Trend, Azerbaijan
Jan 15 2010

Azerbaijani official calls upon Moscow Patriarchate to be careful in
statements on Karabakh issue

Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 15 / Trend News K.Zarbaliyeva /

State Committee for Working with Religious Associations Chairman
Hidayat Orujov called upon Moscow Patriarchate to be careful in
statements on the Nagorno-Karabakh.

"The fact that the Patriarchate’s representative included the church
in the Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, speaks about negligence," Orujov
told journalists today.

Regarding Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Kirill’s Armenia visit
scheduled for March, Deputy Head of the Department for External Church
Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate monk Philippe (Ryabykh), said
that today Armenia has three temples of the Moscow Patriarchate: "One
of them is located in Yerevan and the other in Russia’s military base
in Gyumri, and the third – in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Nagorno-Karabakh is an integral part of Azerbaijan, the
Azerbaijani official said.

In connection with this issue, Orujov met with the head of the
Baku-Caspian diocese and is awaiting a formal response from senior
clergy of Russia.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. – are
currently holding the peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. General Assembly’s
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the
occupied territories.