ICG REVEALS REPORT ON DAGHLIG GARABAGH

Azerbaijan News Service
Sept 15 2005

All sides in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict need to prepare their people
for peace much better if the seeds of their high-level negotiations
are to bear fruit. Nagorno-Karabakh: Viewing the Conflict from the
Ground,* the latest report from the International Crisis Group,
explores how the Armenians and Azeris from Nagorno-Karabakh and
the surrounding districts live and how they view the resolution of
the conflict. Despite signs of progress at internationally mediated
negotiations (to be discussed in a subsequent report), rising military
expenditures and increasing ceasefire violations are ominous signs
that time for a peaceful settlement may be running out. The brutal war
over Nagorno-Karabakh killed some 18,500 people and displaced over a
million before settling into a shaky cease-fire in 1994. Eleven years
on, life in Nagorno-Karabakh has regained some sense of normality with
a developing economy and elected institutions. Yet nothing has been
done to restore rights of war victims. The creation of mono-ethnic
institutions in Nagorno-Karabakh, the destruction of Azeri property,
and the privatisation of land and businesses pose significant obstacles
to Azeri return and reintegration. Many displaced persons have become
highly dependent on the Azerbaijani state, with few opportunities
to participate fully in political life and determine their own
future. Refusing to allow dialogue and demonising Armenians through
the state-sponsored media and schools, Baku has hardened anti-Armenian
feeling among average citizens. The Azerbaijanis and Armenians are
as separated as they have ever been. “There is need to counter the
hate propaganda and unlock the potential for confidence building and
dialogue between average Azeris and Armenians”, says Sabine Freizer,
Director of Crisis Group’s Caucasus Project. “This has to happen
before the memories of cohabitation fade and the divide becomes
unbridgeable”. Neither community appears prepared to agree to the
kind of settlement being considered by the Armenian and Azerbaijani
foreign ministers in the negotiations sponsored by the Organisation
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). “The vast majority
of those affected by the conflict have been kept in the dark about
the details of the negotiations”, says Alain Deletroz, Crisis Group’s
Vice President for Europe. “But there is no way for any peace process
to succeed unless leaders from all sides start actively selling the
idea to their people”.