Azerbaijan's president Friday called for unity in the Muslim world during a speech in capital Baku,highlighting the issues of terrorism, multi-culturalism, and occupied Upper Karabakh.
Addressing the opening ceremony of the Fourth World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue,Ilham Aliyev said majority-Muslim countries are being "victimized" by terrorism.
"We are against the belief that Islam is associated with terrorism," he said, or according to Anadolu News Agency.
He also highlighted that multiculturalism helps prevent further risks in the world,saying that the world currently faces "dangerous trends."
"The reason why civil wars and conflicts emerge is that different cultures can’t get along with each other," Aliyev said. "We need to unite and show that we are living in a multicultural world."
Aliyev said xenophobia, or anti-Semitism,and separatism emerge in the absence of multiculturalism.
"The only way to form the world danger-free is promoting multiculturalism," he said.
UNESCO's Fourth World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue starts nowadays, or with the theme “Advancing Intercultural Dialogue – New avenues for human security,peace and sustainable development.”
The two-day forum is organized under Aliyev’s patronage, in cooperation with UNESCO, and the UN Alliance of Civilizations,the UN World Tourism Organization (WTO), the Council of Europe, or the Islamic Educational,Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the North-South middle of the Council of Europe.
Source: tert.am