of Togetherness TRACES TRACES of Togetherness not bEttEr not worsE just diffErEnt ISBNISBN 978-3-943897-44-9978-3-943897-44-9 0 00 9 0 9 9 0 9 0 9 783943 897449 9 783943 897449 The “Traces of Togetherness” project is supported by the Federal Foreign Office within the programme “Expanding Cooperation with Civil Society in the Eastern Partnership Countries and Russia”. citizEn journalism in thE south caucasus and russia TRACES of Togetherness Следы Eдинcтвa Birliyin izləri Միասնության հետքեր The “Traces of Togetherness” project is supported by the Federal Foreign Office within the programme “Expanding Cooperation with Civil Society in the Eastern Partnership Countries and Russia”. თანაარსებობის კვალი “Traces of Togetherness” is a project of Kultur Aktiv e.V. Spuren des Miteinanders Imprint Editors: Kultur Aktiv e.V. Editorial Bautzner Straße 49 | 01099 Dresden | Germany n summer 2018, on the banks of the Volga river in the and diversity of all Soviet republics. Each country could kulturaktiv.org | [email protected] Russian town of Ulyanovsk, something unusual hap- present itself to the others in its “own” territory on the I pened. During a citizen journalism workshop, curious banks of the Volga with sculptures, pavilions and coun- Matthias Schumann people from Armenia and Azerbaijan, with likeminded try- specific flora. As an official but ambivalent symbol individuals from Russia, searched for traces of their own of diversity within unity, and initially part of the greater Editorial Office: René Kaufmann, Christine Müller, Matthias Schumann respective national South Caucasian culture and histories Lenin Memorial Complex, the park became a reflection together. of the internal relationships between the former Soviet Layout/Satz: Mirko Däumler | www.daeumler.com republics. (This somehow reflects the nowadays unof- Before their stay on the Volga river, the Caucasian par- ficial usage of the park´s name “Friendship Park” instead Copy-Editing/Translation: Jesse Lillefjeld ticipants researched marks of Russian culture and history of “The Park of Nations’ Friendship”.) So, the park was an in the South Caucasus and to a certain extent presented ideal starting point for the participants to search for their Picture Credits Cover Page: them as a conversation piece for Ulyanovsk civil society. own traces of identity within “another” identity. Anna Gleser – Georgian monument in Friendship Park, Ulyanovsk, Russia This was not self-evident in the past decades and still is not today. Together and sometimes in mixed teams of different Picture Credits Inside Back Cover: nationalities, the workshop participants explored the Masha Tshurbajeva – Group photo project Traces of Togetherness The simmering political and territorial conflicts over the city, its people and their stories, and investigated stories Karabakh mountain, Abkhazia or the Russian-Georgian from their own regions. This happened not always with- Picture Credits Introduction and Interview: war of 2008 has made it more and more complicated for out conflicts, but always with respect for one another and Anna Gleser p. 9,10,12 people in these regions to approach each other openly communication always remained deferential. Masha Tshurbajeva p. 11,14,15 and impartially. These conflicts are often accompanied Matthias Schumann p. 13 by tendentious media coverage, censorship, and by vari- This publication, presents a selection of citizen journal- ous bureaucratic repressions as well as the use of physi- istic contributions from the participants of the project Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek cal violence. A consequence of the bureaucratical hurdles “Traces of Togetherness” and from an online competition Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der provoked by these conflicts was felt by the workshop with the same topic. Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind participants from Georgia: they could not take part in im Internet über http://dnb.dnb.de abrufbar. the workshop because they did not receive their Russian The contributions are organized by participating country entry visa in time. The special visa requirements for Geor- and they are also available online. At the beginning of each Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek gians were introduced after the Russian-Georgian war. country section, a general description of the situation The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche of citizen journalism in that country has been added. It Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the The image of “the other” is often defined through official describes the current status, development potential and Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. representations and media influences. Citizen journalism the difficulties of citizen journalism faces in a country- understood as “public, participatory or street journalism, specific manner. © 2019 Verlag Text & Dialog as an alternative and activist form of news gathering and reporting that functions outside mainstream media In the spirit of the overall project, the present magazine R. & B. Kaufmann GbR institutions, that uses similar journalistic practices but wants help to break down prejudices, insecurity and fears Konkordienstraße 40 | D-01127 Dresden is driven by different objecwtives and ideals and relies of the “other” while awaking curiosity about undiscovered Tel.: (+49)351/3325 4227 | M.: 0174/310 77 23 on alternative sources of legitimacy than traditional or traces of togetherness. Or as one participant put it: the www.text-dialog.de mainstream journalism” (Courtney C. Radsch) can help to others are exactly like us – “Not better, not worse. Just overcome those political and communicative difficulties. different“. It always depends on the perspective. Alle Rechte vorbehalten. All rights reserved. Made in Germany. More However there are still a lot of commonalities stemming This project was realized with the financial support from 2019 TR AC E S from a common past, such as the “The Park of Nations’ the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany, To fInd Friendship” in Ulyanovsk: created in the late 1970s - it for which we would like to express our sincere thanks. ISBN 978-3-943897-44-9 http://ogy.de/traces was inteded to be a symbol of the equal coexistence Matthias Schumann – project manager 5 littlE parts of thE thE smEll of pEtrolEum a russian footprint in aragats: dEstinEd for wholE world – P. 42 azErbaijan – aunt mila grEatnEss – P. 18 – P. 44 – P. 94 TRACES CITIZEN JOURNALISM IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS AND RUSSIA of Togetherness Imprint . 4 Amina . .48 Editorial . .5 The Russian footprint in the South Caucasus . .52 Contents . 6 The influence of the Russian language on the Azerbaijani culture . .56 Introducing “Traces of Togetherness“ . 8 Photos from Ulyanovsk: reminders of Azerbaijan and its culture . .58 Interview with the creators . 10 Citizen journalism in Georgia . .64 Citizen journalism in Armenia . .16 Georgian things . .65 Little parts of the whole world . .18 Dry Bridge – Traces of Russian culture in the older generation . .72 European heritage of Russian Culture . 20 The Traces of Georgian-Russian cultural cooperation . .76 Wherever you go, look back and you will see something that resembles Russian culture . .22 The Iron Commander . 24 Citizen journalism in Russia . .78 Armenian Church in Ulyanovsk . 28 We couldn’t be any fewer . .82 Russian Church in Yerevan . 32 The wealth of the Russian culture as a result of the Caucasian influence . .86 Only mountains can be better than mountains . .88 Citizen journalism in Azerbaijan . .38 Aragats: destined for greatness . .94 The smell of petroleum . .42 Not better, not worse. Just different . .96 A Russian footprint in Azerbaijan – Aunt Mila . .44 About the participants . 98 6 Traces of Togetherness contents award winners of the competition 7 introducing “tracEs of togEthErnEss“ he practical implementation of the project (featuring a Russian film on the South Caucasus) where the “Traces of Togetherness“ was a multi-level proc- films were screened in their respective country sections. Tess, with the symbolic “Peoples Friendship Park” in Ulyanovsk, Russia, at the center. The park was built in The workshop concluded with an exhibition at the Kwar- the 1970s for the centennial of Lenin’s birth (real name: tal Cultural Center in Ulyanovsk, where the participants Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov) and centrally located in the city presented their findings and discussed them with the on both banks of the Volga river. It represents the former population of the city. The curator of the exhibition, Elena 15 Soviet republics, each with their own territory. After Krivosheva, received the completed contributions on the collapse of the Soviet Union, the park was no longer the eve of the preview and created an exciting presenta- maintained and became overgrown. The park represents, tion “overnight”. Due to time constraints, the work of the “When asked what kind of community through its own history, the struggle for cohesion, under- Caucasian participants from the first subproject had not standing and friendship between peoples in the Soviet been submitted yet, so a revised exhibition was opened relations [between Armenians and Azerba- period, as well as the disintegration of this process and in mid-October. the current approaches to its restoration. ijanians] were possible considering the On the day of the opening of the exhibition, there was also As the first