Chairman of Caucasus Muslims Office calls upon World Council of Churches to cease supporting Armenian Church's provocative propaganda disrupting fragile peace

Sheikhulislam Allahshukur Pashazade, Chairman of the Caucasus Muslims Office, has sent a letter to Jerry Pillay, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches. In his letter, Sheikhulislam Allahshukur Pashazade expressed his desire to welcome Jerry Pillay to Azerbaijan.

The letter reads:

“I would like to greet you in the Name of our One Supreme Creator and express my good intentions and wishes. Having had before the opportunity for sincere communication with you, I remember you as a just and noble person. During our meetings, I expressed our intention to cooperate with the World Council of Churches and personally with you, as well as our desire to receive you in Azerbaijan.

We have recognized the World Council of Churches as a platform for just interfaith dialogue and effective cooperation. Indeed, on February 8, 1993, in Montreux, a valuable step was taken towards the just resolution of the former Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, where, through the mediation of the WCC, a high-level meeting was organized with the participation of the religious leaders of both countries. In the Joint Communiqué on results of the Montreux meeting, signed by me as the religious leader of Azerbaijan, and Catholicos-Patriarch of all Armenians Vazgen I and also endorsed by the World Council of Churches, it was explicitly emphasized that: “While we were discussing the problems troubling our peoples and ourselves, despite some attempts to characterize this conflict, resulted in the shedding of innocent blood, as a Christian-Muslim confrontation, it is firstly and foremostly necessary to declare that it is not a religious conflict. Christian Armenians and Muslim Azerbaijanis must live in peace, mutual respect, and amicable neighborhood.” The delegation that visited Azerbaijan according to the instruction of the General Secretary of the WCC of the time, Konrad Raiser, acquainted on site, in tent settlements, with the dire situation of Azerbaijanis who had been subjected to aggression, displaced, and turned into refugees and internally displaced persons as a result of ethnic cleansing policies. Upon their return, they decided to provide humanitarian aid to our country. The grateful Azerbaijani people still remember with deep appreciation that humanitarian assistance allocated by the WCC at that time for our citizens who suffered from the Armenian aggression. However, today we are left with the question: what is the reason for the change in approach towards Azerbaijan- a victim of aggression by the Christian church organization, since it should always refer to the principles of mercy and justice in accordance with the teachings of Jesus Christ? Regrettably, the statements, made under the direct influence of the Armenian side by you, who deemed it appropriate to come as far as to our borders and peek our lands through binoculars, have caused a rightful dissatisfaction among the Azerbaijani people due to the lack of objectivity and bias. In our statements issued at that time and in the letters addressed to you before, we emphasized and we insist that religious leaders must serve the Sole Creator and the Righteous One, and not to contribute to conflict and confrontation under any circumstances but rather to contribute to peace, coexistence, and mutual understanding.

Honorable Mr. General Secretary, Azerbaijan is recognized and accepted worldwide as a platform for interreligious dialogue and cooperation. This process has always been supported and endorsed at the level of the Head of State. As the religious center, the Caucasus Muslims` Board actively participates in these processes and maintains close relations within the framework of cooperation with all influential religious centers around the world. In the Joint Statement dated November 2022 of the leaders of the religious communities operating in the multicultural Azerbaijan, we specifically emphasized that: “The World Council of Churches (WCC) may send its representatives to Azerbaijan to become acquainted with the real situation on site, and we hope that by doing so, and prioritizing an objective and just position, this will put an end to the anti-Azerbaijani propaganda financed by the Armenian diaspora operating abroad and to the falsified ‘fake’ news inconsistent with the truth.”

Honorable Mr. General Secretary, the Truth eventually prevails, and Justice triumphs. Representatives from a diverse range of countries, diplomatic corps members, and international organizations such as the United Nations, ISESCO, and others have visited the territories of Azerbaijan liberated from Armenian occupation. They have witnessed firsthand the consequences of culturcide, urbicide, and ecocide, and have provided objective assessments. After the Second Karabakh War, observer missions of the United Nations to the region confirmed that no violence was inflicted upon the peaceful Armenian population or civilian infrastructure in these areas. During their visits, UN representatives freely inspected Armenian cultural monuments, including Christian places of worship, and reported that no any signs of violence or acts of vandalism was observed there. The conditions provided by Azerbaijan to the UN missions clearly demonstrate that our country does not evade transparency and that there is no situation to hide. Despite the disinformation spread by Armenian propaganda, it should be emphasized once again that, as confirmed by international observers, no pressure or violence was exerted against the Armenian civilian population in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, and they left the area voluntarily.

I am confident that if You, as the head of the World Council of Churches, were acquainted with the reports of international organizations and the statements of international observers, your statements would be more objective and just in a manner pleasing to the Almighty Creator. What concerns us is that the WCC, which contributed to the peaceful resolution of the former Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict in 1993 and affirmed at that time that the conflict did not have a religious nature, now, influenced by Armenian partisanship and Christian favoritism, is issuing one-sided statements. Statements, that you have done as the General Secretary under the clear influence of the Armenian side, undermine the peace-loving reputation and the just stance of the World Council of Churches, and cast a shadow over its activities in the field of the interreligious cooperation, and deal an irreparable blow to interreligious dialogue efforts. Regrettably, it must be emphasized that the documents of an international church organization like the WCC, which rely on Armenian deceit and slander, reveal a clear Islamophobic undertone that tarnishes the name of the organization you lead. The Armenian Church has seized upon WCC documents, infected by these biased accusations, as a banner to spread calls worldwide — even including among international Muslim organizations — urging all to join an anti-Azerbaijani front. We insist that such misuse of the name of the WCC will be prevented in the shortest time, and we expect you as General Secretary, to demonstrate a firm stance on this matter. In today’s world, where the misuse of religion for political purposes creates threats, and incites hatred, and fosters discrimination on religious and ethnic grounds, and leads to vandalism such as the desecration of religious symbols, the Institution which represents the Churches of the World must, based on the commandments of the Almighty, uphold impartiality and objectivity to prevent acts that damage confidence and human fraternity on international stage. The sooner you distance yourself from the influence of the Armenian church leaders, whose deceit, bias, and revanchism contradict the tenets of the Christian faith and the teachings of Jesus Christ, and whose honor and reputation are even disputed within their own country, and who are losing their spiritual sanctity, the less damage will be inflicted on the international image of the World Council of Churches.

Dear Mr. General Secretary, regarding your speech at the conference held in Bern on May 27-28 this year, I once again have to bring to your attention, that there is no administrative entity called “Artsakh” within the 86,600 square kilometers of the territory of Azerbaijan, recognized by the international community. Even the Prime Minister of Armenia itself had to repeatedly acknowledge this historical fact. In your above speech, you mentioned that during your visit in 2023 near the Lachin corridor, you “witnessed physical wounds as well as the suffering of people uprooted from their homes.” Unfortunately, through your binoculars, you could not see the horrors and sufferings experienced by the Azerbaijani people in the recent past, including the genocide perpetrated by Armenia in 1992 in the town of Khojaly, which resulted in the killing of 613 people, among them 63 children, 106 women, and 70 elderly, as well as the total annihilation of 8 families. You also failed to see the total devastation of our cities and villages, the destruction of 65 out of 67 mosques in our occupied territories, the plundering of thousands of religious sites, cemeteries, historical monuments, museums, and libraries, the transformation of our mosques into stables where animals forbidden in Islam were kept, and the poisoned rivers, cut-down forests, scorched lands, and the countless mines buried in our lands.

Dear Mr. J. Pillay, the sacred scriptures of all the Abrahamic Religions, including the Bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ, revered by Muslims as well, contain calls for people to live and let live. However, the Armenian Gregorian clergy, whose actions contradict the fundamental principles of Christianity and the peace-loving appeals of the Bible, raise serious doubts about their genuine religious leadership. Instead of praying for peace, they take up arms — one hand holding a Cross, but the other holds “Kalashnikov” — and incite their people, the children and adults, to support the occupation of Azerbaijani lands. By urging its people to "fight until death," the Armenian Church not only incites violence instead of peace, but also drags their nation toward further dangers and calamities.

In the Holy Bible, it is said: "Blessed are the peacemakers!" (Matthew 5). In the Muslims’ sacred Book of the Holy Qur’an, it is stated: "Do not spread corruption on Earth after it has been set in order" (Al-A’raf, 56). It is the sacred duty of religious leaders to contribute to the establishment of a safer and more just world. With this, I call upon the World Council of Churches to cease supporting the Armenian Church’s provocative and revanchist propaganda, which disrupts the fragile peace and misuses Christian solidarity in ways that do not correspond to the Truth. The destructive influence of the Armenian Church, which offers no salvation to its own people and leads them toward new tragedies, must no longer be accepted as the official stance of the WCC. I sincerely hope that in its future activities, the World Council of Churches will always be a herald of Truth, Justice, and World Peace, and will tirelessly strive for the welfare and security of all peoples.”