In Azerbaijan and Armenia, a brave few call for end to fighting
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Fred Weir Special correspondent
| Moscow
The month-old war between Armenia and Azerbaijan is the latest eruption of a long-running, bitter conflict steeped in existential fears and ancestral hatreds. As wars usually do, it has generated an intense rally-round-the-flag effect in both societies and their diasporas.
So it鈥檚 extraordinary that a few people in each country have found the courage to take a public stand against what they see as the madness unfolding around them.
Small and apparently unconnected groups in Armenia and Azerbaijan have signed open letters that call for peace. The letters also condemn the nationalist passions, war propaganda, and special interests 鈥� as well as the neo-imperial powers, Russia and Turkey 鈥� that they see as encouraging and exploiting the conflict.
Why We Wrote This
The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh and the divide it represents seem intractable. But that hasn鈥檛 stopped some in both Azerbaijan and Armenia from defying public sentiments to issue calls for peace.
The signatories appear to be primarily young, leftish students, intellectuals, and activists. Though marginalized 鈥� at least one Azeri signatory is now in prison for his anti-war stand 鈥� they make a strong case to their respective societies that this war is in the interests of neither population, should have been prevented by diplomacy decades ago, and that a reasonable peace settlement would open the door to economic prosperity and greater democracy in both countries.
鈥淭hey say truth is the first casualty in war, and that has certainly happened here,鈥� says Giyas Ibrahim, one of the signatories of . 鈥淥ur position, of course, has prompted a lot of people to label us as traitors. But someone needs to say that this war is a lie that serves the interests of only a few, such as arms dealers and imperialists.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 very hard to be objective鈥�
Mr. Ibrahim, who was for making 鈥渁nti-war statements online鈥� shortly after his email exchange with the Monitor, says that 鈥渢his war has already claimed the lives of many young people, who might not have gone to die if they hadn鈥檛 been fed by the state with incessant militaristic and nationalist propaganda. It has always been possible to solve this conflict humanely.鈥�
That is an extremely unpopular position in Azerbaijan. Arif Yunusov, an Azeri security expert whose mother was Armenian, says he has tried over the years to promote dialogue, and received a lot of abuse for his efforts.
鈥淚n the midst of a war it鈥檚 very hard to be objective,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 either black or white. No colors. That鈥檚 particularly true of ethnic and religious conflicts like this. My wife and I have operated a for years, in an effort to get a conversation going among Azeris about this. We鈥檝e been called traitors and Armenian spies for our efforts.鈥�
The , signed by about two dozen public activists, similarly blames the war on narrow nationalism, capitalist greed, and pot-stirring by outside powers. 鈥淲ar catastrophically changes people, their perceptions, and ability to imagine peace,鈥� it says.
The letter lays out a series of steps that might be taken, not just to end the war but to reverse decades of misunderstanding, animosity, and ethnic injustice, in order to create a lasting peace in the region.
One of the Armenian signatories, Gayane Ayvazyan, a Yerevan-based historian, says that Armenians generally want peace, but they are absorbed by a long-standing certainty that conflict is inevitable and military security is the only answer.
鈥淎rmenians witnessed a huge national tragedy just over a century ago,鈥� when at least 1.5 million Armenians 鈥� once a large minority in Turkey 鈥� were , she says. 鈥淭his terrible trauma is still remembered. The Turkish factor in the present conflict makes people believe that we are seeing the continuation of the Armenian Genocide, and that this is a war for self-preservation.鈥�
鈥淭he majority of society supports this war鈥�
During Soviet times Armenians and Azeris lived together more or less peacefully, often as neighbors in the same places. But amid the Soviet twilight, in a series of reciprocal pogroms, about half a million Armenians were forcibly expelled from Azerbaijan, and around 200,000 Azeris from Armenia.
The Armenian-majority territory of Nagorno-Karabakh declared independence in 1988, and in the subsequent war, the victorious Armenians occupied seven mainly Azeri regions, which they claim are necessary 鈥渂uffer zones.鈥� From those territories they ethnically cleansed around 600,000 Azeris, many of whom still live in forlorn refugee camps near the Iranian border.
For almost 30 years the unresolved conflict has festered. All attempts by international negotiators to frame a settlement 鈥� in which Armenia would return the occupied Azeri territories in exchange for peace, the return of refugees to their homes, and negotiations about an acceptable status for Nagorno-Karabakh 鈥� have foundered while both sides prepared for renewed war.
鈥淎s for Karabakh, I don鈥檛 think either side has an adequate attitude about it,鈥� says Ms. Ayvazyan. 鈥淟eaders have never taken the idea of a negotiated settlement seriously. Everyone maintained a maximal position, hoping to get everything without having to make compromises.鈥�
Azerbaijan is a dynastic post-Soviet dictatorship fueled by oil money. Signatories of the Azeri letter say the refugee problem needs to be solved, and people must be returned to their homes. But they blame the country鈥檚 authoritarian leader, Ilham Aliyev, for using the issue of lost lands and refugees to distract people from deepening social problems, poverty, and other sources of dissatisfaction with his rule.
鈥淭he majority of society supports this war,鈥� says Bahruz Samadov, a signatory of the Azeri letter who is currently studying in Prague. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 because the authorities have been preparing people for war, forming the enemy image of Armenians, for many years. The image was that the implacable enemy doesn鈥檛 want to return what belongs to us, no political solution exists and the only way is war. ...
鈥淏efore the war people felt apathy towards the authorities and the political system, but now they solidarize with the authorities and support all their measures. Alternative voices are suppressed, and any actions by the authorities are justified,鈥� he adds. 鈥淭hese are totalitarian tendencies.鈥�
Missed opportunities
Armenia is a democracy, and its society appears to allow wider debate and shows a fair degree of tolerance toward its peace-oriented dissenters.
鈥淧eople of my age remember that Azeris and Armenians once lived together as neighbors,鈥� says Alexander Iskandaryan, director of the independent Caucasus Institute in Yerevan. 鈥淏ut young people today see Azeris in some kind of caricature. There is no contact between people anymore. Isolation and lack of communication generates certain feelings, here and there.鈥�
Ms. Ayvazyan, the peace activist, says Armenian society missed a major opportunity by failing to deal with the war issue during its euphoric democratic revolution two years ago.
鈥淭he Karabakh conflict wasn鈥檛 treated as part of the civil protest agenda鈥� during that popular upsurge, she says. 鈥淚t was considered frozen. But now it鈥檚 clear that we cannot go forward to full democracy while bypassing this conflict. No matter how this war ends, it will teach us that lesson. There is no future without finding ways to establish dialogue for peace.鈥�
Editor's note: The original version misstated Mr. Yunusov's family connections with Armenia.
