Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC

NGOS IN AZERBAIJAN CRITICIZED FOR CONTACTS WITH KARABAKH

By Fariz Ismailzade

Friday, September 15, 2006

Public protests have erupted in Azerbaijan after the chair of the
Azerbaijan branch of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly visited the
disputed Karabakh region and met with the leadership of the
unrecognized Karabakh republic. Arzu Abdullayeva and several young
activists from her organization went to Armenia’s Lori region as part
of their participation in the `Gugark’ youth summer camp from July 28
to July 30.

Several local NGOs, such as the pro-governmental youth movement IRELI,
the Forum of NGOs of Azerbaijan, and mass media outlets have lambasted
Abdullayeva for her `treasonous’ action and for her cooperation with
Armenians. The private TV stations ANS and ATV have even gone so far
as to accuse Abdullayeva of `mis-educating our youth and visiting an
Armenian cemetery after drinking with Armenian hosts.’

Public diplomacy, exchange visits by the media and NGO
representatives, are strongly condemned in Azerbaijan. This attitude,
mainly coming from the government and pro-government circles, is
derived from the belief that such reciprocal visits will help draw the
Karabakh republic out of its international isolation and eventually
legitimize its existence. `These visits only favor the interests of
Armenia and harm the interests of Azerbaijan,’ says Akif Nagi,
chairman of Karabakh Liberation Organization and a strong opponent of
such visits. Nagi believes that both the government and the public
must do everything possible to prevent such contacts.

The head of the Information and Press Department at the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, Tahir Tagizadeh, refuses to accept the
blame on the part of the authorities. He says it would be improper to
`put limits on the exchanges.’ But he suggested that the visits not
take place until after the first stage of conflict settlement is done;
that is, until the occupied territories are freed and the status of
Karabakh is being determined. Only then we will consider them as a
strong and important part of the peace process, he said.

Thus, any direct political and people-to-people contacts between
official Baku and the authorities of the unrecognized Karabakh
republic have been minimal throughout the past decade. The liberation
of the occupied territories is held up as a pre-condition for any
possible contacts between Baku and Khankendi. Contacts are allowed
for human rights activists and media representatives, who still are
branded traitors in Azerbaijan. Such individuals typically work in
collaboration with international organizations, often the donors
supporting such bilateral meetings, to allegedly aid the separatists.

Similarly, international sport and cultural events that include
participants representing Karabakh lead to protests in
Azerbaijan. Several days ago, Azerbaijani NGOs sent a protest letter
to the municipal government of the eastern Turkish city of Kars for
inviting folk groups from Karabakh to participate in the city’s
cultural festival. As a result, organizers withdrew their the
invitation to the Armenian delegation. Last year, official Baku
denounced chess tournaments and Independence Day concerts in
Khankendi. The Azerbaijan national soccer team even refuses to host
the Armenian team in Baku as part of the European qualification games
in order not to appear to be cooperating with the Armenian government.

There are, however, some politicians and activists who believe that
public diplomacy and the gradual build-up of trust between Armenians
and Azerbaijanis are vital for the peaceful resolution of the
conflict. `Visits to Armenia will produce dividends in five to ten
years,’ says Avaz Hasanov, the chairman of the Humanitarian Research
Center and a frequent visitor to Armenia.

With the peace process on Karabakh deadlocked and both sides using
bellicose rhetoric, conflict analysts around the world are once again
pushing the idea of public diplomacy. It is widely believed that the
political leadership of both Armenia and Azerbaijan understand the
benefits of the painful compromises and seek a way to settle the
conflict, but they are either unable or incapable of convincing their
respective publics. More than 15 years of war propaganda portraying
the opposite side as a mortal enemy make a peace-settlement process
based on compromise very difficult, because the Azerbaijan and
Armenian peoples do not want to accept anything less than what they
believe belongs to them. The longer this problem continues, the more
difficult it will be for the governments of both countries to open the
minds of their citizens.

(ATV, ANS TV, Musavat, Day.az, Trend, Olaylar, September 10-15)