Presentation of Armenian-Azerbaijani website takes place in tense atmosphere

• Saturday, January 19, 13:21

 The presentation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani website www.publicdialogues.info took place at Park Inn on Friday, Turan says.

The project is financed by the British Embassies in Armenia and Azerbaijan and is implemented by the Institute for Peace and Democracy (Azerbaijan) and Region Research Center (Armenia).   

Head of the Institute for Peace and Democracy, Leyla Yunus, said that when the countries are in the state war, it is necessary to fight instead of negotiating. But if there are no armed hostilities, it is necessary to use all opportunities to settle the conflict in the peaceful way. She thinks that such projects help get information on the situation on the opposite side. "The Institute for Peace and Democracy was founded in 1995. One can say that since that time we have been implementing various joint projects with the Armenian party. The key goal of these projects is to get first-hand information", she said.    

During the presentation two women were vividly trying to disturb the course of the event with their emotional statements. They had suffered as a result of the conflict, lost their relatives and did not quite understand what was going on at the event. They said they did not understand "how it is possible to build any dialogues with Armenians, when their territories are occupied". French Ambassador to Azerbaijan Pascal Meunier, who was present at the event, answered the women's questions and was sympathetic for their pain and losses. He recalled the long conflict between Germany and France. He said that his relatives were fighting in that war, but it does not mean that the conflict between the two countries' representatives continues. He added that any war ends in peace. The French diplomat thinks that the given project is of great importance.

Invited to the presentation also were ambassadors of Germany and Poland, first secretaries of the Embassies of Switzerland, the Netherlands, the USA and the UK.

A similar presentation took place in Yerevan on Jan 16. To note, the official media of Azerbaijan blamed Leyla Yunus for betraying the national interests of Azerbaijan and cooperating with Armenians. 

The Public Dialogues website is an opportunity to conduct distance discussions and send interactive messages to one another. These are joint discussions on very important and topical events of the day of mutual interest. This is an opportunity for the media to participate in joint Internet press-conferences which are organized for the media outlets in the two countries. The website tries to give an opportunity to everyone interested in the Armenian and Azerbaijani realia to get first-hand information. The parallel interviews, which on the whole draw up the general outlines of the current realia in various fields of activity in Armenia and Azerbaijan are part of a joint project implemented by Region Research Center (Armenia) and the
Institute for Peace and Democracy (Azerbaijan). The project is supported by the Embassies of Britain in Armenia and Azerbaijan. The interviews will be simultaneously published in the newspapers Aravot (Armenia) and Novoye Vremya (Azerbaijan). The interviews in Armenia are conducted by the Region Research Center, in Azerbaijan are conducted by the Institute for Peace and Democracy.