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Mubariz Gurbanli: Azerbaijan people divided in 19th century

18 February 2017 10:25 (UTC +04:00)

Young people from 16 countries, from Portugal to Vietnam are students of Multicultural Winter School and that indicates its importance, said Mubariz Gurbanli, chairman of the State Committee for Work with Religious Organization.

He made the remarks at the meeting with students of International Multicultural Winter School from 16 countries on Feb.18, APA reports.

Gurbanli said people are searching for information about a country on the internet before leaving for there. “There can be wrong information about countries on the internet. You have visited Azerbaijani districts and Baku. You are now aware of such wrong information. There are some forces that are interested in disseminating false information about our country,” he added.

The committee chairman noted that 20 percent of the Azerbaijani lands were occupied by the Armenians. “Armenian lobby is trying to cover up their aggression spreading false information on the Internet. Thus, the visit of a group of young people like you to our country is very important. People can’t get full information about a country on internet or media. The main source of information is what they see with their own eyes,” he stressed.

Gurbanli noted that the number of Azerbaijanis in the world exceeds 50 million. “10 million of Azerbaijani people live in the north. The Azerbaijani people have been divided. The agreement signed in the 19th century between Tsarist Russia and Iran divided Azerbaijan into two parts. Half of the Iranian population is Azerbaijanis. Azerbaijani persons are represented in Iran’s state bodies and parliament. The supreme leader of the country is of Azerbaijani origin. By saying Azerbaijan, we mean not only the north, but the whole Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani language belongs to Turkic language family and therefore we are able to communicate easily with Turkish-speaking peoples in Turkey, Iran, Iraq”, he said.

According to him, 96 percent of the Azerbaijani population is Muslim. “Under the Constitution, Azerbaijan is a secular state. Along with Islam, confessions of Christian, Jewish and other religions are operating in Azerbaijan as well. There is a temple of Zoroastrianism, one of the ancient religions, in Azerbaijan. As USSR was an atheist state, the religion was under pressure in Azerbaijan and mosques, churches, synagogues were destroyed. Only after the independence was gained, religious freedom was ensured. Today, more than 2,000 mosques, churches and synagogues are functioning in the country. Mosques are run by the Caucasian Muslims Office, and the state-religion relations are regulated by the state Committee”, said the chairman.