From November 17-21, an exchange of groups of Armenian and Azerbaijani journalists took place: representatives of mass media from Armenia and Artsakh visited Azerbaijan, and representatives of Azerbaijani media visited Armenia and Artsakh. This was reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia.
The official statement noted that the programme was prepared and implemented under the coordination of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and with the involvement of the relevant departments of Armenia, Artsakh and Azerbaijan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs conveyed no other details.
Communication channels must remain open, said political scientist Styopa Safaryan, commenting on the mutual visits of Armenian and Azerbaijani journalists. The political scientist considers such visits an important and correct step.
“If the sides continue to communicate — I am not saying negotiate — if they continue to communicate at the level of the countries’ leaders, at the level of the media, at the level of civil society organisations, this means they are thinking about resolving the issue without war. This becomes an important, small but very important tool in terms of preserving peace,” Safaryan emphasised during a conversation with Azatutyun.
Visiting Azerbaijan were David Alaverdyan, editor of the Mediamax news agency, Artiom Yerganyan, commentator for the Shant television company, and Edgar Elbakyan, commentator for the Artsakh Public Television. They are to present the details of their visit in the coming days.
And as to what these visits give the two countries, political scientist Styopa Safaryan stressed: “At the very least, we — the societies of Armenia and Azerbaijan — hear those voices that we very often do not hear, because a huge wall has been placed between us, and especially given the policy pursued by Azerbaijan’s authorities — the policy of anti-Armenian hysteria, of Armenophobia — it is important for us to understand, ultimately, what they are thinking and why they think that way. It does not matter whether we like it or not; certainly we do not like it, and certainly their society does not like what it hears here. But the most important thing, I repeat again, is the question of avoiding miscalculations on both sides and of preserving and advancing this fragile peace. Therefore, in this regard, these visits at the very least convey those viewpoints to the two capitals and to the societies of the two countries.”
As early as last week, the Azerbaijani Turan agency had reported that an agreement on the journalists’ visits had been reached at the level of the two countries’ leaders, “within the framework of humanitarian steps to create mutual trust.” Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev had agreed on carrying out humanitarian measures during their meeting in Vienna in the spring.
