Since the ceasefire in 1994 Azerbaijan and Armenia have remained in deadlock over Nagorny Karabakh in the South Caucasus. An internationally sponsored peace process based on closed talks between the leaders has yielded several proposals but no agreement.
Accord 17 highlights the obstacles to a sustainable agreement and explores the challenge of bridging the gap between potential for settlement at the negotiating table and popular resistance to the compromises that this entails. It contains sections on:
- The background to the conflict
- Perspectives on the peace process from all sides
- Accounts of the official peace process
- Civil society and the peace process
- Post-war dynamics and societal transformations
With distrust in the process so widespread, we ask whether a more inclusive and multi-faceted approach could better address the dynamics of polarisation and provide greater chances of reaching a solution acceptable to all.
Available in Russian and in Azerbaijani and Armenian, with a new preface, also in English, by the Swiss Foreign Minister, Micheline Calmy-Rey. A policy brief is also available in English and Russian.
This issue of Accord was edited by Laurence Broers.
The defining feature of this review in my opinion is the plurality of views that it presents on the Nagorny Karabakh conflict and the constructive nature of the proposals to help resolve this issue. This combination contributes to the publication's openness and will, I hope, lead to a fruitful and reasoned debate among Armenians and Azerbaijanis which will in the long run facilitate a more constructive dialogue between the different parties to the conflict.
Micheline Calmy-Rey, Swiss Foreign Minister
