Six months since the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan signed the Washington Declaration with President Donald Trump, the two South Caucasian countries have continued to take incremental steps towards a normalization of their relations. Beneath elite accord, however, the legacies of more than 30 years of conflict have left societies fragmented, far apart from each other and uncertain with regard to the prospect of peace. How societies are to participate in the normalization of ties between Armenia and Azerbaijan remains a critical question. Without work to support new kinds of coexistence and confidence between communities, connectivity will remain top-down, fragile and vulnerable to external developments. Complicating these issues is the silencing of independent voices at a time when transformative discussions of identity, trauma and memory are needed to provide a terrain hospitable to sustainable peace. This roundtable discussion will address the problems of participation and sustainability, with a specific focus on the roles of scholars in contributing to a post-conflict paradigm of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. The roles played by scholars, and the academic freedom they rely on, have become a focal point in global discussions of peace. In the Armenian-Azerbaijani context, the arrest of young Azerbaijani scholar Bahruz Samadov on account of his contacts with Armenian peers is a case in point.

Time: 18:30 

Location: Room Janne, Bâtiment de Sociologie, 15 floor, Campus Solbosch, Avenue Jeanne 44, 1050 Brussels

The discussion will be followed by a reception. All welcome. Please register here