NGOS TAKE UP INITIATIVE
Lragir, Armenia
Oct 3 2007
The international community considered the year 2006 and even the
year 2007 as a window for the settlement of the Karabakh conflict.
However, judging by the pronouncements of politicians, eventually the
window did not open. Presidential elections will be held in Armenia,
Azerbaijan, as well as Russia and the United States in the upcoming
year and a half. It means that the talks will come to a halt. What
will the mediators be doing in this period? Apparently, they will
be analyzing the current situation, the details of the proposals,
as well as the preparation of the publics for complicated decisions
and coexistence.
Recently a conference was held in London entitled "Nagorno-Karabakh
Conflict: Prospects for Peace" by the International Institute
of Strategic Studies. Political and civil society activists from
Great Britain, Netherlands, Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Karabakh
participated in the conference. Reports were made by Andrzej Kasprzyk,
special representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, the EU’s Special
Representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby, the director of
the Caucasus programs of the International Crisis Group Magdalena
Fricheva. From Karabakh, the president of Stepanakert Press Club
Gegham Baghdasaryan and the director of the Institute of People’s
Diplomacy Irina Grigoryan made reports.
According to Tabib Husseinov, the representative of the Azerbaijani
International Republic Institute, people’s diplomacy may fill in the
gap in political contacts till 2009. He thinks it is necessary to
raise awareness of regional processes, "ensure the participation of
communities in the dialogue, promote the adoption of European values."
It should be noted that over the past few years Azerbaijan has
consistently been denying contacts with Karabakh, even on the
level of NGOs. Moreover, an anti-Armenian hysteria and militaristic
moods were kindled. According to the head of the Hayat Azerbaijani
NGO Vussal Radjabli, recently the situation in Azerbaijan has been
changing, and "the government is ready to involve NGOs in the peace
process." Perhaps the only cooperation between the Azerbaijani and
Karabakh NGOs and journalists is in the framework of the project of
the Consortium Initiative set up four years ago and supported by the
British government. It includes LINKS, Conciliation Resources and
International Alert. On these days a peculiar account of Consortium’s
work was held in London.
The coordinator of Consortium Initiative for Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict
Resolution Jonathan Cohen said in an interview with Karabakh-Open.com
at first Consortium lacked clear-cut objectives because they understood
it would not be the project which would immediately settle and resolve
the conflict. He says the leadership must display political will to
make decisions and resolve the conflict but now it appears to have no
political will and the public is not ready. Political actors are not
ready to sell ideas to the societies and the societies are not ready
to buy those ideas, therefore for many years the government mobilized
them against the idea of peace, he says. According to him, their idea
is the importance of involvement of different layers of the society,
politicians, the civil society. LINKS, for instance, attempted to
work with parliamentarians for them to be able to make bold decisions.
For the civil society, Jonathan Cohen says they have no illusions
that the civil society may solve the conflict. For him, it is highly
important to work with both sides of the conflict, for even if a
political agreement is signed, those decisions may not be fulfilled
without a civil foundation, the construction of which should be the
first move. Unfortunately, he says, the foundation is fragile, and a
couple of pronouncements by the presidents may affect the readiness of
people to work across the border. Nevertheless, according to Cohen,
there are people who are ready to discuss different options and
possibilities, analyze and discuss them with people on the other
side. He referred to the projects of Conciliation Resources for
both young and experienced journalists, the Accord Magazine, the
involvement of civil society activists by the International Alert
who set up discussion clubs, trips.
In answer to the question what the societies should be preparing for,
peace, settlement or another kind of settlement, Jonathan Cohen says
there is no armed conflict today but the deeper-lying causes were
not settled. According to him, the conflict has been more or less
regulated, although skirmishes and casualties still are the case.
Jonathan Cohen says it is not a long-term perspective, and there is
always possibility of resumption of military actions. He says it is
important to maintain this state of things because it could be worse,
but for him the transformation of the conflict and a lasting solution
is more important. For instance, he says, Azerbaijan rejects the
independence of Karabakh, and Karabakh does not want to be part of
Azerbaijan, therefore, it is necessary to reach a mutually acceptable
resolution and space where all the participants respect each other’s
desires. He says there is a long way to go, for politicians often
say the resolution is close, but even if it is so, the publics do
not appear to be ready for the resolution that will be reached. If
the politicians are close to a resolution, it means there will be
compromises, however, people in Azerbaijan and Karabakh are not ready
for a compromise, therefore it is important to expand discussions
inside the publics. He says the process of peace building should not
be monopolized, and all the levels should participate, for it will be
highly dangerous to let the society mobilize against the idea of peace.
For the future of Consortium, Jonathan Cohen says it exists as
an idea, a commonwealth of different organizations which believe
that partnership should continue. The British government will
continue funding till the end of 2008 through the Global Conflict
Prevention Pool. He says they think Consortium should not be a
closed organization, and it will become a platform for propagating
the possibilities for peace building.
By the way, on the next day of the conference a round-table meeting
was held at the foreign ministry of the UK on the Karabakh problem.
The moderator was Brian Fall, Britain’s special representative for
the South Caucasus. A number of issues were discussed in this meeting,
and it became known that the funding for the Consortium project will
continue next year.