The Third Armenian-Azerbaijani Public Peace Forum aimed at contributing to the peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict took place in Vienna between 24th-27th March. The Forum, organised by International Alert, marked a mile stone in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process as it brought together for the first time all the international mediators involved in the peacebuilding process as well as a large delegation of civil society representatives from all sides of the conflict divide.
The event’s participants included forty Armenian and Azerbaijani civil society leaders, experts, intellectuals, as well as the three Co-Chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group, Ambassador Bernard Fassier, Ambassador Yury Merzlyakov and Matthew Bryza, the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, and Alexandros Katsanis, Representative of the current OSCE Chairman-in-Office. The event was opened by a round table discussion entitled "The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict – Challenges and Opportunities for Building Confidence Between Societies", followed by shared thoughts from our Secretary General Dan Smith and our Projects Director for the Eurasia Programme Dessislava Roussanova. The Forum was also addressed by Ambassador Charalampos Christopoulos, the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office's Special Envoy for Protracted Conflicts, who stressed several times “we consider the Armenian-Azerbaijani Public Peace Forum a very important initiative”.
International mediators and civil society representatives had the unprecedented opportunity to discuss the different aspects of the conflict and share their views on the challenges and possibilities to build confidence between Armenians and Azerbaijanis today.
Commenting on the Forum, Dessislava Roussanova said: “The three Co-Chairmen had a united message to the Forum – war is not an option. But the Co-Chairmen were there not just to deliver their message. They were there to listen, to engage in dialogue, and to discuss very frankly with civil society representatives issues and aspects of the Nagorno-Karabakh peacebuiding process, as well as the possible role that civil society could play in it. The discussion was very constructive and the tone was extremely positive. There was a strong desire among many for this collaboration between civil society and international mediators to become a regular cooperation.”
The opening of the Forum and the Round Table were also attended by other officials, diplomats, representatives of international organisations and experts on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. This was the third of a series of public peace fora aimed to give participants a dialogue platform where Armenian and Azerbaijani civil society leaders, experts, intellectuals come in their personal capacities to discuss issues that are key for the peaceful settlement of the Nagormo-Karabakh conflict; Alert has mediated this long term dialogue process.