Aliyev warns against attempts to present Islam as a threat

President Ilham Aliyev has said that attacks on Islamic values and cultural heritage cannot be justified by appeals to freedom of expression, warning that Islamophobia has become a dangerous trend threatening mutual understanding and peaceful coexistence.

In his address to the participants of the 20th Session of the Conference of the Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States, the Azerbaijani president said that hatred against Muslims, desecration of Islamic values and attacks on Islamic cultural heritage are becoming increasingly widespread in the world.

Aliyev stressed that the crimes committed against Islamic cultural heritage on Azerbaijani lands represent an open manifestation of Islamophobia. He noted that such acts are not isolated incidents, but part of a wider pattern of intolerance directed against Muslims and their religious identity.

“The burning of our holy book, the Quran, and the publication of cartoons of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, cannot in any way be justified by freedom of expression and are absolutely unacceptable,” the president said in his message.

According to Aliyev, Islamophobia should not be viewed merely as prejudice or intolerance toward Muslims. It is a dangerous phenomenon that undermines dialogue between societies and creates barriers to peaceful coexistence.

The president also criticized certain political circles in the West, as well as institutions such as the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, accusing them of encouraging anti-Islamic sentiments and attempting to associate Islam with extremism and terrorism.

He said such efforts are aimed at creating a distorted image of Islam and presenting the religion as a source of danger, which, in his view, is both unjust and deeply harmful.

Aliyev’s address placed the issue of Islamophobia within a broader international context, underlining Azerbaijan’s position that respect for religious values, cultural heritage and interfaith dialogue must remain essential principles in global politics.