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BRIEF HISTORY OF hCa:
1992
The national committees of hCa were established. The hCa initiated negotiations for peace building. Peace activities were not viewed favorably by the political elite which had come into power on the wave of conflict. Leaders and activists of the hCa were exposed to persecutions, threats, arrests, and destruction of reputation.
The Azeri, Armenian, and Kharabakhian committees met at the front line in Fizuli and exchanged two prisoners of war. Advisor to the Minister of Defense (1992-93), Leyla Yunusova, ordered troops to arrest the hCa representatives, including Arzu Abdullayeva (hCa Azerbaijan) and Peter Jarman (hCa of UK, chair of Quakers of UK). In general there are many paradoxes in life of activists of social movement in post soviet countries.
1993
Anahit Bayandur and Arzu Abdullayeva were awarded the Olaf Palme Peace Prize. Further citizens' diplomacy by Arzu Abdulayeva (Baku), Anahit Bayandur (Yerevan) and Karen Oganyanjan (Stepanakert) resulted in the release of Babek the 'youngest prisoner' of the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict. After an appeal by Arzu Abdullayeva, transmitted by Anahit Bayandur and Karen Oganyanjan, hCa succeeds in obtaining the release of Babek Ijyasov from a detention center in Stepanakert. Both Ms. Abdullayeva and Mr. Oganyanjan take risks for transmitting the boy across the military front line. Also OSCE diplomats (Minsk Conference) and ICRC field officers have reason to welcome Babek. The one-sided release marks a sign of trust and compassion in a deadly spiral of war crime and revenge, including indiscriminate hostage taking of children, women, the elderly, mentally and physically disabled.
1994
Two meetings of Armenian and Azerbaijanian youth and women were held on the Azerbaijan-Armenia boundary in Kazakh-Ijevan in June and August. Arzu Abdullayeva , Natalia Martirosyan -co-chair of hCa Armenia and Karen Oganjanian opened and promoted dialogue amongst the young from both sides. One Armenian officer and four Azerbaijanian civilians: mother and three children, were released during the meeting. The area was named the “Peace Corridor” by the hCa activists.
Arzu Abdullayeva appealed to the new Azerbaijan President Heydar Aliyev to release Armenian hostages and prisoners of war as the act of good will. 42 Armenians were released.
With the assistance of Karen Oganjanian and Anahit Bayandur 26 children and 38 women were released from capture in Stepanakert.
The meeting of Armenian and Azeri communities of Karabakh was held in Stepanakert in October. One hostage with mental disorder was released during the meeting. But prisoner of war Heydar Heydarov was not released and died in prison in Stepanakert (under the suspicion of medical foul play).
1995
As a result of an informal meeting with hCa activists, politicians, researchers, and members of the Minsk Group, a Nagorno-Karabagh Conference in Bonn is organized by a member of Bundestag. The expert on South Caucasus region Dietrich Sperling, issues an Appeal 'Liberation of War Victims' for release of all hostages and POW's in the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict. With support of the full Bundestag, its Chair Rita Zissmuth sends the Appeal to the Parliaments in Baku and Yerevan, and the corresponding body in Stepanakert.
Swedish deputies together with Co-chair of Social-Democratic Party of Azerbaijan, hCa member Zardusht Alizadeh and Arzu Abdullayeva visited Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh to discuss with politicians the current political situation and conflict solutions perspectives. The Aland model was proposed for discussion.
92 Azerbaijanian prisoners of war were visited in jail and in Hospital of Nagorno Karabakh, they were interviewed on their conditions and torture. The delegation applied to the local authority for releasing all prisoners of war and hostages. Karen Ohanjanyan demanded the authorities and lobbied the international community to pressure the Armenians to punish several Armenian jail guards who tortured several Azeri prisoners. However, his insistence for justice only resulted in 15 days of punishment for the guards.
The hCa Commission Against Tortures was established after the fact that many OPON (special police troop) members were tortured after being detained and accused of attempting a coup d’etat in 1996.
The international political action reinforces the effectiveness of combined efforts of OSCE, ICRC, hCa activists and 'Mothers.'
92 POW and 9 hostages were released.
1997
After an exchange of letters through hCa Committees, Azerbaijani and Armenian 'Mothers' announce their willingness to cross the border and military confrontation line of Nagorno-Karabagh, for mutual visits to graveyards, ceremonies of commemoration, and joint 'Trust groups' for tracing missing persons and reburials of the death. OSCE observers warn that in view of ongoing shooting incidents and mining of the roads, such visits would put the seriously endanger the lives of the 'Mothers'. Although the 'Mothers' are ready to take any risk, the action is postponed.
1998
The meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijanian intelligence representatives in Tbilisi was held with the assistance of the U.S. Embassy public affairs officer Craig Dicker and the Global Community.
Arzu Abdullayeva was accorded recognition by the USA and EU Award For Efforts to the Construction of Democracy, signed by Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, and Jack Saunter.
1999
One Azerbaijani mother and many 'Mothers' expect the release of Agil Akhmedov, a disabled and wounded war prisoner, kept in Nagorno-Karabagh. This is the result of an appeal made by Arzu Abdulayeva, through Karen Oganjanian, Mient Jan Faber (Netherlands hCa, IKV), Mary Kaldor (UK hCa, professor at London School of Economics). On 5th February, during an international hCa Mission, the Stepanakert authorities promised to set him free on urgent humanitarian grounds. On 10th March Agil Akhmedov was released. At this point, many 'Mothers' appeal to the hCa Committees to help them to connect across the borders. In informal “Trust Groups,” they fight for the truth and for the memory of their dear ones. The hCA Committees support 'Mothers' in the conflict zones of Nagorno-Karabagh and Abkhazia, as well as build up contacts in Chechnya and elsewhere.
2000
The 5th General Assembly of HCA was held in Baku. The goals of the Assembly were to promote stability and peace in the region, to strengthen cooperation between civic groups attending the meeting, to support current civic networks and to develop new ones, and to enable people to share information and opinions about their situations.
The work of the Assembly was divided into five themes:
- Dialogue of cultures and civilizations,
- Civic security,
- Local community development,
- Regional integration and youth action across borders,
- Human Rights.
The Assembly was attended by 700 civic activists from the Caucasus, Middle East, Europe, North America and the rest of the world. Representatives of governmental institutions, international organizations, foundations and media participated.
The South Caucasus Center of Peace Culture was founded at the 5th General Assembly of hCa. The highlight of the Assembly included the decision to hold a regional steering meeting in Baku as well as a meeting in Tbilisi on the theme “South Caucasus: from Dialog to Strategic Alliance.” The perspectives of the future cooperation between all parties of South Caucasus were discussed.
The hCa analytical group of Peace Culture Center works on preventing measures against the conflicts, conflict transformation and resolution. The members of the Center took an active role and influenced the discussion and preparation of the famous Platform of the settlement of the Karabakh problem. By their recommendation, the document included a guarantee for the security of civilians (from both sides) during the humanitarian action for the repatriation of IDP’s.
The Center is working on conception for peace solution of the conflict, based on the idea of intensive working on the public opinion level to prevent the cultivation of conflict implements, to use the peace potential as “détente from bellow” which was not used enough instead of small groups of the enthusiasts of hCa, Peace Center and Global Community.
At the beginning of March, the Tbilisi hCa organized a meeting for the relatives of missing people from the Karabakh war.
The hCa Peace Prize was awarded to the organization of the journalists –veterans of the Karabakh war as a grant for the meeting in Georgia with the journalists from Nagorno Karabakh according of the decision of the 5th General Assembly to establish an Association of the journalists-peacemakers.
2001
A three-day meeting of the relatives of missing persons from Armenia, Azerbaijan including Nagorny Karabakh conflict zone was held in Tbilisi. As the result, the participants exchanged information and prepared the lists of missing persons from both sides. Appeals to the leaders of conflict parties were also written.
A forum of refugees and IDP's was held in Tbilisi to share mutual problems and the plans for future possible coexistence.
2002
An international conference: “Dialogue of Civilizations and Cultures: Baku – The Bridge between the East and the West” was held in May 2002, in Baku. The goal of the Conference was to consider the possible ways of preventing the clash of civilizations. Based on the Peace Model, a strategy for peace activists and other goodwill peoples, to attract all the public strata of societies (necessarily attracting women, youth, ethnic and religious minorities and so on) to the elimination process of phobia between the cultures was worked out. Here the ad hoc role does belong to the journalists initiating for the peace journalism trends.
Conference participants included: Dr Mary Kaldor, Professor at London School of Economics (UK), Dr Dmitri Furman, Director of the Sakharov Fund (Russia), Dr Mohajerani, Director of the Centre of the Dialogue of Civilization, Dr Murad Belge, well-known public figure, writer (Turkey), Mr Mient Jan Faber, Director of the Inter-Church Peace Council, (the Netherlands), Dr Walid Salem, Professor of the Palestine University, Mr Bernard Dreano, Co-Chair of hCa International (France).
Regional hCa book The War by Women’s Eyes was published. The book The Variants of the Resolution of Karabakh conflict - Ideas and Reality was published. Authors of this book are from Azerbaijan, Professor Ali Abbasov and from Armenian Harutyun Khachaturyan .
2003
The COORDINATING ADVISORY COUNCIL (CAC)of NGOes, Political and International organisations for "Free and Fair Elections" was initiated by ANC hCa in Baku and implemented with 32 nongovernmental, 9 political and 6 international organisations. The CAC aimed to study mechanisms of conducting just and transparent elections and fair calculation of voting results as well as document violations of legislation, rights of the electorate and candidates during the election process.
After the presidential elections, violence broke out amongst protestors disputing election results and the police. As a result of the violence and post-election problems, 624 people were arrested and detained without basis. The hCa worked extensively to lobby international organizations and national authorities to release the political prisoners. Most detainees were brutally tortured in pre-trial police detention centers. The hCa met with the General Prosecutor and with the Minister of the Interior, showed them materials concerning the post-election protests and lobbied for the prisoners’ release and the stop to torture. The same day, 111 detainees were released and most tortures stopped.
2004
The third Baku Conference on the dialogue between cultures was held.
The hCa continues to monitor the situation of the remaining political prisoners detained as a result of the post-election protests in 2003. It continues to lobby on an international and national level for the release of the political prisoners and end to torture in pre-trial detention facilities. It also continues to monitor the situation in detention facilities and provides information on continuing torture to the international community and Azerbaijani authorities to educate others on the existence of torture and to find means to prevent and stop torture.
Program on missing persons’ relatives, former prisoners of war and hostages in cooperation with IKV (Interchurch Peace Council)
Transborder cooperation in the region of Red Bridge between with financial support of IKV (Interchurch Peace Council)
31 august Commemoration Day of missing person was held and established.
CAC continues coordinating organizations (35 associated members) for free and fair municipal elections in Azerbaijan (17 November).
2005
MECA on Dialogue of cultures conference was held by assistance of His excellency Prince Hasan of Jordan in March in Amman.
Participation in observing General election in the UK at Cambridge constituency on May 5, 2005.
Monitoring of parliamentary elections in November 6, 2005.
2006
MECA meeting in Amman March 2006
Monitoring of rerun parliamentary elections on May 13, 2006
Conference of Citizens of the South Caucasus June 2006
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