Reconciliation of Armenian and Azeri People
Inseparable from Reconciliation of Armenia and Turkey

PanARMENIAN.Net
21.07.2006 15:03 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Representatives of Azerbaijan were also present
at a six-sided meeting of citizens and NGOs of the South Caucasus,
held in Yerevan July 8-13.

Upon returning to Baku Azeri journalist Alekper Aliyev published travel
notes Trip from Baku to Erivan, where he distorted the statement
of editor of web-site Luiza Poghosyan on
problems between the two peoples. Aliyev interpreted her words as,
"The myth on genocide, we are stuffed with, has become a complex
for the Armenian society and made it sick. We raise our children
in hatred towards Turks. In this case Turks for us are Turkey and
Azerbaijan. We are told we won a war, however, actually our entire
region lost, specifically we lost.

No development is observed, nothing good is taking place. How long
can this hatred propaganda last? We cannot work for the future,
constantly thinking retrospectively."

"Azeri journalist Alekper Aliyev was invited to Yerevan as a
participant, not a journalist to cover the event and his reports
represent his personal impression from what he heard and saw in
Yerevan.

Thus, in my opinion, he does not have to be literally exact in his
wordings," Luiza Poghosyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

"I spoke of the Genocide when discussing the question of stereotypes. I
said the following: "The issue of reconciliation of the Armenian
and Azeri peoples cannot be viewed separately from the process
of reconciliation of Armenia and Turkey. Hostile stereotypes,
rooted in the Armenian consciousness, in most cases are general,
referring both to Turks and Azeris. Myths on Genocide, we were fed
with for many years during the soviet period, transformed into a
doomed concept about eternal hostility between Armenians and Turks,
as well as Azeris. I have a deepest conviction that the process of
recognition of the Genocide, the process of denouncing the crime
against humanity has turned in us, Armenians, into a complex of being
exceptional and complex of superiority over the rest of the world. This
is the disease, hampering us from adequately perceiving the reality
and moving forward. I summed up my statement with a suggestion to the
colleagues from Azerbaijan to discuss our capacities and work together
in an Armenian-Azeri-Turkish format for joint search for rapprochement
and overcoming stereotypes. I want to add also that at our meeting
a moratorium for political topics was announced and each of us spoke
of the problems of his or her own society," L. Poghosyan said.