ARMENIAN SCHOOL URGES RECONCILIATION BETWEEN ARMENIANS AND AZERIS
ARMENPRESS
Dec 17 2007
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 17, ARMENPRESS: A human rights school and 10 pools of
children at a Yerevan school named after a medieval Armenian doctor,
Mkhitar Sebastatsi, will be trying to identify ways to help Armenians
reconcile with their neighbors Turks and Azeris.
The project is part of Armenia-Turkey-Azerbaijan Dialogue program.
The event features a group of Azerbaijani experts, analysts and authors
who will discuss different subjects with Armenian children. The first
discussion held today was on the role of education in surmounting of
Armenian-Azerbaijani confrontation.
Ashot Bleyan, a former education minister, who is now the head of
the school, said the Armenian society should not neglect the issue
of reconciliation with its neighbors and establishing a lasting peace
in this region.
‘This program provides an opportunity for Armenian and Azerbaijani
citizens to get to better know one another," Ashot Bleyan said.
"We hope that time will come when Armenians and Azeris will travel
to one another’s countries freely and without obstacles. Our goal is
peace in the Southern Caucasus,’ said Sahib Babaev, head of Helsinki
Civil Assembly’s branch in Azerbaijan’s second largest town of Ganja.
All Azeris admitted to being surprised at the warm welcome they were
given here.
Sahib Babaev said a recent public opinion survey in his country has
revealed that 80 percent of his country fellows are against resumption
of hostilities for Nagorno-Karabakh.
He said the main goal of his visit to Armenia is not only to get to
know Armenians closer, but to also show that ordinary Azeris do not
want a new war.