German Media Outlet Covers Islamophobia-Tackling Conference In Baku

(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 12. The German daily newspaper Berliner Zeitung has issued an article about the recent international scientific conference "Embracing Diversity: Tackling Islamophobia in 2024" held in Baku, Trend reports.

The article author noted that this event, dedicated to an important aspect of Europe's future, serves as a kind of warning to European politicians.

"The international conference on Islamophobia in the capital of Azerbaijan has become a geopolitical fault line. Organizers discussed the religious dimension of the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, while Pakistanis reminded of the fate of 200 million Muslims in India," the article said. "Bloody persecutions of Muslims in Myanmar and the oppression of around 18 million Muslims in China were also mentioned. The main theme of the experts' presentations - scholars and representatives from Muslim circles worldwide - was the liberalism of secular Western countries, exemplified by France."

The material emphasized that 130 participants from 31 countries took part in the conference, including well-known representatives of multilateral interreligious dialogue. One of the sponsors was the Interfaith Forum G20, and the majority of Europeans came from France and the UK.

"Sara Sheikh Hussain, a researcher at the University of Melbourne, spoke in Baku about how different religions can coexist. Despite some resentment faced by Muslims in Australia, conditions there are paradise compared to France. The Australian Muslim community consciously works to eliminate the division between public and private.

Open-door days are regularly held in mosques, and on holidays, people pray together in public parks. Despite global interfaith tensions - between Muslims and Hindus in India, Jews and Muslims in Palestine, Muslims and Christians in the South Caucasus - all agree that Islamophobia has no roots in other religions, especially in Abrahamic ones.

Mohammed El-Maazouz, the director of the European-Arab Academy of Geopolitical Studies in Paris, considers Islamophobia a continuation of French state policy since the Crusades in the 13th century. However, in recent years, the number of anti-Islamic statements has sharply increased. "If the Europeans' policy does not change," said El-Maazouz, "civil war awaits us in 10 years". Some conference participants living outside Europe were surprised at how the term 'multicultural' has lost its appeal in Europe. Muslim representatives still consider multicultural coexistence and communal living as an ideal," the author explained.

The author also pointed out that some conference participants viewed Azerbaijan as a suitable model - a state that is simultaneously religiously positive and secular.

"For a country like Azerbaijan, this is an opportunity to present itself as an alternative. Many Muslims perceive European laws, values, and ideas as discriminatory; even the superficial rhetoric of tolerance and diversity does not change anything.

Widespread debates on neocolonialism and decolonization, double standards, double morals, the falsehood and hypocrisy of the West, raise additional doubts. Against this background, the conference, where Islamic expectations and demands are clearly formulated and defined, deserves approval," the author added.

To note, the conference dedicated to the 2nd anniversary of the International Day Against Islamophobia was held on March 8-9 in Baku under the joint organization of the International Center for Multiculturalism, the Center for the Analysis of International Relations, the G20 Interfaith Forum and the Baku Initiative Group.

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