Patriarch of All Russia Meets with Ilham Aliyev

Baku / 06.01.19 / Turan: On Tuesday, President Ilham Aliyev received Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill, who is in Baku, the press service of the President of Azerbaijan said.

During the conversation, Aliyev described Kirill's visit as a sign of respect for Azerbaijan. He highly appreciated the activities in strengthening inter-religious dialogue and mutual understanding between confessions and nations.

"You are not the first time visiting Azerbaijan, and your current visit will serve to strengthen our relations in the sphere of interreligious cooperation, and, in general, Russian-Azerbaijani relations, which are developing very successfully and dynamically. We have a very high level of mutual trust at all levels, from presidents to ordinary citizens. I would like to say that last year a record number of Russians visited Azerbaijan - about 900 thousand people. That is, it is an indicator that the relationship between people and countries is at the highest level. Because they feel at home, they come here with good intentions and are treated like native people here," said Aliyev.

In return, the Russian Patriarch said that a visit to Azerbaijan has always been an important spiritual and cultural event for him.

Calling Azerbaijan a country with a deep and ancient history, he stressed the high level of interfaith relations.

The Orthodox people in Azerbaijan enjoy all the opportunities enjoyed by the Muslim majority.

"I would especially like to thank you for the position of the Orthodox Church in Azerbaijan," said the Patriarch.

"You have in my face, in the face of the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church, including the clergy, which is located in Azerbaijan, reliable partners sincerely looking forward to the further development of relations between Azerbaijan and Russia," Kirill said. -02D-