Karen Ghazaryan
Public Radio of Armenia
The Armenian Center for National and International Studies presented today the results of the study on “Public participation and multi-layer diplomatic mechanisms in peacemaking processes: Lessons from Northern Ireland. The project has been supported by a number of international organizations and funded by the European Union.
Armenian and Azerbaijani experts have visited the conflict zone to study the Northern Ireland conflict. Co-author of the study Gegham Baghdasaryan says they examined the experience of Northern Ireland, as it is considered a conflict with a successful model of settlement. Although the conflict is still unsolved, the expert notes an essential factor here – the conflict is considered successfully solved if a peace treaty has been signed.
According to the experts, public participation is very important for solving conflicts; all parties should have a say. They consider, however, that this is not applicable to the Karabakh conflict, as media is not fully free on either side and cannot present opinions differing from the official one.
