– What would you say of the meeting that took place in Tbilisi?
– This is not the first meeting of this kind I have taken part in. The most important thing in all these meetings is a human and human relation. When the war started in Georgia in August, I was contacted by an acquaintance of mine from Tbilisi, who I got to know while attending one of the workshops. He informed me about things going on in Georgia. I asked him for help and he gave me a hint of who to contact. Speaking about our present meeting, this is the first time I’ve conversed with Armenian representatives who, in their turn, are easy to talk to and do not suffer from multiple complexes.
– Could you tell us what kind of impressions have the Georgian journalists’ reports made on you?
– I must confess that it was not a complete mystery that Georgian Mass Media was filled with propaganda. And, therefore, I was pleased to see the people that are deprived of hurrah-patriotism and that they do admit their errors in their work.
– In your opinion, do you think that journalists should follow any standards that might help them to cover military actions?
– On being in Tskhinvali, I got convinced that no rules are applied to participants in military actions. The terms, such as “Press and Humanitarian Rights” are of no meaning to a soldier. We were detained for several hours upon entering Gori or Tskhinvali and we had no idea who to turn to. The only thing we wanted was getting to know what was going on. The journalists do not always obey any rules and as an example I can describe you the following case. We were following the escort of Russian forces who were leaving Khashuri for Gori. One of the armor troop-carries had stopped due to some breakage. We approached it and the Russian troops immediately started shouting at us ordering to step back. Among the thirty journalists there were several Georgian ones. They started chanting: “Invaders, Fascists!!! Get out of here!!!” The Russians shot in the air. As a result the other present journalists addressed their Georgian colleagues: “If you are disrupted than take your arms and go and fight”. In other words, if you can’t put up with injustice then go and fight without being reproached at. However, if you consider yourself a professional, equipped with a camera and camcorder and not a gun, then be a professional till the end, especially, if you are a local journalist. It’s understandable with us, foreign journalists, but the locals could be considered as spies and provokers.
– What do you think are there any topics that would be of an interest to readers or TV-viewers throughout South Caucasus?
– I believe that there are many interesting subjects, such as Trans-Caspian projects (Baku Jeikhan oil pipe-line, Baku-Erzurum gas pipe-line, Baku-Kars railway, Batumi highway). International relations are also of great interest. For instance, we are interested in the pagan life of people in Kvemo Kartli as well as life of ethnic Georgians settled in Kakh region of Azerbaijan (Saingilo). Generally speaking, the subject of national minorities represents an actual subject for all. Approximately 150 indigenous nationalities live in Azerbaijan: Avars, Talishians, Lezghins, Turkic peoples, Kurds, Georgians, Udinians and Armenians… Various religious confessions and materials about them are very interesting. In past times, the radical movements such as vakkhabism appeared. Nevertheless, I’d like to point out that vakkhabists in Azerbaijan keep to moderate position and do not approve fanaticism. The usage of water resources is fascinating as well, since the Kura River runs through both Georgia and Azerbaijan. The topic of purity of water is very actual for us since 80% of Baku population is supplied with fresh water, namely, from this river. The subject of power supply is of a great importance for the whole region. The Metsamor nuclear plant still operates in Armenia. And we have to take into consideration its location in the seismic zone. If anything happens, this will become a disaster for South Caucasus. And it is understood that mere elimination of this plant will lead Armenia to power crisis. Therefore, we all need to take a good care of how to provide the region with electricity. The daily interest represents the topic of merchandising as well. To sum up, there are a lot of interesting topics…
– Are there any Armenian goods on sale in Azerbaijan?
– They are not on sale openly but they do exist. You can obtain Armenian cognac and cigarettes in Azerbaijan. Of course, there is no direct cooperation with Armenian suppliers but a lot of things are smuggled through Georgia.
– To what extent is Azeri market stocked with Georgian goods?
– The situation has changed after the Georgian-Russian conflict. There are now much more Georgian goods in Baku, which include dairy, soft drinks, beer and etc. Although the quality of Georgian goods is less competitive, we now prefer buying them particularly.
– How appropriate would be Russian language as lingua franca in Azerbaijan in case there is Trans-Caucasian Mass Media?
– Quite appropriate. The majority of the population speaks and is able to read Russian.
– Is there a difficulty in fluency of Azeri language?
– No, in the past ten years, this is not a problem. While government of the President Elchibei and at the times of patriotism the issue of everyone being fluent in Azeri language was on. However, in the course of time, the situation has been eased. The knowledge of the language was obligatory only for employees of state organizations and institutions. Nevertheless, this problem was solved by itself: almost all population speaks the Azerbaijani language, though they do not forget Russian as well. So, we do not have to find any language as a means of communication with the neighbors.
Beslan Kmuzov for newscaucasus.com
Round table “Coverage of the Georgian-Russian War in August, 2008 in Mass Media of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia” organized by the fund of Konrad Adenauer and the editorial board of the newcaucasus.com together with NGO “Caucasian House”
