Школа № 8. Баку. Последний день до летних каникул. Около трети детей на этой фотографии армяне. Я стою в заднем ряду, одноклассник мой чуть прислонился передо мной. Число на доске показывает май 1987 года. Спустя нескольких месяцев начнется карабахский конфликт. Азербайджанские беженцы из Армении начнут прибывать в Баку и Сумгаит.

School No 8. Baku. Last day before summer holidays. About a third of the kids in this picture are Armenian. I’m in the back row, slightly obscured by another kid. The date on the board is May 1987. Within a few months Karabakh conflict will begin. Azerbaijani refugees from Armenia will start arriving in Baku and Sumgait. By February 1988 it will be Armenians fleeing en mass.

While negotiations to resolve the conflict through the OSCE Minsk Group continue to falter, and not least with both Armenia and Azerbaijan preparing for presidential elections in 2013, a new book by Dutch writer Arthur Huizinga and photographer Dirk-Jan Visser hopes to examine the conflict through the prism of football. Offside: Football in Exile tells the story of two football teams, FK Qarabağ Ağdam and FK Karabakh Stepanakert, and was published earlier this year by YdocPublishing/Paradox.

On behalf of Free Press Unlimited you are cordially invited to the closing ceremony of South Caucasus Multimedia Course organized by Free Press Unlimited, funded by the Netherlands Embassy in Georgia, in cooperation with the Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics, Yerevan Press Club and Freedom of Expression Coalition for Azerbaijan. The Ambassador of the Netherlands Embassy in Tbilisi and representatives of the three partner organizations will be present. The screenings of the multimedia productions will be followed by a reception at the Multimedia Education Centre at Al. Chavchavadze str.10A, Tbilisi, Georgia. The ceremony starts at 16.00 hrs and ends at 19.00 hrs.

The Philosophical Society, Trinity College Dublin, 24 October 2012

In co-operation with the 2012 Irish Chairmanship of the OSCE and the support of the United States Mission to the OSCE and the Permanent Mission of Lithuania to the OSCE.

Training: Istanbul, Turkey, November 30 – December 6, 2012
Description of Training
A training workshop on Transitional Justice and Human Rights after Armed Conflicts will take place in Istanbul, Turkey between November 30 and December 6, 2012. Participants of the training will represent different nationalities from the South Caucasus: Abkhazians, Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Georgians and Ossetians. Training workshop will be conducted by European experts.
All costs of transportation to and from the location of the training as well as accommodation, meals, training materials, and per diems will be covered by the organizers.
Training workshop …

Free Press Unlimited is organizing an intensive course in multimedia storytelling for twenty-four young journalists working in the regions of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, conducted by four excellent (photo) journalists and documentary makers. The course offers participants a unique opportunity to develop their multimedia storytelling skills, working on their own projects as well as on joint productions. The productions will focus on domestic issues as well as issues of regional relevance. The participants will be challenged to have an open mind, to break stereotypes, to get inspired by ordinary events, making extraordinary stories worth sharing.

Моя статья продиктована многолетним опытом участия в миротворческих встречах. В 2000 году я в составе азербайджанской группы встретился в Упсале с армянскими коллегами в семинаре, организованным факультетом Университета Упсалы по мирному разрешению конфликтов. В нем, помнится, тон обсуждений был таков: армянская сторона стремилась доказать, что нам надо исходить из существующей ситуации и согласиться с отделением Нагорного Карабаха. Правда, все это было представлено в дружелюбном тоне и оснащено миротворческими и гуманистическими призывами об отвратительности войны и истребления людей. Только один человек из Нагорного Карабаха, живущего в Армении внес в этот общий тон некоторые милитаристские нюансы, намекая, что армия Нагорного Карабаха ой как сильна, так сильна что даже способна дойти до Анкары.

Dağlıq Qarabağ konfliktinin indiki mərhələsində konfliktin çözümü adların, simvolların yığılıb törətdiyi çıxmaza, küncə düşüb. Standart yollarla oradan heç cürə çıxmaq olmur: ermənilər müstəqil respublika simvolunu güzəşt edə bilmirlər, azərbaycanlılar isə öz sərhədlərini dəyişib Azərbaycanın məkanca kiçilməsinə razı ola bilmirlər. Oxşar durum Çeçenistan və Rusiya, Abxaz və Gürcüstan konfliktlərində də var. Biz bu çıxmazdan qurtulmaq üçün yeni avtonomiya modelini təklif edirik (“nomiya” yunanca qanundur, “avtonomiya” isə “öz qanunları ilə özünü idarə edən” deməkdir).

In the present phase of the conflict over Mountainous Karabakh, the deadlock in the peace process is due to symbolism, says Professor Niyazi Mehdi. There is no solution through standard methods: the Armenians are not ready to give away the symbol of an independent republic, while the Azeris refuse the alteration of their borders. Similar situations exist in the conflicts between Chechnya and Russia, and between Abkhazia and Georgia. In order to resolve this deadlock, Professor Mehdi proposes a new autonomy model. Although the model we propose is thought of in the context of the Caucasus, it may be applied in other places, for example in Cyprus, or in Southern Azerbaijan which is tied to Iran, after the necessary transformations there.