PHOTOGALLERY: The Nagorny Karabakh Conflict – Perspectives for Peace? (c-r.org)

(c-r.org) Photographic works by Giorgi Tsagareli and Shakhvalad Aivazov Ali-Oglu, 1989 – 1994
13 – 18 June 2014, National Parliamentary Library, Tbilisi

Giorgi Tsagareli (1947, Tbilisi) has been a photojournalist since 1983. He has been a regular contributor to a variety of printed media and information agencies in Georgia and the Russian Federation. His portfolio includes wartime photographs from the Georgian-Abkhaz and Nagorny Karabakh conflicts, in which he documented events on the Armenian side.

Shakhvalad Aivazov Ali-Oglu (1956, Tbilisi) graduated in journalism and has been a photojournalist since 1977. From 1980 – 1992 he was employed in “Grusinform-Tass” as a photo correspondent. Since 1992 he has worked for “Associated Press” in the Caucasus. Assignments have included the first Chechen war and the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict. During the Nagorny Karabakh conflict he documented events on the Azerbaijani side.

Exhibition at the National Parliamentary Library, Tbilisi. A gallery of images from the exhibition will be available here soon.

Note: These photographs are not intended to document the conflict over Nagorny Karabakh in its entirety, but represent a selection of the works of two photojournalists who covered aspects of the conflict in the period 1989 – 1994. The place names used in the photo captions reflect the terminology used by the author of “Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War” and in no way imply a position on the part of Conciliation Resources or the European Union.  

(c-r.org/news/nagorny-karabakh-conflict-perspectives-peace) Since the ceasefire in 1994 Azerbaijan and Armenia have remained in deadlock over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region. An internationally sponsored peace process based on closed talks between the leaders has yielded several proposals but no agreement.

Bora B. on his daily cemetery visit to play for the fallen – Stepanakert_Khankendi, 1994 (Giorgi Tsagareli)

On 13 June 2014, Conciliation Resources is hosting an event in Tbilisi, looking at perspectives for peace since the Nagorny Karabakh ceasefire twenty years ago. This will include an expert panel discussion, the launch of the revised Russian-language edition of Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War and an exhibition of photographs taken in the run up to and during the war.

Conciliation Resources has been working in the Nagorny Karabakh context since the early 2000s. As a member of the EU-funded European Partnership for the Peaceful Resolution of the Conflict over Nagorny Karabakh (EPNK), we work with local and international policymakers, civil society activists, young people and displaced communities with the aim of improving prospects for peace in the region.

Through its EPNK activities, Conciliation Resources has sought to give a voice to people marginalised in the peace process and those most affected by the unresolved conflict.

Working with partners, we have generated fresh analysis and new ideas in relation to the peace process and brought these to policymakers. We help local partners to support displaced communities to be more active in addressing their needs, and work with local filmmakers and young people from either side of the conflict divide to produce joint films. These explore alternative views and challenge one-sided narratives on the conflict.

The panel discussion (in English) includes insights from Thomas de Waal (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington), Tatul Hakobyan (Civilitas, Yerevan), Tabib Huseynov (Saferworld, Tbilisi), Mikheil Mirziashvili (Independent expert, Tbilisi) and Siegfried Woeber (Conciliation Resources, London). The event will take place from 18:00-20:45 in the National Parliamentary Library, Gudiashvili str. 7, Building III in Tbilisi.

The discussion will be followed by the presentation of the second Russian-language edition of Black Garden – Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War by Thomas de Waal. The book, originally published in 2003, is a definitive study of the Nagorny Karabakh conflict. It is based on six months travelling through the south Caucasus, and more than 120 original interviews in the region, Moscow, and Washington. This revised Russian edition includes new chapters, as well as an updated foreword and conclusion.

The event concludes with the opening of an exhibition of photographs taken by Giorgi Tsagareli and Shakh Aivazov in the run up to and during the Nagorny Karabakh war. This exhibition will be on display until 18 June 2014 in the National Parliamentary Library’s reception hall.

For further information on the event please contact Siegfried Woeber.

For more information on the exhibition and photographers visit the photogallery page - See more at: c-r.org/news/nagorny-karabakh-conflict-perspectives-peace