TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Oct 28 2007

US Congress’s Passing Resolution Recognizing So-called Armenian
Genocide Fraught with New World Destabilization – OIC

Azerbaijan, Baku / Òrend corr S. Aghayeva / In case the US Congress
passes the resolution recognizing the so-called Armenian genocide,
new destabilization may occur in the world and the dialogue among
civilizations can be seriously affected, the president of the Youth
Forum of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) Ali Sarikaya
said in Baku on 28 October speaking at the international conference
`Youth for the Alliance of Civilizations’ held within the framework
of the UN Initiative.

US Congress developed a draft resolution stating that at the
beginning of the 20th century Turks committed genocide of Armenians
in the Ottoman Empire. Armenians state that over 1.5mln of them were
slaughtered then. US President George Bush repeatedly opposed
recognition of the Armenian genocide. US Secretary of State and 8
former Secretaries of State also opposed passing of the resolution.

This step by the US Congress can be considered only to be a result of
the powerful states’ pressure on the Muslim world, Sarikaya said.
According to Sarikaya , the attempts to contrast civilizations and
religions are basically wrong and they may cause even greater
development of Islamophobia in the world. He mentioned the incident
with publishing of cartoons of Prophet Mohammad in Denmark. Sarikaya
indicated three key ways of preventing development of Islamophobia .
Those are establishment of an active network of progressive youth’s
cooperation, settlement of the conflict between Palestine and Israel,
and continuation of the dialogue among civilizations.

Speaking at the conference The Secretary General of the OIC Youth
Forum Elshad Iskandarov , the Azerbaijani Deputy Minister for Youth
and Sports Intigam Babayev , and Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister
Vagif Sadikhov called to develop dialogue and cooperation. The
conference was organized under the patronage of the president of the
Heydar Aliyev Foundation, the First Lady of Azerbaijan, the UNESCO
and ISESCO free will ambassador, MP of Azerbaijani Parliament
Mehriban Aliyeva .

The West press identifies Islam with extremism and violence and that
is the evidence of the fact that today the society needs a dialogue
between civilizations, Babayev said.

The decision to hold the conference was made in 2006 by the OIC `For
Dialogue and Cooperation’ youth forum and is being implemented
through the cooperation with such international organizations as UN
Development Program, ISESCO and the Council of Europe (CE).

The second part of the conference will take place on 2 November.
Mehriban Aliyeva and the president of Qatar Science and Culture
Foundation Muza bint Nasir al Missned , as well the UN Secretary
General’s high representative on Union of Civilizations, the former
Portuguese President George Sampayo , ISESCO Director General
Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri and other high-ranking guests are expected
to deliver primary reports. Well-known scientists will deliver
reports on history, mutual relations among different civilizations,
their political, social and cultural aspects – `Culture and Relations
among Cultures, `Dangers of Phobias – Islamophobia and Westphobia ‘,
`Development of the Youth: from Poverty to Wealth’, `Educational
Reforms in Muslim World and in the West’ and others. Youth will take
an active part in the discussions.

The Conference will be concluded with passing of the Baku Declaration
on ` Alliance among Generations’. The document will be submitted to
the annual `Global Alliance’ forum which is planned to be held under
the auspices of the UN in Madrid in January 2008.