On October 21-22, a bilateral roundtable was held in Yerevan with the participation of civil society representatives from Azerbaijan and Armenia. No protest or negative attitude was observed in Azerbaijani society towards such a meeting. However, there were critics of this meeting in Armenia.
One of the five members of the Azerbaijani delegation participating in the roundtable - Editor-in-Chief of 1News.az Kəmala Mammadova stated in an interview with Medianews.az on October 29, that she tries to carefully follow the comments and reactions in the media and social networks after the discussion in Yerevan: “The criticisms were not a surprise to us. Because we never thought that everything would be met with applause by both societies. Expecting or hoping for this would be naïve. Therefore, we fully accept critical reactions as normal.”
On the question, “Could the criticisms prevent Azerbaijani and Armenian civil society representatives from continuing their meetings?” Kəmala Mammadova answered: “No, these reactions will not hinder the holding of new meetings in the future. In fact, the essence of the meetings is to deliver accurate information to the societies. To correctly and truthfully explain the benefits of peace between the states to the societies.”
The next meeting in the same format is planned to be held in Baku. Kəmala Mammadova believes that organizing a roundtable in Baku will be possible: “Why not? Preparations are underway. We have online meetings between both sides. Mutual meetings are planned in the future both in Azerbaijan and Armenia. Negotiations are being conducted in this direction. The date of the Baku meeting has not yet been finalized. The meeting will be scheduled at a time suitable for both sides. It should take place by the end of this year.”
Recall that at the Yerevan meeting, Azerbaijan was represented alongside Kəmala Mammadova by Farhad Mammadov, Rusif Huseynov, Ramil Iskandarli, and Dilara Efendiyeva, while Armenia was represented by Areg Kochinyan, Boris Navasardyan, Naira Sultanyan, Narek Minasyan, and Samvel Meliksetyan.
On August 8 of this year, the President of Azerbaijan and the Prime Minister of Armenia signed a Joint Declaration in Washington in the presence of the U.S. President, committing to establish neighborly relations on the basis of inviolability of borders and the inadmissibility of the use of force to change territories. At the same time, the foreign ministers of the two countries initialed a draft agreement on peace and establishment of interstate relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The main goal in organizing bilateral roundtables with the participation of civil society representatives from Azerbaijan and Armenia is to promote the peace agenda in accordance with the spirit of the Joint Declaration adopted in Washington.
Nailə Qasımova,
Medianews.az
