Slides to accompany my first of two presentations at the 2nd Annual Local Roots of Global Peace Conference held in Yerevan, Armenia, 23-24 June 2017.

1. NARRATIVES OF
COEXISTENCE IN THE
KARABAKH CONFLICT
ONNIK JAMES KRIKORIAN
http://www.onnik-krikorian.com
http://www.twitter.com/onewmphoto

2. AZERBAIJANI POW AND CIVILIAN HOSTAGES,
STEPANAKERT, NAGORNO KARABAKH
© ONNIK JAMES KRIKORIAN 1994

3. NAGORNO KARABAKH
[A] negative context [is set] in the public consciousness, which
hinders dialogue and mutual understanding [...] Without more
accurate and unbiased information [...] free of negative rhetoric
and stereotypes, Armenians and Azerbaijanis will continue to see
themselves as enemies without any common ground.
ARMENIAN AND AZERBAIJANI INTERNATIONAL NEWS COVERAGE,
CAUCASUS RESEARCH RESOURCE CENTERS (CRRC)
http://epfound.am/files/mb_fg_report_finalized_edited_12.27.2008.doc

4. NAGORNO KARABAKH

5. NAGORNO KARABAKH

6. NAGORNO KARABAKH
[…] people are often inclined to consider their existing
attitudes and beliefs to be true and filter the news through this lens.
Thus, they accept messages in order to maintain their original
perceptions. […] bias in the local media [...] serves as a means to fuel
and perpetuate hatred.This is a role the media has and continues
to play with regards to the conflict over Nagorno Karabakh.
ARMENIAN AND AZERBAIJANI INTERNATIONAL NEWS COVERAGE,
CAUCASUS RESEARCH RESOURCE CENTERS (CRRC)
http://epfound.am/files/mb_fg_report_finalized_edited_12.27.2008.doc

7. ALTERNATIVE NARRATIVES
HTTP://WWW.CONFLICT-VOICES.NET

8. ALTERNATIVE NARRATIVES

9. RE-ARMING THE CAUCASUS, AL JAZEERA ENGLISH (EXCERPT)
HTTPS://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/CONFLICTVOICES/VIDEOS/1158455140926057/

10. Freud once argued that the smaller the difference
between two peoples the larger it was bound to loom in
their imagination. He called this effect the narcissism of
minor difference. Its corollary must be that enemies need
each other to remind themselves of who they really are. A
Croat, thus, is someone who is not a Serb. A Serb is someone
who is not a Croat. Without hatred of the other, there would
be no clearly de-fined national self to worship and adore.21
MICHAEL IGNATIEFF, BLOOD AND BELONGING
ALTERNATIVE NARRATIVES

11. “You cannot separate a nail from your finger without
bleeding and causing yourself pain. We cannot do without the
other. This is how we were and how we will always be. Why
should we be enemies at the whim of some politician?”
NAZKHANIM, KOJORNI, GEORGIA
ALTERNATIVE NARRATIVES

12. TSOPI, GEORGIA © ONNIK JAMES KRIKORIAN

13. TSOPI, GEORGIA © ONNIK JAMES KRIKORIAN

14. TSOPI, GEORGIA © ONNIK JAMES KRIKORIAN

15. TSOPI, GEORGIA © ONNIK JAMES KRIKORIAN

16. TSOPI, GEORGIA © ONNIK JAMES KRIKORIAN

17. TSOPI, GEORGIA © ONNIK JAMES KRIKORIAN

18. TSOPI, GEORGIA © ONNIK JAMES KRIKORIAN

19. We hear far too little of what I call this “third narrative”
of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, a narrative of peace. It
spins the idea that the two people are capable of getting
along fine, have lived together in the past and, if
politicians are able to overcome differences […], can live
together in the future. International mediators are too
times to speak this narrative or feel that is not their business.
The media in both countries suppresses it.
CAUCASUS CONFLICT VOICES, MAY 2011
THOMAS DE WAAL, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE
HTTP://PEACE.ONEWORLD.AM/CONFLICT_VOICES_MAY_2011.HTML
ALTERNATIVE NARRATIVES

20. “We call on Georgian population and par ticularly our
Armenian and Azerbaijani compatriots, to keep calm and
abstain from actions and propagation, which can damage
centuries-old tradition of peaceful co-existence of these
two ethnic groups on Georgian territory. Georgia was always
dignified with multi-cultural treasures and neighborly
relations and the duty of all Georgian citizens is to facilitate
to maintenance of these traditions”.
RUSLAN POGOSYAN AND ALI MAMEDOV, APRIL 2016
ALTERNATIVE NARRATIVES

21. RESOURCES
WEB
http://www.onnik-krikorian.com
http://www.conflict-voices.net
FACEBOOK
http://www.facebook.com/onewmphoto
http://www.facebook.com/conflictvoices
TWITTER
http://www.twitter.com/onewmphoto
http://www.twitter.com/caucasusproject