"We are trying to build a world in the souls of people ..."

Two interviews with Armenia leaders

Once, residents of the village, a mother and daughter, dug potatoes near the border, in a place visible from the closest height from Azerbaijan. When the silhouette of a man with a gun arose in the distance, the mother screamed in a panic with her daughter: “Run!” - and tried to run away herself. But the stranger caught up with his mother and unexpectedly turned to her, seriously scared, with the words: “Stop, do not be afraid, don't you recognize me? I just came to talk. I want to ask how much more this will continue? .. ”This case, Nora Akopyan remembered and decided to tell at the very moment when she felt that the conversation with colleagues from Azerbaijan was leaving the main thing, from what people live on both sides of the border. And I was not mistaken. The story of a sincere impulse of a simple man, tired of the war, helped to find the necessary words and solutions.

Nora Akopyan, the leader of the Republican Council of Women, knows many such stories. He knows from the stories of ordinary people with whom he communicates during his trips to the regions of the republic, especially border. Here in the 87th villages, many of which at the very border, the RSG has its branches.

And what is surprising, says Nora Akopyan. - These people talk about the war not at the level of theory, they tested it on themselves when bullets whistled next to their houses and bombs were torn. They still have quite real traces of bullets in front of their eyes, and their hearts are still tormented by loss of loss. And all the same, there are more peacekeeping potential in these people than with you and all political figures combined ... in the kapan, where we were recently, women recalled the war, and they did not talk about the suffering and cruelty, which were enough for them. They recalled how often people on both sides of the border helped each other survive, how they remained people against the backdrop of hatred and enmity.

- Perhaps this is the phenomenon of human memory, which score off pain and helps people live on?

Maybe so. But at the same time, the same women honestly admit that it is very difficult to step over and restore its former trust. “Of course, you are talking correctly about tolerance, about overcoming the image of the enemy, they say, - but, in order to melt the ice in the souls of people, it takes time. How much we do not know, but maybe you will help that it comes faster ... ”

The Coalition for Peace entered a very fragile surface. How to find in the souls of people the island where patriotic feelings, the memory of the fallen and tolerance to those who are a source of troubles and wars can coexist. Believe me, this is a very difficult task, but we are trying to build a world in the souls and consciousness of people. And here, I think we need the help of the press.

- Naturally, provided that she will not replicate the “image of the enemy”.

Our societies must be protected from the hatred virus. I do not want and will not talk about how and by what methods all these years of antipaganda were conducted, how negative comments were savored, public hysteria was pumped out. Somewhere less, and somewhere more ... In the end, we all faced the need to overcome the image of the enemy. Therefore, both local coalitions for the world created in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia, and the regional coalition “Women for Peace” will have to make a lot of efforts before this image is erased from the memory of the conflicting parties.

And what specifically expressed a world -building from the point of view of the coalition?

When the coalition was only created, we emphasized the topic "Woman and peacekeeping." In the process, the topic was revealed in completely different angles, each of which is important in itself. For example, mother and peacekeeping. The sources of the world in mothers' songs are a very subtle topic, with a deep -uniting peoples, the beginning. Another angle is school and peacekeeping, the problem of educating patriotism and tolerance. And here it is important to be able to find the principle that will withstand the middle ground. To teach “the art of being different”, to be able to understand a different perception, perhaps, a formula that will help us in this matter.

“In recent years, female peacekeeping in the Caucasus has acquired new aspects,” said the leader of the Association of women with the university education of Jamma Asratyan. For the first time, she started talking about the problems of the world in the most difficult years of confrontation in the 94th, when the "Transcaucasian female dialogue" was created. Today we are talking to her about the dynamics of peacekeeping processes in the region, about the coalition for the world created as part of the project of unife.

= Our association, one might say, is from the Transcaucasian female dialogue. Therefore, the problems of peacekeeping are an integral part of almost all the programs we implemented. Not to mention special projects on the culture of the world, a dialogue of civilizations. So participation in the coalition for the world is a logical continuation of the entire previous activity of the association. However, such a sequence is characteristic of many members of the coalition.

- And what tasks is this coalition is designed to solve?

The main task of the coalition is the humanization of relations between public organizations of the countries of the South Caucasus. This is dictated by the situation of post -conflict itself. In addition, I am convinced that any coalitions of public organizations should maintain a promotion of civil society and democracy. And we can only come to the world through the democratization and humanization of our societies.

... Today's new stage of relationships within the coalition is characterized by the fact that we began to look wider at the problems of peace and security. We are not just polemicizing when and how conflicts should be resolved, but try to understand how to approach their resolution, how to influence public consciousness, how to work at the level of various social layers, public organizations, political parties, power structures ... In fact, the activity is aimed at developing a unified ideology that is aimed at finding possible humanization of relations.

And another interesting moment. The coalition is 14 public organizations and 2 individual members. Moreover, public organizations are not only female. The coalition did not show off from men for the simple reason that the world is not a problem of men or women, this is the problem of the whole society. Among the members of the coalition, for example, the “International Center for Human Development”> Armen Darbinyan, who has interesting experience in resolving conflicts. It is also important that the coalition has absorbed the "individuals." And although there are only two of them, the main thing is that the coalition doors are not closed to those who are not a member of a certain public organization.

- What, in your opinion, is the dynamics of the development of the coalition?

The first three meetings that took place in Tbilisi and in which 3-4 representatives from each country participated, we showed that we have common problems, of course, taking into account the difference in the domestic political situation of our countries. In any case, there is the possibility of exchange of experience at the regional level. And not only in the sense of enriching new information, but also from the point of view of establishing a dialogue.

With each new meeting, I am observing the progress in the relations of the leaders of the public magazine “We/we”, No. 25 (41), 2003. The movements of our countries. With a sufficiently large number of unresolved problems, we still managed to achieve a certain degree of understanding. At each meeting, we try to outline the circle of specific issues around which the coalitions of the three countries then build their activities in the field. For example, at the penultimate meeting, we very productively discussed how to organize our activities about the world day announced by the UN on September 21. We developed an action plan for this day in each country. As a result, we managed to voice the problems of the world in schools, universities, in capital and regional audiences.

At the last meeting of the coalition, it was decided to hold the South Caucasian Conference. The topic is the participation of women at decision -making levels. It is supposed to discuss three circles of issues - women and decision -making, female movement and, finally, a woman and peacekeeping. These are interconnected problems, and, I think, recommendations will be adopted for each of them. The conference will take part in 15 representatives from each country. All of them will try to come to mutual understanding about how to promote the advance of women in the structure of power, how to influence peacekeeping processes and how to participate in the construction of the world through folk diplomacy.

The Association of Women with a University Education implements a program under the Juniphamy project called “The Initiatives of Women in Supporting Peace and Democracy”. We hold seminars and round tables, organize wide discussions with the mandatory involvement of representatives of power structures and political parties. Seminars are learning in nature, they are aimed at transmitting knowledge about the nature of conflicts, ways of effective negotiations and many other problems of world building. Round tables, discussions are already a dialogue, an exchange of views. In inviting the participants in these discussions, we expect to further apply the influence to the structures that they represent. For example, representatives of the ten communities of Yerevan participated at one of our seminars. Naturally, we did this with the expectation that they will bring to their teams the ideas that our experts spoke to them. The same goal is the materials that we distribute at our events.

The knowledge transferred today, tomorrow will be expected to a position, and the day after tomorrow - in the way of action. And the fact that knowledge is necessary is there is no doubt about it. The same resolution 1325 is an appeal to power structures, but they are the least aware of this appeal.

How authority are the coalitions for the world in the countries of the South Caucasus, I do not think that coalitions for the world have reached such a level in their development and organization, which allows them to effectively influence the public

Practice of non-political processes in their countries. But still ahead.

Any undertaking has its own development periods, there are growth diseases. The fact that the first period was so protracted, I associate with formation. After all, we did not come to the idea of ​​creating a coalition immediately, but through the realization that influence is possible only by united efforts. From this point of view, the creation of a coalition is in itself achievement. Today we finally reach a new level - regional. There is already a joint messenger, its electronic version.

I think the coalition was included in the phase of activation of their activities, and the planned another regional conference will give a new sound of both the project of unife and female peacekeeping.