Faced with Myths or Four Days in Azerbaijan

(The style and terminology of the original is preserved)

Thus, a mutual visit of Armenian and Azerbaijani journalists took place. A month ago this seemed impossible, but now it is a reality. From November 17 to 21, three Armenian journalists, one of whom was me, visited Baku, Cuba and Ganjak (Ganja), and three Azerbaijani journalists visited Yerevan, Dilijan, Shushi and Stepanakert.

Regardless of the outcome of the project, which is still unclear, it was exceptional for a number of reasons.

- For the first time in the last decade, a journalist representing Artsakh, in this case Edgar Elbakyan, visited Azerbaijan;

- For the first time, representatives of the leading Azerbaijani media visited Artsakh and had the opportunity to witness the processes taking place there;

- The project was completely prepared by the parties, with the Artsakh Foreign Ministry itself, without the intervention or support of official Yerevan. In addition, the safety of Azerbaijani journalists in Artsakh was also provided by local security services, accompanied by a scientist from Artsakh. Artsakh's Ministry of Foreign Affairs established direct contact with the Azerbaijani authorities through the OSCE and discussed the details of the visit to Artsakh.

- None of the international structures, embassies or mediators, with the exception of the office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, participated in the negotiations, which means that none of them can “earn points” through this program;

- It was not planned to meet with any government official in Armenia, Azerbaijan or Artsakh. The only officials we met at the dinner table in Baku were Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Leyla Abdullayeva and experienced diplomat Huseyn Huseynov, who shared their personal views, and the actual conversation was unofficial. In the same format, Azerbaijani journalists met with officials of the Armenian Foreign Ministry in Yerevan;

- The main focus of the “mirror” program was at meetings with journalists and NGOs, which also took place in an informal format and without cameras.

Perhaps this is enough to realize that the program was truly exceptional, but I would like to note that if it is successful, Armenian and Azerbaijani journalists will be able to visit each other in the near future. The whole question is what each of the parties, including the co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, would consider success.

Now about our visit. It began on the evening of November 17 with a meeting with the personal representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk and his team. By the way, our Azerbaijani colleagues crossed the border of Armenia at noon and already reached Dilijan and Yerevan in the evening.

At the highest level, our security was provided by 12 employees of the State Security Service of Azerbaijan, and their number in crowded places was several dozen. Maybe there was a real danger to our three lives and health, I don’t know, but it was rather unusual to be surrounded by dozens of bodyguards who also attracted the attention of passers-by.

All the people we met and communicated during these four days left us with the impression that they had been chosen in advance and prepared. The visit from the Azerbaijani side was prepared by the presidential administration, and not by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and this was probably the reason that all our interlocutors spoke to us with responsibility, and we were very pleased.

Many of the people emphasized that they saw Armenians for the first time. I will tell you about these meetings and visits in the next column, and today I want to concentrate on the issues that most concerned me and prompted me to go to Baku.

 First of all, as soon as I received an invitation, without hesitation for a second, I immediately answered positively, not knowing any details. In my opinion, any professional journalist will do this. Seeing reality with your own eyes, receiving information from a source, communicating with different people, understanding reality - all this is priceless for a journalist.

During a trip to Baku with many other questions, I was most interested in two: what is Azerbaijan being prepared for - war or peace? And secondly, what concessions is Azerbaijani society ready for a peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict?

I did not receive an answer to the first question, but it seems that ordinary Azerbaijanis, like the Armenians, do not want a new war and hope that sooner or later the problem will be resolved peacefully.

 Official propaganda inspires them that the economic situation in Armenia and Artsakh is getting worse, and in just a few years the Armenians will kneel and ask for help from Azerbaijan.

Especially in Baku and other major cities, life is quite active, people do not want to lose their permanent income and property and sacrifice everything for the sake of victory on the battlefield, especially since this victory is not guaranteed.

 On the other hand, the military and patriotic rhetoric in Azerbaijan is much stronger than in our country, and the public constantly lives in anticipation of an impending war.

 Unfortunately, we could not communicate with ordinary passers-by on the streets, but our other contacts showed that the level of aggression and hatred of the Armenians did not reach a critical level, despite the numerous steps taken by the government of Ilham Aliyev.

As for the willingness to compromise, we have no reason to rejoice. The idea of ​​independence of Artsakh is de jure categorically rejected by journalists, representatives of the public sector and officials. Without an objective understanding of what is really happening in Artsakh, Baku is guided by strange myths and legends, which I will touch upon separately. When we asked what concessions and compromises they were ready to make, they called “the widest autonomy” within Azerbaijan, the right to have their own police and security forces, promising large investments and social programs, even asphalting and capital construction. Moreover, they do not understand that all this has long been carried out in Artsakh, and this is nothing compared to the threat of physical extermination, which always hangs over the Armenians of Artsakh, like a sword of Damocles.

These absurd ideas are so deeply rooted, and in the end, my colleague from Artsakh Public Television asked if they would agree, for example, that Azerbaijan would become part of Germany if Germany promised to invest heavily in their economy and build factories.

In conclusion of this column, I would like to answer all pessimists who question the feasibility of such visits. We, journalists, are not government officials or political or public figures. Our job is to ask questions and inform the public. Journalists should not be deprived of the right to receive reliable information, opinions, comments and truth. Where there is no truth, there is fertile ground for lies, deceit, myths and manipulations. Yes, I am for letting other Armenian journalists go to Azerbaijan. I also want Azerbaijani journalists to come to Armenia and especially to Artsakh. I understand that their reports are not always objective and truthful. But it is also an indicator of how different we are and how much more free and diverse our society is.

You can be sure that any such visit contributes to the conviction that Artsakh cannot be part of Azerbaijan. At least these three Azerbaijani journalists are already aware of this.

David Alaverdyan,

Chief Editor of Mediamax Agency