“From an effective point of view, the mutual exchange between Armenian and Azeri journalists was not effective at all. Azeri society did not understand in the end what kind of situation Armenia and Artsakh are in,” Azeri affairs expert Angela Elibegova said during a meeting with journalists at the Tesaket press club. She said that Azeri journalists published anti-Armenian articles upon returning to Azerbaijan that did not portray an accurate picture of reality.
She explained, “The most common themes among their articles were that Armenia is in a very poor socio-economic state, there are no restaurants or stores, and there is no transportation unlike in developed Azerbaijan. They tried to solidify the myth that there is a divide between Armenia and Artsakh and that the people of Artsakh are afraid of conflict, but people in Armenia are indifferent. The Armenian side is allegedly not interested in solutions or preparing for peace, and the Azeri side has taken on a constructive standpoint, whereas the Armenian side has not.”
The Azeri affairs expert expressed her worries about how the Minsk Group does not provide appropriate evaluations of the situation. “When Aliyev threatens the territorial integrity of Armenia and makes implications about occupying Zangezur, this is not recognized by the Minsk Group co-chairs, but when someone says, ‘Artsakh is Armenia and that’s it,’ people start to point fingers.”
Angela Elibegova
Elibegova noted that Armenia has an official position on the Artsakh conflict resolution, but it does not have any propaganda themes. According to the Azeri affairs expert, the discourse regarding whether or not land will be given up needs to be changed to making sure that we can keep our land. “It is dangerous to let society live in ignorance. This intention has been noted after the meeting in Bratislava, which can be proven by statements about how it’s important that they are not shooting at the border. The Azeri side is trying to introduce some modifications to the resolution process, and now it’s our turn to do so. We want to bring Artsakh to the negotiations table. But there is a dangerous intention here: Armenia is being presented as one of the sides of the conflict, not as one of the sides for negotiations. Meanwhile, the two parties in the conflict are Artsakh and Azerbaijan. Armenia is the guarantor of Artsakh’s peace.”
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Tatev Harutyunyan
