A creative competition was held in Mkhitar Sebastatsi educational complex in Yerevan city, from December 10th to December 20th of the year 2007. The jury selected and awarded prizes. Meetings and discussions, the screening of a documentary film, lessons on human rights protection were held. All these events were entitled “Days of Azerbaijan”.
Why?
The reason is that the creative competition was announced on the subjects: Azerbaijan in my imagination, a Letter to my contemporary from Azerbaijan, Armenia – Azerbaijan: what is our future to be like? Azerbaijan (free subject). The reason is that the school was attended by the guests from Baku, Mingechaura, Gyandji and Kazakh from December 16th to 20th. The guests assisted in the operations of the jury and awarded prizes to the winners. They also participated in the meetings and discussions with teachers, conducted lessons in the school of human rights activists and for school journalists and watched and discussed the film “Open up borders!”.
Why?
The reasons is that a non-governmental organization named “Caucasus Center
of Peace-making Initiatives” is operating in Armenia,
- which has been exerting its efforts to establish a civil dialogue between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which has big experience in collaborating with many secondary educational institutions in Armenia, which brought to life many projects concerning the human right protection in school and informative and educational programs for senior schoolchildren.
- which, within the frameworks of “Peace-Making Team” held in 10 regions of Armenia during the public meetings and discussions on the past, present and future of Armenian-Azerbaijanian relations, has a chance of discussing the problems related to education and upbringing as to the overcoming of the consequences of the war and participation of the youth in peace-making activities with teachers, senior pupils, students of all the regions of Armenia,
- which having generalized all the existing problems, potential possibilities and the necessity, has worked out and is presently accomplishing a long-dated program entitled “A step to a dialogue: Azerbaijan-Armenia-Turkey”.
- which having generalized all the existing problems, potential possibilities and the necessity, has worked out and is presently accomplishing a long-dated program entitled “A school of human rights activists”,
- which has found a partner and a consumer of the program “A school of human rights defenders” – “Mkhitar Sebastatsi” educational complex,
- which proposed the teachers and the management of “Mkhitar Sebastatsi” Educational Complex that “Days of Azerbaijan” be held at school.
Why?
The reason is that peacemaking activities, the participation in a civil dialogue is a part of a human rights education and upbringing.
The goal of holding Days of Azerbaijan was to attract the attention of Armenian pupils to the problems existing between our peoples and enable them to socialize with interesting people from Azerbaijan, offer them an opportunity to take lessons from professional lawyers and human rights activists and professional journalists from Azerbaijan, and allow them to put forward their ideas and make participants of the dialogue.
During the Days of Azerbaijan a writer and publicist Seymur Baijan was a guest of journalists’ school. During the Days of Azerbaijan, the first training course of the school of human rights defenders was launched which had been worked out on basis of the lectures by Marek Novitski. The part of the course was held by the human rights activists and lawyers from Azerbaijan Djiansha Omarov and Sahib Babaev. A partner of the Caucasus Center
of Peace-Making Initiatives, a chairman of “Consensus” non-governmental organization Afet Sariev began teaching the course of logic at the School of Human Rights Activists. Presently, he is continuing this course with pupils by correspondence, via the Internet.
The guests from Azerbaijan familiarized themselves with 37 written works of the pupils, teachers and students of pedagogic college. The works had been written before they arrived in Yerevan. The compositions, which had been selected by the Azerbaijan jury, are presently published in the website. You can also find one work selected by the Caucasus Center of Peace - making Initiatives and one work selected by the sponsor of the project, the Embassy of Great Britain in Armenia.
The television and the press took an active participation in the discussion of our project, and this event was commented by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Minister of Education of Armenia and the Minister on Youth Affairs of Azerbaijan, the representative of European Union in the South Caucasus and the US ambassador in Azerbaijan, dozens of deputies of the parliament of both sides, political scientists and public figures. But the discussion at best was held about the project, but basically it went round it. Why?
A short subquestion had emerged before the press learnt about it: The subjects of the creative competition which were thoroughly thought over by the organizers-peacemakers and approved by the school management and frequently occurred, are mysteriously forgotten and the jury as a result received a series of compositions on the subject: “Azerbaijan: Enemy of Friend?”. There was another variant, too, entitled: “Azerbaijan: enemy or friend?” Why really?
continuation
A LETTER ADDRESSED TO THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE TEACHERS IN AZERBAIJAN
