Positive Examples of Coexistence from the History of Peoples and States of the South Caucasus Yerevan 2009 UDC 94/99 : 32 Positive Examples of Coexistence from the History of Peoples and States of the South Caucasus. Collection of papers by historians and analysts from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia (Yerevan, Armenia). – Yer.: Antares, 2009 - 140 pages. Edited by Stepan Grigoryan This book is published by the Analytical Centre on Globalisation and Regional Cooperation (ACGRC) with support of Caritas France. The opinions expressed in this book are opinions of the authors from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, and may differ from the official opinions of ACGRC and Caritas France. UDC 94/99 : 32 PUAH Caritas France Public Union of the Azerbaijan Historians ACGRC Caritas Georgia ISBN 978-9939-51-162-7 © ACGRC, 2009 Contents: Editor’s note Stepan Grigoryan..................................................................................5 Armenia Haykaz Hovhannisyan. Caucasian Home: History and Reality Mikayel Zolyan. Armenians and Georgians: Divided By Common History ...............................................................11 Azerbaijan Sevil Huseynova. Azerbaijanis and Armenians in Georgia: Spaces of Coexistence Sergey Rumyantsev. Beyond Enmity: Everyday Practices of Mutual Help in Situations of Conflict ..............................................33 Georgia Tamara Sikharulidze. From the History of Azerbaijani-Georgian Relations Liana Davlianidze. From the History of Armenian-Georgian Relations ...............................................................................................57 Armenia David Petrosyan. Armenia Now: Inside and Outside .........................87 Azerbaijan Rauf Rajabov. Azerbaijan: From Financial Security towards Regional Priorities in Foreign Policy .................................................105 Georgia Vakhtang Kolbaya. Georgia Now: The Situation after the Russo-Georgian War ..........................................................................121 About the authors........................................................................137 3 Armenia Haykaz Hovhannisyan - Caucasian Home: History and Reality Mikayel Zolyan - Armenians and Georgians: Divided By Common History Editor’s note Editor’s note StepanStepan Grigoryan Grigoryan 5 Editor’s note In November 2007, the Analytical Centre on Globalisation and Regional Cooperation (Armenia) organised, in cooperation with its partners – Public Union of the Azerbaijan Historians and Caritas Georgia – a meeting of historians and civic activists from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The meeting was organised with support of the Caritas France foundation in Tsakhkadzor (Armenia). This framework of cooperation was chosen because the experience of developments in the South Caucasus during previous years had shown that many problems in relations between peoples of the region had been a consequence of different interpretation of historical facts, different perceptions and approaches to historical events, and because of absence of papers and books on history written in cooperation by scholars from three South Caucasian countries. Therefore, it was important to organise meetings and facilitate cooperation between historians and civic activists from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The main outcome of the mentioned working meeting was the communiqué adopted on November 13, 2007. The participants stated, particularly, that direct contacts are important as they let to understand each other better and to exchange information about global, regional and local processes; emphasised their interest in possible submission of common publications to academic and professional journals; stated that such a framework is one of the ways for continued efforts towards development of civil society, for searching common elements in our peoples’ historical past, and for democratisation and European integration of the South Caucasian countries; expressed interest in a deeper study of European experience of dealing with historical problems, which may contribute towards reconciliation and establishing an environment of peace and neighbourly relations in the South Caucasus. Working meeting participants also expressed their distress concerning the reality in which the scientific potential of our countries is being used mainly for proving ancient roots and superiority of every people instead of working on common scientific and educational projects. Yet, science and education have a 7 great potential for restoration of trust between our peoples and may serve as a fine instrument for development of neighbourhood and cooperation in the region. The problems are aggravated by the unsolved conflicts that make the situation more difficult. It is, therefore, very important to establish contacts and stimulate cooperation between historians and civic activists in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. There are many positive historical examples of coexistence and cooperation between peoples of the South Caucasus; study of such examples and making them available to our societies is an important task. This book is a collection of papers about the history of relations between Armenians, Azerbaijanis and Georgians. The first part of the book contains papers written by prominent scholars – Haykaz Hovhannisyan and Mikayel Zolyan from Armenia, Sevil Huseynova and Sergey Rumyantsev from Azerbaijan, and Tamara Sikharulidze and Liana Davlianidze from Georgia. The authors have done meticulous archive work and analysis, and found a great number of examples of positive experiences in coexistence of the South Caucasian peoples. It is interesting that such examples include both the short periods when Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia were independent and time when our peoples fought for their rights and independence, protecting their identities and culture. In the second part of the book civic activists with expertise in different areas – David Petrosyan from Armenia, Rauf Rajabov from Azerbaijan and Vakhtang Kolbaya from Georgia – provide analyses of the contemporary political, socioeconomic and international standing of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. This book contains scientific and analytical materials and may be interesting for a wide circle of readers, first of all, for representatives of civil society institutions, scientific community, state institutions, journalists, young citizens, as well as international organisations working towards reconciliation, establishment of peace and cooperation. 8 I believe that the time has come for thinking over many issues and attempting to live in accordance with contemporary ideas and approaches. That is the demand of time and future of the South Caucasian peoples. Finally, I express our sincere gratitude to the Caritas France foundation for supporting our initiatives and making possible publishing of this book. Stepan Grigoryan - chairman of the board of the Analytical Centre on Globalisation and Regional Cooperation. July 27, 2009 9 Armenia Armenia Haykaz Hovhannisyan - Caucasian Home: History and Reality Mikayel Zolyan - Armenians and Georgians: Divided By CommonHaykaz History Hovhannisyan - Caucasian Home: History and Reality Mikayel Zolyan - Armenians and Georgians: Divided By Common History 11 Haykaz Hovhannisyan Caucasian Home: History and Reality History of the Caucasus occupies an important place in world history. The Caucasus region has been a constant arena of a clash between the political interests of greater powers and lesser actors both in ancient times and in our days. The Caucasus today remains in the centre of attention of greater powers and international public opinion, however this attention has been largely conditioned by unfavorable circumstances. The Caucasus region remains in a state of volcanic activity because, apart from the interests of greater powers, the local peoples also have conflicting interests. For ages the territory of the Transcaucasus has been an arena of devastating wars. For centuries the peoples of the Transcaucasus have been under domination of foreign powers, including the Romans, Persia, Byzantium, the Arabs, the Seljuk Turks, Tatar- Mongolians and other conquerors. In Armenian manuscripts of 13-15th centuries, as well as in Georgian sources there is an enormous amount of material regarding the brutalities perpetrated by the invaders, the joint struggle of the peoples of the region against their conquerors in ancient times, when Armenians, Georgians and Azerbaijanis desperately sought for assistance from the outside and, without receiving it, perished in scores in an uneven battle against the more numerous invaders, or left their native lands and sought for refuge in a foreign country. On the other hand, in terms of its ethnic and religious composition, the Caucasus represents a peculiar mosaic of groups that have their ethnic and cultural distinctions. The problems of Chechnya, Abkhazia and Karabakh exist in the region, European and other international organizations are working on the solution of these problems. However, in spite of the efforts of such organizations, these problems still remain unsolved. From our point of view one of the ways of solution of these problems is the path of returning to the origins of the history of the Caucasus. That would help to understand the essence of these problems. Naturally, it is impossible to do without such an important aspect as spreading light on the role and interests of the parties involved in the process of resolution of these conflicts. The problems of 13 Chechnya,