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LAURENCE BROERS: NAGORNY KARABAKH, WHATEVER ITS STATUS, WILL HAVE ACTIVE TRANSPORT LINKS IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS, NOT JUST TO ARMENIA.
Today - 12:26
Laurence Broers who is one of the prominent expert of Sount Cacausus
has shared his working experience and concerns with Times.am about
Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. Broers joined "Conciliation Resources"
as Caucasus Projects Manager in November 2008. Before this he worked
for more than two years at Amnesty International as a researcher on
Armenia and Azerbaijan.
You work with representatives from both Armenian and Azerbaijan.
Given the field that you work is in, in your own words, what is the
difference in the perception of politics and society whilst engaging
in both of these societies, and how does that influence your efforts
in your field of work?
The similarities are more important than the differences. I think
there has been a sense of comfort and satisfaction on the Armenian
side of the conflict that the situation in Azerbaijani politics and
society is 'worse than ours'. Azerbaijan's problems have become the
criteria, or the litmus test, by which some people in Armenia assess
their own situation (positively). Of course it is true that there
has been more turnover in terms of presidents on the Armenian side,
and the nature of the internal debate on human rights is perhaps
less polarized than in Azerbaijan. But the direction and status of
Armenia's post-Soviet transition has become increasingly less clear
over time. Taken on its own terms, the record is very patchy.
I think there are large numbers of people dissatisfied with
state-society relations in both Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the
conflict is a critical factor preventing them from sharing a vision of
change. In Armenia holding into victory, and in Azerbaijan holding onto
an external sense of threat, are decisive factors shaping the political
landscape. There is an external struggle, against the outside enemy,
and an internal struggle, for reform and legitimate government. And
the latter struggle has been deeply deformed by the former one in
both Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Although for the moment oil and gas revenues are alleviating this
tendency for Azerbaijan, both countries in fact face a long-term
problem of irrelevance, isolation and geopolitical vulnerability
because of unresolved conflict.
What obstacles have you faced throughout your work? Can you recall
a willingness of people wishing to help you in your endeavors?
There are a lot of people in Armenia and Azerbaijan who want a normal
dialogue with the other side, and are frustrated by the absence of
opportunities to do that. So it's really about their endeavours,
not ours. Our role is to facilitate and to support, not to lead
this process.
It doesn't mean we don't have problems. There is huge cynicism
regarding NGO work on dialogue and reconciliation. This work is often
portrayed as naive, an ineffective use of resources, insufficiently
connected to the grass roots, unable to influence the Minsk Group
negotiations, and so on. I would just underline that it is not our
mandate to resolve the conflict - there is an official peace process
mandated to do that. Our task is support dialogue at different levels
of society - and our work clearly shows that the notion that Armenians
and Azeris are 'incompatible' or that they can't get on together
is wrong.
Logistics is also a big problem. With rare individual exceptions,
Armenians and Azerbaijanis always have to meet in a third country.
This is expensive and very limiting in terms of the nature of the
dialogue possible. Armenians and Azerbaijanis need to start meeting
each other in their own countries, as indeed they used to do in the
late 1990s.
Azerbaijan has consistantely violated the ceasefire with Armenia,
and is continually attacted Armenian combat positions, along with
non-combat positions comprised of innocent civilians. Despite these
illigal maneuvors, Azerbaijan has ceased to withdraw their snipers
from the ceasefire's agreed lines. What is your opinon regarding
this subject?
I would answer this question perhaps provocatively by saying
that Armenian forces have an opportunity to act unilaterally and
withdraw their own snipers, perhaps along just one part of the Line of
Contact. In that case responsibility for any further sniper ceasefire
violations in that sector would be clear.
Stepenakert airport will soon open. What is your opinion concerning
this issue. Do you see any optomism to preventing Artsakh from being
isolated from Armenia, while at the same time, without escalating any
further hostility's in regards to the Artsakh conflict with Azerbaijan?
I would say that all the rhetoric, threats and allegations surrounding
the opening of this airport demonstrate a continued belief in the
relevance of isolation and containment as a strategy for resolving the
conflict. What we need instead is a vision of the Armenian-Azerbaijani
space as one where borders won't matter in the same way that they
do today. Nagorny Karabakh, whatever its status, will have active
transport links in different directions, not just to Armenia.
Anna Barseghyan
http://times.am/?p=24427&l=en
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Today - 12:26
Laurence Broers who is one of the prominent expert of Sount Cacausus
has shared his working experience and concerns with Times.am about
Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. Broers joined "Conciliation Resources"
as Caucasus Projects Manager in November 2008. Before this he worked
for more than two years at Amnesty International as a researcher on
Armenia and Azerbaijan.
You work with representatives from both Armenian and Azerbaijan.
Given the field that you work is in, in your own words, what is the
difference in the perception of politics and society whilst engaging
in both of these societies, and how does that influence your efforts
in your field of work?
The similarities are more important than the differences. I think
there has been a sense of comfort and satisfaction on the Armenian
side of the conflict that the situation in Azerbaijani politics and
society is 'worse than ours'. Azerbaijan's problems have become the
criteria, or the litmus test, by which some people in Armenia assess
their own situation (positively). Of course it is true that there
has been more turnover in terms of presidents on the Armenian side,
and the nature of the internal debate on human rights is perhaps
less polarized than in Azerbaijan. But the direction and status of
Armenia's post-Soviet transition has become increasingly less clear
over time. Taken on its own terms, the record is very patchy.
I think there are large numbers of people dissatisfied with
state-society relations in both Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the
conflict is a critical factor preventing them from sharing a vision of
change. In Armenia holding into victory, and in Azerbaijan holding onto
an external sense of threat, are decisive factors shaping the political
landscape. There is an external struggle, against the outside enemy,
and an internal struggle, for reform and legitimate government. And
the latter struggle has been deeply deformed by the former one in
both Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Although for the moment oil and gas revenues are alleviating this
tendency for Azerbaijan, both countries in fact face a long-term
problem of irrelevance, isolation and geopolitical vulnerability
because of unresolved conflict.
What obstacles have you faced throughout your work? Can you recall
a willingness of people wishing to help you in your endeavors?
There are a lot of people in Armenia and Azerbaijan who want a normal
dialogue with the other side, and are frustrated by the absence of
opportunities to do that. So it's really about their endeavours,
not ours. Our role is to facilitate and to support, not to lead
this process.
It doesn't mean we don't have problems. There is huge cynicism
regarding NGO work on dialogue and reconciliation. This work is often
portrayed as naive, an ineffective use of resources, insufficiently
connected to the grass roots, unable to influence the Minsk Group
negotiations, and so on. I would just underline that it is not our
mandate to resolve the conflict - there is an official peace process
mandated to do that. Our task is support dialogue at different levels
of society - and our work clearly shows that the notion that Armenians
and Azeris are 'incompatible' or that they can't get on together
is wrong.
Logistics is also a big problem. With rare individual exceptions,
Armenians and Azerbaijanis always have to meet in a third country.
This is expensive and very limiting in terms of the nature of the
dialogue possible. Armenians and Azerbaijanis need to start meeting
each other in their own countries, as indeed they used to do in the
late 1990s.
Azerbaijan has consistantely violated the ceasefire with Armenia,
and is continually attacted Armenian combat positions, along with
non-combat positions comprised of innocent civilians. Despite these
illigal maneuvors, Azerbaijan has ceased to withdraw their snipers
from the ceasefire's agreed lines. What is your opinon regarding
this subject?
I would answer this question perhaps provocatively by saying
that Armenian forces have an opportunity to act unilaterally and
withdraw their own snipers, perhaps along just one part of the Line of
Contact. In that case responsibility for any further sniper ceasefire
violations in that sector would be clear.
Stepenakert airport will soon open. What is your opinion concerning
this issue. Do you see any optomism to preventing Artsakh from being
isolated from Armenia, while at the same time, without escalating any
further hostility's in regards to the Artsakh conflict with Azerbaijan?
I would say that all the rhetoric, threats and allegations surrounding
the opening of this airport demonstrate a continued belief in the
relevance of isolation and containment as a strategy for resolving the
conflict. What we need instead is a vision of the Armenian-Azerbaijani
space as one where borders won't matter in the same way that they
do today. Nagorny Karabakh, whatever its status, will have active
transport links in different directions, not just to Armenia.
Anna Barseghyan
http://times.am/?p=24427&l=en
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress