Conflict Resolution and Education

With some media outlets reporting that momentum to striking a peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan continues, the reality on the ground in both republics is that the two populations are not ready for resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict based on mutual compromise. The situation is reportedly worse in Azerbaijan, but many Armenians also seem unwilling to consider the return of at least six of seven regions currently serving as a buffer zone.

Fourteen years since the 1994 ceasefire agreement that froze the conflict between the two over the mainly Armenian-populated territory of Nagorno Karabakh, nationalism has been used by the authorities and opposition in both countries to either come to power or retain it. Nevertheless, if the situation might at first seem unresolvable as a result, an interesting example of how things could be exists in Armenia.

A public school in Yerevan began on Monday a four-day series of events designed to promote Armenian-Azerbaijani reconciliation by enabling its students and teachers to hold discussions with visiting public figures from Azerbaijan. 

The Days of Azerbaijan at the Mkhitar Sebastatsi Educational Complex will also feature presentations by the visiting Azerbaijanis and their Armenian partners as well as an arts exhibition and the screening of a documentary film on the conflict between the two South Caucasus nations. The events are sponsored by the British Embassy in Armenia and the Armenian Center for Peace Initiatives, a non-governmental organization. 

The Azerbaijani delegation that arrived in Yerevan on the occasion includes three human rights campaigners, a journalist, a writer and an NGO activist. 

"This is just an attempt to give our students and teachers a better idea of our neighbors and to discuss our outstanding problems in the process," Ashot Bleyan, the Mkhitar Sebastatsi director, told RFE/RL. He expressed hope that such initiatives will make Armenian society "more tolerant." link

However, not everybody was tolerant of such a controversial and unexpected event, and especially when the school is run by a former Minister of Education widely considered a "traitor" by nationalists in the country precisely because of his position on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and relations with Azerbaijan. Regardless, a report on the web site of an NGO linked to the school shows that new approaches could contribute to peace-building initiatives.