Could you live in peace again with the Armenians? Video survey in an Azerbaijani village

Will Azerbaijanis and Armenians be able to live in peace?

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan because of Nagorny Karabakh has already lasted for 30 years. Every day there is shooting on the line of contact. People from both sides die and are injured. The longer the conflict continues and the negotiation process stalls, the more grievances and sorrows accumulate for ordinary people, whose lives have been changed by the conflict, and the harder it is for them to imagine peace.

The shell-damaged walls tell you that the residents of the frontline village of Gapanli have been living in a war throughout these years. In response to the question of how they imagine peace, people speak of distrust of their Armenian neighbours and an unwillingness to compromise.

Nevertheless, all those asked agreed on one thing, that the conflict must be solved for the sake of future generations.

Unheard Voices is part of International Alert’s work on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It is the result of work produced with journalists from societies affected by the conflict and their collaborative efforts to highlight its effects on the daily lives of people living in the conditions of ‘no war, no peace’. The purpose is to ensure their voices are heard both at home, in their own societies and on the other side of the conflict divide, allowing readers to see the real faces hidden behind the images of ‘the enemy’.

This project is funded by the European Union as part of the European Partnership for the Peaceful Settlement of the Conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh (EPNK).

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