Is Åland model applicable to Karabakh? On September 27, public hearings were held in Georgian village of Tekali, Marneuli region, which was attended by participants from Yerevan, Ijevan and Noyemberian regions, as well as Baku, Kazakh and Tovuz regions. Azerbaijani political scientist Zardusht Alizadeh was the main speaker. The theme of his speech was entitled “Åland model. Potentials of Citizens and NGOs to promote the model of Karabakh conflict.” His opponent is the writer, also politician living in Sweden, Vahe Avetyan, who generally agreed with Alizadeh. The youth platform of Tekali process introduced a special opinion on the theme. During the hearings, the Åland experience of autonomy was introduced. The Åland islands is inhabited by 27 thousand Swedes. Being in the staff of Finland, they are taking advantage of wider autonomy.
Chairman of Helsinki Citizens Assembly of Azerbaijan, Arzu Abdullayeva said that Karabakh and Åland islands are geographically far from each other, and the mentality between Armenians and Azerbaijanis is different from the mentality of Scandinavians. He recalled the following story as a political anecdote. In 1993, a meeting was held with the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Armenia’s foreign minister has said that they would agree with the Åland model, but Azerbaijan is not Finland. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Tofig Zulfugarov has countered, you, Armenians, are not Swedes, too. At the end of public hearings, Director of the Caucasus Center of Peace-Making Initiatives, Georgi Vanyan, brought the following question to a vote: “Should the Karabakh conflict be modelled and promote the conflict settlement models?” The voting resulted in 48 pros and 5 cons.
Voskan SARGSYAN
