ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN: BBC AZERI FACEBOOK DIARY II
by Onnik Krikorian
t/uploads/2010/03/bbc_azeri_small-75×75.jpg
Thursd ay, March 25th, 2010 @ 14:02 UTC
As part of the BBC Superpower Season, the BBC’s Azeri service
approached Global Voices Online’s Caucasus editor to participate in
its own reflection on the power of the Internet. What follows is Part
II in English.
As part of the BBC Superpower Season, the BBC’s Azeri service
approached Global Voices Online’s Caucasus editor to participate
in its own reflection on the power of the Internet. Locked into a
bitter stalemate over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh,
BBC Azeri were specifically interested in how new and social media
could bring the two warring sides together.
What follows is part two of the series, originally published yesterday
in Azerbaijani, translated or using the original texts in English. It
followed one already republished in English on Global Voices Online
yesterday. The third and final part will appear tomorrow.
The BBC Superpower season is in March. In these programs we discussed
the power of Internet and the way it affects the lives of people.
The Internet has brought big changes to the lives of people starting
from personal relations to business contacts. New media has opened up
a new way not only for journalists. It has also inspired an audience
and civil society towards free thought and social activism.
The wide use of social media has changed cultural and political values
throughout the world. People are willing to communicate, participate
and share their thoughts.
This new online project prepared by the Azeri service of the BBC
within this Internet season is called Facebook diary.
Every day the participants of this project will follow social media
sites like Facebook and Twitter and share their observations with
readers of this site.
The first part of our Facebook diary is called Social media and
conflict resolution.
As an observation, the main purpose of using Facebook is about the
opportunities offered to users of social media as well as using it
as a think-tank platform.
What opportunity does social media offer to peace activists from
Armenia and Azerbaijan? Can new media tools change the current
situation? What are the negative effects of social media in the light
of nationalists using new media for an attack on the "enemy"?
Answers to these questions will be given by diarists writing on
"Social media and conflict resolution" – Arzu Qeybullayeva from
Azerbaijan and Onnik Krikorian from Armenia.
Arzu Qeybullayeva is the political program manager at the National
Democratic Institute in Baku, has a blog and conducts trainings on
social media.
Negative Moments
While we talk of Facebook as an opportunity shared by all, there are
unfortunately also times when it can become a war zone. I would like
to share with you a discussion that took place on my wall, several
weeks ago, regarding a link I posted on an incident that took place
in Yerevan.
After posting this on my wall, I received a sad face smiley from Edgar,
an Armenian friend of mine, who then sent me a link to the video from
that incident.
However, it didn’t take long before a young Azerbaijani boy posted
this: "Ä° don’t want both nations’ freedom.. good for us bad for
them….main thing is our freedom…"
Edgar responded:
Araz jan, you seem to be a young guy with kind eyes and friendly
smile. My advice to you: try to overcome the hatred in your heart,
never treat things which have human dimension as purely political.
Don’t forget that democracy is an absolute category, which doesn’t
recognize any nationalities or borders. After all, the more democratic
regimes we have in the region the less possible is the war here. The
human history doesn’t remember any case of war between two democratic
countries.
Araz replied:
First of all don’t say me "jan"…Ä°’m not your friend…Second
yeah I have friendly smile but it is only for my nation-TURKS…I
will never smile to you country and nation…I hate Armenia and all
armenians….and now I only want to kill all of armenians which killed
my citizens in Karabagh and even killed women and children in one
night (Khojali)…why killed?? for friiendship?))You are such nation
which can’t live and make war as a human…In history turks didn’t
kill women and children in war…only you nation and fascist soldiers
did it….Don’t advice me about democracy and friendship…After the
freedom of Karabagh and Ä°ravan,killing of minumum 30000 armenian
soldiers, and then if Ä° have time Ä° will think about it….democracy
and firendship…
After that, the conversation didn’t lead anywhere and I tried
explaining to Araz that another war wont change anything and nor would
such negative attitudeseither. Perhaps, he is too young to see it the
way I do, but I hope his mindset does change and that there are more
real as well as virtual friendships on Facebook to share positive
messages rather than ones full of hatred.
—————————————– —————————————
Onnik Krikorian is the Caucasus regional editor of Global Voices
Online as well as a freelance journalist and photojournalist based
in Yerevan, Armenia.
A Year of Change: Despite fears, alternative voices emerge online
A year ago, I could never imagined that I’d now be sitting in Yerevan
getting ready to co-present on the role of new and social media in
conflict transformation with Arzu Geybullayeva next month in Tbilisi,
Georgia. What started out as a few email exchanges before connecting
on Facebook eventually transformed itself into offline friendship as
well as a project to show that ethnic Armenians and Azeris can and
do co-exist together outside of the conflict zone.
True, after our initial contact, many other Armenians and Azeris
have also been connecting, but I don’t think either of us could
have expected it to have happened so quickly and, more importantly,
so easily. Certainly, I could never have imagined that last year I’d
be genuinely cooperating with Azerbaijani bloggers and journalists.
However, we did, and photos, articles, podcasts and videos were mainly
disseminated via blogs and social networking sites.
Of course, not everyone is convinced that such moves are to be
applauded or promoted. Unfortunately, fears about open communication
between Armenians and Azerbaijanis still persist.
Last month, for example, a short message from Azerbaijan went out
on Twitter. "Media report: Police & NatSec detains Baku resident for
chatting with Armenians in Internet forums," it read. However, there
was no link to the story although that didn’t stop some Armenians from
re-tweeting it. Finally, when the original story was tracked down,
it was anything but what it initially had seemed.
Instead, two Azerbaijanis had quarreled about Armenians on a forum
and decided to meet up to ‘discuss matters’ in person. This being the
Caucasus where emotions often run wild, you can guess what happened
next. A fight in a public space followed and the police intervened.
After checking the story with a journalist friend to Baku, neither
man was apparently taken for questioning by National Security.
Of course, it’s understandable why many Armenians and Azerbaijanis
believed the somewhat misleading tweet, but what about positive stories
of Armenians and Azerbaijanis coming together? Why does everyone seem
to focus on the negative? Why have a myriad of voices been ignored
or drowned out by less tolerant ones in the local media?
Instead, and speaking as a journalist, the Internet now allows me
access to such some very important sources.
A few months ago, for example, after reading some of my blog posts,
Zamira, an ethnic Azeri refugee contacted me by email. A few weeks
later, I asked her about her own personal history. Her words were
both touching and thought-provoking to say the least.
My family left Armenia during the displacement in 1988. I was only
4 when I left, but I don’t know if it’s fortunate or unfortunate not
being able to remember everything I left behind.
Our house, the garden, playground, my friends, my apple tree and
rooster, which I really loved. After coming here I used to dream
about our house a lot and then at some point everything faded away.
For many years we couldn’t adjust which influenced my psychology as
a whole. You can’t imagine how horrible it feels to be a refugee. I
miss my home and hope that before I die I will have a chance to see
it again.
This war made me become a peacemaker. My struggle is more complicated,
though, because on the one hand I have to help those who are in
conflict and on the other help myself.
We’re now Facebook friends and regularly communicate with each other
both openly and privately. There are other examples existing online on
both sides as well, but so far not heard in the mainstream media. Some
recent examples of videos posted on YouTube illustrate this point
incredibly well.
Last month, for example, a small group of young Armenian and
Azerbaijani youth visiting Tbilisi held a flash mob and walked
peacefully to the Georgian Parliament. Their message, scrawled on
large cards in Armenian, Azerbaijan, French, Georgian, German and
French, was simple. It was a message of peace in the South Caucasus.
Or what about the YouTube video of a young man and woman dancing to a
North Caucasian tune, location unknown, draped in the flags of their
respective countries, Armenia and Azerbaijan?
Or my own video interview, shot on a simple mobile phone and uploaded
to YouTube, with an ethnic Azeri living in Tbilisi next door to
Armenian neighbors speaking of peaceful coexistence between ethnic
groups?
Yet, with the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan apparently
involved in negotiations to finally end a conflict which threatens to
destabilize the region and frustrate its long term development, isn’t
it about time the media objectively covered such examples as well?
Until they do, perhaps, this is where new and social media can step in.
The original text in Azerbaijani is available on the BBC Azeri web
site. Many thanks to Konul Khalilova for permission to post a version
in English. The main collaboration between the BBC and Global Voices
Online for the Superpower Season is here.