US pundit calls extension of interreligious peacebuilding efforts in Karabakh "essential" Caliber.Az interview with Prof. Mohammed Abu-Nimer

The Karabakh conflict is almost over and today, the task of both Azerbaijan and Armenia is to learn to live in peace again, to overcome the grievances of the past for the sake of a peaceful future for our children and to arrange the life of the region in such a way that it is a model of peaceful coexistence and economic prosperity. The consideration of the conflict as resolved without a total victory is extremely important to reach a peace treaty as it leaves room for reconciliation between the governments and the people of the two countries.

Azerbaijan has launched a massive reconstruction campaign in the liberated territories after the Second Karabakh War in 2020, which includes multiple directions from infrastructure projects to resettlement. The representatives of the Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities have also frequently called on the Armenian residents of the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan for peaceful coexistence in the Azerbaijani state, where tolerance, traditions of multiculturalism, and coexistence are an integral part of life.

Professor Mohammed Abu-Nimer from the American University in Washington, who conducts interreligious conflict resolution training and interfaith dialogue workshops in conflict areas around the world, and has been both author and an editor of more than 13 books on faith-based and interfaith peacebuilding shared his experience in this area.

- Are there any standard (mandatory) stages in world practice that the conflicting parties must go through after signing a peace treaty? If yes, what are these steps?

- There is no universal mandatory recipe for conflict resolution, but I would outline several important steps to be implemented in this way. If signed, the peace plan should be implemented at a pretty high tempo. There are many examples of too-slow implementation of peace plans – Israel/Palestine, South Africa, Northern Ireland, and some others. Two – the conflicting sides should change rhetoric in communicating with each other, changing the perception of the opposite side and switching from hate speech and enemy image to more positive imaging starting from all levels – schools, media, etc. Three – any peacekeeping forces between two conflicting sides should stand firm in performing their duties and they should be able to convince both sides that there is no threat to their lives from the opposite side. Four – in places where it is planned that two communities will live in close vicinity or in the same area, it is important to re-establish regular contacts both on formal and informal levels so people can communicate, share common values and gradually re-establish normal relationships as it was before the conflict period. It is especially important for the Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict where millions of Azeri citizens became refugees and fled the areas where they lived for hundred years. Five - last but not least, the economic development of the affected regions. As we know during the conflicts all major infrastructure facilities are being destructed – roads, buildings, bridges. All civil services were disrupted – health system, education, social security, civil security, and more. So, one of the important factors of successful peace plan implementation is the economic recovery of the conflict region.

- What is civil society's role in the parties' reconciliation process? Can you give examples of civil society involvement from countries that were recent adversaries in a military conflict?

- The role of civil society is important and we know from South Africa, Bosnia, and Northern Ireland – the more we involve civil society in implementing, monitoring, and enhancing the peace plan – the more successfully it will work. Cross-community interaction wise, monitoring of hate speech, and peace violations – these types of activities are enhancing peace plan implementation. As a recent example, we can take Israel’s civil society, which by its activity is successfully preventing Israel from legal reforms proposed by the right-wing government. We also have seen in the past decade other examples of active people movements and protest for political change in many conflict area such as Tunisia, Lebanon, Egypt, South Africa, France and other European counties, and the USA with the successful impact of "Black lives matter" etc

- How important is a religious factor in conflict resolution in our case, because Azerbaijan is a Muslim country and Armenia is Christian? How big is this element for instance in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict?

- In the case of the Palestine-Israel conflict, although it looks like a religious factor plays an important role, in fact, this element is overrated and this conflict is mostly about the self-determination of both Palestinian and Israeli people. Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict wise I can tell that the religious factor is pretty important.  Because Christianity in Armenia and Islam in Azerbaijan has very deep roots and religious leaders are highly influential persons. These leaders can successfully perform a big part of civil society function in the process of peace plan monitoring, hate speech, and violence prevention. In 2022 I visited Azerbaijan and was impressed by the hospitality, generosity, and openness of your mufti. He appeared to be one of the key figures in the establishment of interfaith dialogue, in support of tolerance and religious diversity in the country. He travelled intensively around Europe and he has been in the US promoting these values, therefore, I believe that religious leaders’ role in the establishment of long-lasting peace is very important. It is essential that these interfaith and interreligious peacebuilding efforts be extended to actively engage with Armenian religious leaders and their followers in Armenia and outside too.

Imam Sheikh Mohammad Ismail, Shimon Cohen, Prof. Muhammad Abu-Nimer at an interfaith summit in Italy

- Is it possible to sign long-term peace treaties without completing the delimitation and demarcation of borders? If yes, please provide examples from world practice

- I don’t think that any peace plan can be called sustainable without this element. Without it, the peace plan can be called intermediate or temporary. I can bring the negative example of the peace plan, which failed exactly because of unsolved border and status issues. I am talking about Oslo Accord in 1993. It was a quite brave attempt to start Palestinian-Israeli dialogue, which failed due to unsolved several issues, including illegal Israeli settlements and the status of Jerusalem.

- What are the most significant factors influencing the acceleration of the resolution of armed conflicts - economic, political, or others?

- There are three main factors that can significantly influence conflict resolution on the world scale. First of all, both conflicting sides should have leaders, who can convince their own people, that confrontation hardly leads to prosperity and it is much more profitable to trade and cooperate with neighbours rather than fight. Secondly, both sides should have a developed and active civil society that can raise their voice and able to input their effort in the peace-making process. Thirdly big powers who normally informally influence conflicting sides should support the peace process as happened in Northern Ireland where the UK and the Republic of Ireland decided that enough is enough.