At his meeting with the country’s authorities, the Pope urged them to “open up new avenues that lead to lasting agreements and peace”
No stone must be left unturned in efforts to reach peace. In his speech to political authorities, Francis referred indirectly to the Nagorno Karabach conflict, without actually naming the contested region that both Azerbaijan and Armenia lay claim to and is occupied by troops from Yerevan. Since the conflict that took place in the 1990s, peace negotiations have been underway under the aegis of the Minsk Group.
The Pope was welcomed by President Ilham Heydar Aliyev, in the huge square in front of Ganjlik presidential palace in Baku. Francis, whose skulcap was blown away by the wind, walked past the line of troops who were lined up and greeted them in Azeri: “Salam asker” (“hello soldiers!”). The meeting with the president, which was supposed to be a private affair, was not initially, as the first five minutes were broadcast on live television, with the two men conversing with the help of an interpreter: “Thank you for your warm welcome”, Francis said, adding: “In this land, you are an example of religious freedom”. Aliyev in turn, said the papal visit was an important event, also as far as “dialogue between civilisations” is concerned. After the meeting and the exchange of gifts – the president presented his guest with a 5x3m carpet – Francis visited the monument that commemorates the victims who fell in the battle for independence. The monument is located about eight kilometres from the palace, at the burial site of Azeri and Turkish soldiers who died defending the city in 1918. Popular demonstrations were held here against the Soviet army but were violently suppressed in 1990. Those who fell in the Nagorno-Karabakh war are also buried here.
From here, Francis made his way to the H. Aliyev centre, a very modern structure shaped like a whale, buit in memory of the current president’s father. The centre houses art exhibitions and the foundation headed by the president’s wife, Mehriban Aliyeva, who played a frontline role in the restoration work carried out on the ancient frescoes int he Roman catacombs of Sts Peter and Marcellinus. This is where the meeting with political authorities took place, in the presence of the Muslim Sheikh of the Caucasus region, an Orthodox bishop from the Russian Orthodox Church and a rabbi.
In his welcoming speech, President Aliyev recalled the importance of “multiculturalism” in the country where “religions live like one family”. He also mentioned the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, “a territory occupied by Armenians” and the conflict that created “a million refugees”.
In his own speech, the Pope observed that Baku, the capital that overlooks the shores of the Caspian Sea, “has been radically transformed with new buildings, such as the one where we are meeting”. Indeed, the context witnessed by the Bishop of Rome 14 years after Wojtyla’s visit, is completely different; the city skyline has radically changed.
Aware that he was visiting a country where religions co-exist peacefully, he mentioned “the common effort to harmonize differences is of particular importance in our time, as it shows that it is possible to bear witness to one’s own ideas and worldview without abusing the rights of others who have different ideas and perspectives”.
“Every ethnic or ideological identity, as with every authentic religious path,” the Pope said, “must exclude attitudes and approaches which instrumentalise their own convictions, their own identity or the name of God in order to legitimize subjugation and supremacy”.
Hence, the Pope expressed the wish that Azerbaijan would “continue along the way of cooperation between different cultures and religious confessions. May harmony and peaceful coexistence be evermore a source of vitality to the public and civil life of the country, in its multiplicity of expressions, ensuring to all men and women the possibility of offering their own contribution to the common good.”
“The world, unfortunately,” Francis remarked, “is experiencing the tragedy of many conflicts fuelled by intolerance, which in turn is fomented by violent ideologies and by the effective denial of the rights of the weakest. In order to effectively oppose these dangerous deviations, we need to promote a culture of peace, which is fostered by an untiring willingness for dialogue and by the awareness that there is no reasonable alternative to patiently and assiduously searching for shared solutions by means of committed and sustained negotiations.”
Between states too, the Pope concluded by saying, “it is necessary to persevere wisely and courageously on the path which leads to authentic progress and the freedom of peoples, opening up new avenues that lead to lasting agreements and peace. In this way, peoples will be spared grave suffering and painful wounds, which are difficult to heal”. Francis expressed his “heartfelt closeness to those who have had to leave their land and to the many people who suffer the effects of bloody conflicts. I hope that the international community may be able to offer unfailingly its indispensable help. At the same time, in order to initiate a new phase for stable peace in the region, I invite everyone to grasp every opportunity to reach a satisfactory solution.”
Vatican spokesman Greg Burke reported that Francis signed the guest book of the Heydar Aliyev cultural centre, leaving the following handwritten message: “I am grateful for the hospitality I received and from this place of encounter and culture, I encourage all to always choose the path of man: openness, respect, sharing”.
