Francis

Pope Francis has visited the Alley of Martyrs to commemorate Azerbaijani heroes who gave their lives for the country`s independence and territorial integrity.A ceremonial guard of honor was set up for the Pontiff here.Pope Francis laid a wreath at the Eternal Flame monument.A military orchestra of the Defence Ministry played the anthems of the Holy See and Azerbaijan.Pope Francis was informed of the history of the Alley of Martyrs as well as construction and renovation work in the city.

Pope Francis visited the Heydar Mosque in Baku. Francis praised Azerbaijan as a place of religious tolerance as he met privately with Sheikh ul-Islam, the region’s grand mufti, before the two men held an interreligious meeting at the country’s largest mosque with Orthodox Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders. Alluding to wars in the region, Francis called on religions to “be active agents working to overcome the tragedies of the past and the tensions of the present.”