Azeri spiritual leader, European Commission chief discuss Karabakh

ANS TV, Baku
17 Sep 04

[Presenter] European Commission President Romano Prodi, who is on
a visit to Baku, has started his official meetings. He visited the
Martyrs’ Avenue and the grave of [Azerbaijani ex-President] Heydar
Aliyev this morning. Then he met the chairman of the Board of Muslims
of the Caucasus, Sheikh ul-Islam Haci Allahsukur Pasazada.

[Correspondent, over video of the meeting] European Commission
President Romano Prodi held his first official meeting with the
chairman of the Board of Muslims of the Caucasus, Sheikh ul-Islam
Haci Allahsukur Pasazada. The heads of the Orthodox and Catholic
churches and the leader of the Jewish community of Azerbaijan also
attended the meeting. The spiritual leader mainly spoke about the
Nagornyy Karabakh problem. He said that Armenia wants to show that
the war with Azerbaijan was a religious one.

[Pasazada, speaking at the meeting] We can prove this. If you want to,
we can show you crosses drawn on the bodies of Azeri captives after
their death. By destroying Muslim graves, shrines and mosques they
wanted to turn this conflict into a religious one.

[Correspondent] However, we sat at a negotiating table with many
spiritual leaders, including the Russian patriarch. We proved that
there were no religious reasons for that war, it was not a religious
war, the sheikh said. He said that Armenia claimed that the Azeris
do not want to live alongside the Armenians. And we all know that
25,000 Armenians live in Azerbaijan today. However, there isn’t a
single Azeri in Armenia, end of quote.

In turn, European Commission President Romano Prodi said that he came
to Azerbaijan to discuss new proposals for promoting cooperation.

[Prodi, in English with Azeri voice-over] The European community
is open to your public not only in terms of the economy but also
politics. For this reason, it is important that representatives of
various confessions took part in this dialogue. We know that there
are many conflicts in this region. We can help you resolve them.

[Correspondent] Prodi cited as an example conflicts between France and
Germany and said that their relationship later improved. He noted that
Azerbaijan and Armenia should implement their commitments to the UN and
other international organizations in line with the documents signed.

Ceyhun Asgarov, Sehrac Azadoglu, ANS.