Sarsang, Mardakert Region, Republic of Nagorno Karabakh © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2001

Via Blogrel, the BBC reports that journalists from Armenia and Azerbaijan are working on a project which “brings them together to make short documentary films.” It sounds like a very interesting project indeed.

The shared background for all the film-makers is what Laurence Broers, an expert on the South Caucasus with conflict resolution group Conciliation Resources, describes as the “massive mutual expulsions” caused by the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

[…]

Twenty-year-old Suzanna Seyranyana, a Karabakh foreign language student, was apprehensive about meeting Azeris through the project.

“Before, I thought that the Azeris were our enemies, I never thought I’d be able to sit down with them, to have a cup of tea and a chat, but during the project I met Azeris for the first time and they’ve become my friends. I didn’t feel any barriers between us,” she said.

“I realised that it is not our fault,” she continued. “People aren’t guilty - neither Azeris nor Armenians. It was war. It feels like a dream, sitting with them, talking to them.”

[…]

Vafa Farajova, a bright-eyed 31-year-old Azeri teacher and journalist explained: “We have forgotten our childhood and school-years.”

But she still has vivid memories of abandoning her home in Zangelan, one of seven districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh occupied by Armenian forces during the conflict.

“When we fled, all the routes to Baku were closed, all the districts were occupied by Armenians so we had to escape across the river, via Iran,” she said.

“We left everything - our home, everything… We didn’t take my clothes, my pictures, my dresses or shoes. I felt awful, I cried. I kept asking God ‘Why? Why?’ Armenians and Azerbaijanis had had such good relations. Every day, every hour, I asked ‘Why?’ Nobody answered me.”

[…]

Sevak Hayrapetyan, a 26-year-old Armenian student, nonetheless says he hopes the films may help increase understanding between Azeris and Armenians.

“The war was incomprehensible for me,” he says.

“I don’t know if this project will help end the stalemate but these are at least small steps.”

The full news item is here.