APPEAL by participants of the International Conference on "2017-The Year of lslamic Solidarity: Inter-religious and intercultural dialogue" to Heads of States, International Organizations and Religious Leaders

On 21 December 2017, the International Conference, titled "2017-The Year of Islamic Solidarity: Inter-religious  and  intercultural  dialogue,"  was  held  in  Baku,  the  capital  of  the  Republic  of Azerbaijan,  where   state   officials,   religious  and   academic   figures,   as   well   as   heads   and representatives of international organizations were in attendance.

The participants of Conference,

commended the joint conferences on the interreligious dialogue held in Azerbaijan, Finland, Iran, Turkey, Russia, Uzbekistan and Spain throughout 2017, in the framework of "The Year of Islamic Solidarity," declared  by H.E. Mr. Ilham Aliyev,  President of  the Republic of  Azerbaijan, who attaches great importance to the protection and development of intercultural and interreligious dialogue, as well as national, cultural and religious values and traditions, and highly appreciated the attention and support lent to these events by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan;

welcomed the addresses  sent  by the  President of the Republic of Turkey, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Holy See, the Ecumenical Patriarch, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia;

Emphasized  that  promotion  of  cultural  diversity,  intercultural  and  interreligious  dialogue  and related international cooperation in the environment of mutual respect and understanding acts as the main guarantor of  peace and security. Stated the  importance of  continuation  of  Baku Process, started in 2008 with the aim to prevent global threats and challenges, as well as other relevant international initiatives, and ramping up efforts in this direction;

Expressed  their  deep  concerns   over  the   increase  in  discrimination,   xenophobia,  terrorism, separatism, extremism as well as national, religious and ethnic intolerance, mass flow of refugees and internally displaced persons on the brink of humanitarian catastrophe, and destruction of monuments and  temples,  as  well  as  religious, cultural  and  historical  wealth  by terrorist  and separatist groups;

Stated that Islam and all the monotheistic religions reflecting universal values contribute to the world civilization, culture and heritage, and serve to triumph of humanism, peace and justice;

Underlined that the Islamic solidarity has play an important role in development of intercultural and interreligious dialogue, promotion of universal values in the world and their transmission to future generation;

Articulated the importance of strengthening efforts by the international community for the sake of putting an end to the armed conflicts impeding sustainable development, tranquility, stability and security;

The participants of the Conference,

Call upon States, the UN and other international and regional organizations as well as religious leaders to continue the promotion of intercultural and interreligious dialogue and mutual understanding, and to expand cooperation in this area;

Call for the enhancement  of cooperation  to prevent propaganda inciting  national, religious and ethnic violence and deriving from harmful ideology, continuation of large-scale dialogue and enhancing of education;

Call for taking effective measures to prevent politically motivated and purposefully incited xenophobia and Islamophobia, as well as commission of terror acts and crimes against humanity, with abusive references to Islam;

Call on the international community to unite efforts, through the UN-led coordination, to act efficiently  in the  area  of  preventing threats and  provocations to the  international  stability  and security, as well as terrorism, aggressive separatism and extremism that provoke the outbreak of conflicts and flow of refugees, IDPs and migrants;

Reaffirm their adherence to the Charter of the United Nations, and generally recognized norms and principles of the international law, particularly sovereign equality of states, territorial integrity and inviolability of international borders; call for contribution to a peaceful and prompt resolution of Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in this context;

Emphasizing unacceptable political developments around the holy city of all monotheistic religions Haram el Sharif Jerusalem that further aggravate already complicated situation, call for increasing efforts to find peaceful settlement to this issue, based on the mutual respect to each religion and culture, the norms and principles of the international law and the resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council, and call the international community to be vigilant in respecting the status quo of the religious communities in Jerusalem in conformity with international law. Baku, December 21, 2017