TO COOPERATE OR NOT TO COOPERATE?
Lragir.am
23 May 06
Tbilisi remains a center of regional cooperation and contacts. The
ombudsmen of Abkhazia and South Osetia have meetings here. Armenian and
Azerbaijani political and public figures prefer to meet in “neutral”
Georgia. Besides the tolerance and commitment to dialogue that Georgia
displays, regional meetings bring considerable financial inflows to
Georgians. Thousands of people are employed in Georgian NGOs fostering
cooperation, promotion of democracy and other political aims.
On May 19 the international conference entitled Evaluation and
Effective Management of Conflicts ended in Tbilisi. From Karabakh
the director of the Civic Action Center Albert Voskanyan participated
in this conference. The representatives of 6 countries of the region
participated in the conference.
Another meeting of almost the same format took place in Tbilisi in the
framework of the UN program of global partnership for the prevention
of armed conflicts. The representative of Karabakh, the coordinator
of Helsinki Undertaking 92, participated in the meeting.
The past month was marked by the statement of the Azerbaijani NGOs
that they would cooperate with only those Armenian organizations which
will recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. This statement
did not receive a serious response from Armenians, perhaps because
it was nonsense. Cooperation under the auspices of international
organizations went on; however, even the Azerbaijanis are ashamed to
say whether their Armenian partners have recognized their territorial
integrity. Or maybe meetings in Paris are not counted?