Majority of Azerbaijanis advocate peace with Armenia Foreign experts on survey results

The Azerbaijan Social Research Centre has conducted a new poll among the population to study public opinion on the prospects for peace between Baku and Yerevan.

According to the results of the public opinion survey, 78.5 per cent of respondents in Azerbaijan support the signing of a peace treaty with Armenia, 20.2 per cent do not support a peace treaty, and 1.3 per cent found it difficult to answer. 74.1 per cent of those with secondary education and 86.9 per cent of those with higher education expressed support for the signing of a peace treaty.

Among the respondents, 42.8 per cent of men and 31.6 per cent of women said they fully believe that a peace agreement will be signed soon, of which 27.3 per cent and 32.1 per cent said they mostly believe.

The survey was conducted between November 25 and 28, 2023 among 390 respondents over the age of 18. It covered 12 economic regions, excluding Nakhchivan and East Zangezur.

So, the results show that almost 80 per cent of Azerbaijanis are in favour of peaceful relations with Armenia. It would be interesting, of course, to know how ordinary residents of Armenia would answer the same questions. But what does such an interesting result in Azerbaijan testify to? Does it mean that the majority of the population of our country is no longer against the restoration of full-fledged relations - economic and political - with neighbouring Armenia?

Foreign experts shared their views on this issue with Caliber.Az.

Any wars are tiring, said the head of the Ukrainian Politics Foundation, analyst and historian Konstantin Bondarenko.

"As soon as a previously stated result appears in a war, society is ready to put a stop to it. I was told by veterans of the Great Patriotic War: while the war was going on - there was nationwide hatred towards Germans. As soon as the war ended - these sentiments disappeared, captured Germans who worked on construction sites were even pitied, and a few years later the attitude towards Germans became positive," he said.

According to the historian, Azerbaijani society feels victorious. And the negativity towards Armenia is gradually going away.

"It is turning simply into a neighbouring state, with which one has to live and build relations. But I don't think the same figures can be obtained by conducting a poll in Armenia. There, the themes of satisfaction, revenge are popular in society there (although there is an understanding that after the departure of the Armenian population from Karabakh, this is hardly possible). That is why sociological surveys are unlikely to show the same results as in Azerbaijan. But the question of restoring diplomatic relations is not a question of public desire or unwillingness. It is a political issue and depends on the will of the leaders," Bondarenko believes.

American analyst and publicist Samson Katzman noted in his turn that he had lived neither in Azerbaijan nor in Armenia, and his view is a view from an American faraway place.

"I will tell you about my not-so-old acquaintances. For obvious reasons, I will not mention names. There is little chance that any of my heroes might get a blow from their own tribesmen after my stories. A married couple, he is Azerbaijani, she is Armenian. Both are from Baku. Huge, never-cooling love for each other, although they have been together for more than twenty years. He is a historian, but in the US he became a truck driver - he has to feed his family. Two wonderful beautiful daughters. They are a great joy and the main meaning of their parents' life.

Another, very recent meeting and acquaintance. An Armenian, a successful programmer from Silicon Valley, originally from Baku. He left Baku with his family in January 1990. "I," my interlocutor tells me, "was helped by my Azerbaijani friend. The Azerbaijani friend also left Baku. He ended up in Ukraine. The two Baku residents are separated by decades and thousands of miles of distance. "But who is he to me?" - asks my Californian acquaintance. He himself answers: "My friend and brother!" When a friend in Ukraine had health problems (limbs) and couldn't work, the Californian from Baku supported him, sent him money until his friend - literally - got back on his feet," says Katzman.

There are probably other, not-so-rosy examples, he admits.

"I don't want to write about them. I believe that if positivity and a good attitude can be present between people, it is possible between countries. What is important is what is put into people's heads, primarily children.....

Nikki Haley, one of the Republican candidates in the presidential race, spoke about her visit to Gaza even before today's tragic events. In addition to anti-Semitic, Nazi graffiti on the walls, the American UN envoy was struck by an arithmetic problem from a junior high school textbook: "There are five Jews in front of you. You shoot three of them. How many Jews do you have left to kill so that there are five Jewish corpses in front of you?" With such "arithmetic," with such brainwashing of young children, will there ever be peace in the long-suffering region of the Middle East? The hatred put into children's heads will rise into the hatred of a generation, the hatred of a generation will explode into war in the future. What is the point of this? The point is that the overall atmosphere created in society, in people's heads, is critical. The role of the journalistic community, the role of the mass media is crucial," says the analyst.

He believes that now the peace treaty, peace in the South Caucasus has a chance.

"It seems that now - and this can only be welcomed - there is a direct dialogue between the leadership of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Mediators are important. But not always their mediation and the motives they are guided by are dictated by the pressing interests of the South Caucasus countries. Maybe now is the time for publications in the media resources of both countries, which would create the right information background for moving towards peace? Dozens, hundreds, thousands of steps towards each other ... Yes, not quickly, cautiously, but according to the ancient proverb "a drop sharpens a stone".  In the process of dialogue, in the process of building bridges of understanding and the desire to hear each other, you can come to many things. It is possible that at some point it will be possible to raise issues that are sensitive to both sides.

The unblocking of transport corridors, joint economic projects, the free movement of people, the release and exchange of all prisoners, and the neutralisation of minefields. There are prerequisites for the fertile region of the South Caucasus to blossom. Give peace a chance!" Katzman urges.