00:00The advantage or the difference of the people of Azerbaijan has always been that they were breaking the stereotypes.
00:06So the first opera in the Muslim world was written here by Azerbaijani.
00:17Building bridges through culture and dialogue, an opportunity to gather leaders and representatives from across the world
00:23with the intention of understanding divisions and finding common ground.
00:28The geographic position of Azerbaijan, which is situated, as we always say, in the crossroads of East and West and
00:35North and East,
00:36has been influenced by different cultures, different traditions, and even the religious and the faith.
00:43So in terms of professional cultural things, Azerbaijan has been pioneering a lot of things in the cultural history,
00:50especially in terms of the Oriental East.
00:53At a time when conflicts and political tensions are deepening divisions,
00:57the Seventh World Forum in Intercultural Dialogue in Baku offered a platform where people from different backgrounds
01:03were able to listen to each other through the arts.
01:07Art is the language of the heart and the soul, and it cannot be used to create harm because art
01:15never does harm.
01:17The exact opposite of harm is art.
01:21And what we do today is a lot of harm and very little of art.
01:26We need a lot more language of art.
01:30Understanding secularism and sharing faith practices is also considered at the Forum,
01:35as religious leaders came together to find commonalities and ways to move forward in a world where conflict has become
01:40a concern.
01:41And as we gain an understanding of being children of God,
01:45then all of a sudden our peripheral vision widens and we see everyone around us as brothers and sisters.
01:56There's a common thread that is woven through all of us,
02:00that common thread of being brothers and sisters of humankind.
02:05I think all religions and cultures should defend one thing that is common to all of us,
02:12peace, peace and human dignity.
02:14The understanding among people is the only way to prevent conflict and raise tensions and combat head speech.
02:21While Azerbaijan was host to the event,
02:23it also provided an open platform for connections to be made, as well as personal encounters.
02:29When we're coming to this type of forum, we meet people from different horizons,
02:33with different backgrounds, with different culture, right?
02:36So it's just by one conversation that you can learn from others.
02:40The 7th World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue created an environment for people to see beyond conflicts
02:46and encourage resolutions.
02:48And this year, participants reflected the importance of arts and culture
02:51to not only build bridges, but also to find ways to avoid breaking them.
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