ARMENIA & AZERBAIJAN: LOOKING FOR DIALOGUE AMID DISCORD
EurasiaNet.org
Sept 12 2012
NY
September 12, 2012 – 1:47pm, by Shahin Abbasov and Marianna Grigoryan
The controversy generated by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s
pardon of an army officer convicted of killing an Armenian counterpart
has sent official relations between Yerevan and Baku into a tailspin.
Yet amid continuing inter-governmental sniping, civil society activists
in both countries report that they are trying to keep events in
perspective and are continuing efforts to find common ground.
Aliyev’s late August pardon of Ramil Safarov – a military officer who
murdered an Armenian army lieutenant, Gurgen Margaryan, in 2004 in
Budapest – stoked rage in Armenia. Underscoring the anger in Yerevan,
a bill was submitted in the Armenian parliament for the country
officially to recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabak.
In addition, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan treated the pardon
like an armed provocation. “We don’t want a war, but if we have to,
we will fight and prevail; we are not afraid of murderers — even
of those who enjoy the highest patronage,” Sargsyan said in an early
September statement distributed by the presidential press service in
response to the Safarov pardon.
Aliyev has been dismissive of the Armenian criticism, saying at a
September 7 news conference that his decision to issue a pardon was
“correct from the legal viewpoint.”
Despite the uptick in official hostility, dialogue between Azerbaijani
and Armenian civil society advocates, political experts and media
representatives should continue, many activists believe. Arzu
Abdullayeva, the chairperson of Azerbaijan’s National Committee of
Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly, a human rights group, was attending a
joint meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani civil society activists,
convened in the Georgian capital Tbilisi, on the day news of Safarov’s
pardon emerged. “Everyone was shocked … and it caused hot debates,”
Abdullayeva recounted. “But, generally, the meeting went on as usual
in a normal atmosphere.”
Azerbaijani and Armenian civil society activists who have been
acquainted for years will not be affected by the hostility over
Safarov, she said. “We all believe that our peace-building efforts are
more important than the present negative realities,” Abdullayeva said.
In Yerevan, Gayane Lazarian, program manager for community and
youth programs at the Eurasia Partnership Foundation, one of the
most active international NGOs in arranging such dialogues, echoed
Abdullayeva’s sentiments.
“Recent developments or ceasefire violations … are not a novelty
and they don’t reduce the significance or likelihood of communication
on the level of civil society,” Lazarian said. To ensure that an
upcoming meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani journalists in Tbilisi
proceeds as planned, she continued, the agenda will be reviewed, and
prior discussions held with members of both delegations ahead of time.
Shahin Rzayev, the Azerbaijan director for the London-based Institute
for War and Peace Reporting, recollects a similar situation at a
training held shortly after Margaryan’s 2004 murder. [Both Safarov
and Magaryan were officers participating in a NATO-sponsored training
course, held in the Hungarian capitale time].
Citing security reasons, the Armenian journalists asked to be moved
to a separate hotel from the Azerbaijanis. “[T]he meeting went on
in a tense atmosphere, but a few months later, these issues were not
raised,” Rzayev said.
Explanations for why Armenians and Azerbaijanis can often get along
well in person, despite the mutual, official hostility, boils down
to a matter of perspective, commented Armenian sociologist Aharon
Adibekyan. For many Armenians, “not the Azerbaijani people, but
their leaders are regarded as enemies,” Adibekyan said. When informal
groups are brought together, “people easily socialize and understand
each other.”
Not all of those involved in such exchanges are confident that the
Safarov controversy can be easily put to rest. Armenian reporter
Christine Khanumyan, a Nagorno-Karabakh native who has worked on joint
articles with Azerbaijani journalists in the past, expects future
encounters with Azerbaijani colleagues to be more awkward than ever.
“Honestly, I have no idea how I can meet these people face to face,”
she said. And referring to the upcoming Tbilisi meeting, she voiced
doubts that “it will take place in a peaceful and friendly atmosphere,
like before.”
Meanwhile, Farid Gahramanov, a correspondent for the Turan news agency,
suggested that exchanges of opinion don’t necessarily lead to changes
in attitudes. While discussions with Armenian journalists are useful
“for the exchange of information” or “to create contacts,” Gahramanov
added, “any discussion of the Karabakh conflict” often results in
“an even worse attitude toward each other” than before.
Internews-Azerbaijan Director Ilham Safarov, who is involved
in producing a joint documentary with Armenian filmmakers, said
joint meetings in the near future should keep a tight focus on the
acquisition of professional skills. His project’s first meeting,
scheduled for December, is still expected to go ahead as planned,
he said.
International organizations could respond to the Safarov episode
by increasing funding to promote bilateral contacts, sensing that
“more ice-breaking efforts are needed,” said a Baku representative
of one European fund active in Azerbaijani-Armenian dialogue measures.
Ultimately, said Adibekyan, the sociologist, anger should dissipate.
“These attitudes … come and go, and things will resume their natural
course just like before,” he said.
Editor’s note: Shahin Abbasov is a freelance reporter based in
Baku. Marianna Grigoryan is a freelance reporter in Yerevan and the
editor of MediaLab.am.
From: A. Papazian