By Vestnik Kavkaza
On February 26th a round-table discussion “Inter-Religious Dialogue: Factor of Stable Development of the South Caucasus” will take place in Baku. Leading Russian and Azerbaijani experts will speak about the threat of radical Islam to the South Caucasus, which provokes so-called clashes of civilizations, what effective mechanisms of resistance to terrorism and extremism should be used in the Caucasus region, what the role of traditional Islam and Orthodox Christianity in the development of the inter-religious and inter-ethnic dialogue is in the region, and they will present a joint assessment of the situation in the Middle East and its negative influence on the South Caucasus.
Rushan Abbyasov, the first deputy chairman of the Council of Muftis of Russia, told Vestnik Kavkaza about the importance of the forum: “Of course any dialogue, especially in our restless times when inter-ethnic and inter-religious peace are fragile, is very important and topical. Such inter-religious events which are held in certain countries of the post-Soviet space are very important and topical. Once again we show the world that representatives of traditional religions are not fighting, not breaking down; they call for peace, so the world could live in peace, harmony and order.
According to Rushan Abbyasov, we all have different paths to God, but “we shouldn’t insult the feelings of people who belong to other religions. And we, representatives and leaders of religious organizations, speak about it, it should be the message to their flock and society in general.
Mufti says that “we need more round-table conferences on the topic to discuss the problems. I am sure not only our society in Russia, but the whole world will attentively follow the discussions and see that Muslims, Christians and Jews peacefully discuss the important ideas of our sacred writings.”
The forum is organized by the Baku office of the political scientific center “Sever-Yug” and the information and analysis agency Vestnik Kavkaza.
