Baku event explores dialog as tool for conflict resolution

Representatives of over 50 countries gathered in Baku on Thursday for an international conference entitled Youth for the Alliance of Civilizations.

The goal of the event is to bring to the fore the principle of solving all outstanding problems and conflicts not through military action and confrontation, but by civilized means, i.e. cultural dialog, and to realize this initiative with active involvement of young people who represent the future generation. The сonference was organized by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Organization for Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Islamic Conference Youth Forum for Dialogue and Cooperation.

In a letter read out at the opening of the conference, President Ilham Aliyev welcomed the idea of establishing the youth movement of the alliance, stressing the importance of holding events underscoring the development of civilizations and combining Western and Eastern values in Azerbaijan.

First Lady, Heydar Aliyev Foundation president and UNESCO goodwill ambassador Mehriban Aliyeva said her country has been distinguished for both religious and ethnic tolerance since ancient times. “Tolerance is one of our key achievements, and we take pride in it,” she said.

Aliyeva said the fact that such an outstanding event was taking place in Azerbaijan should be seen as a result of the efforts being made to promote the country’s international recognition as well as to foster unity among states, peoples and creeds.

“We are living in a complex and contradictory world. At times there is a lack of understanding, trust and objective information [among people] about one another. Political views and negative stereotypes have spread far and beyond. Social injustice and inequality could lead to violence and conflict. This, in turn, will result in the disruption of stability in the world.

“The world today is faced with a dilemma - to pursue dialogue, partnership and cooperation among religions and cultures, or to slide to intolerance, deaths and tension,” Aliyeva said.

The first lady said there was a need for a concerted effort of youngsters in combating intolerance and extremism.

“It is clear that problems such as terrorism and global warming would be extremely hard to solve by one particular country. Unity is therefore pivotal and there is an urgent need for inter-civilization dialog… It is important for young people around the world to join effort against terror and religious intolerance. We support the ideas of establishing a platform for dialog among civilizations and those expressed during this conference and in the Baku Declaration.”

Consort of Qatar’s Emir Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al-Misnad said in her remarks that the Organization for Islamic Conference that has been striving for unification of civilizations has failed to achieve a number of the goals it had set out.

“Since the previous generation failed to pursue the right policy in this area, we have been unable to properly convey Islamic values to mankind. In reality, Islam is above all values, and it should be propagated to the international community as it is. Unfortunately, our generation has been unable to fulfill its tasks in this respect either,” Al-Misnad said.

She called on the youth movement included in the OIC to be active in spreading the truth of Islam to the world and in achieving rapprochement between Islamic and Western countries.

Azerbaijani First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva was conferred a special award in conclusion of the opening ceremony on behalf of the OIC Youth Forum for her assistance to young people in promoting dialog and cooperation, advancing inter-cultural dialog and her contribution to education and healthcare development.

The conference is attended by former Portuguese president Jorge Sampaio, ISESCO Director General Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri and other high-ranking attendees. In conclusion of the two-day event, the participants are to sign the Baku Declaration entitled “Inter-generation alliance” and to establish the Youth Movement for the Alliance of Civilizations. The declaration will be forwarded to the annual Global Alliance forum to be held in Madrid, Spain next January under the auspices of the United Nations.*