Letter for Peace Agreement Azerbaijan and Armenia

Ms. Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen,
President of the European Commission.

Mr. Ilham Aliyev,
President of Azerbaijan

Mr. Nikol Pashinián,
President of Armenia

Mr. Olaf Scholz,
Chancellor of Germany

Mr. Emmanuel Macron,
President of France

Mr. Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón,
President of Spain

Centro de Información Europe Direct de Granada

Granada, 3d of October 2023

We are writing from Pacifist and Feminist Network of Women in Black against war members of the International Network of Women in Black. As our name indicates, we work on the origins of war, general aspects of war and its consequences.

We are addressing you because of the meeting you will have on 5 October in Granada to search for peace and seek that a peace agreement be signed between Azerbaijan and Armenia for Nagorno Karabakh/ Artsakh and obtain a commitment from both leaders to respect and implement said agreement.

With the declaration of independence of both countries and that of Nagorno Karabakh, with the majority of the Armenian population in Azerbaijan, a new stage was introduced. Until towards the end of the decade of the 80s, Armenians and Azeris lived together in harmony although sometimes with difficulties and there were mixed marriages. The confrontations towards the end of the decade resulted in an open war between 1991 and 1994, with massacres, thousands of dead, ethnic cleansings, hundreds of thousands of refugees, demolishing of villages… After 6 years of war, they agreed on a cease fire, but as of today, they have never ratified a ‘Peace Agreement’.

Since 1994, there have been several attempted confrontations, two other open wars and one siege from December 2022 through this September, which has caused devastating effects on the 120,000 inhabitants of Nagorno Karabakh on the verge of starvation. In June, Azerbaijan prohibited the entrance of International Red Cross vehicles that were carrying medicines with a humanitarian mission.

The various wars and armed confrontations have caused peoples who lived together harmoniously until the 80s to become enemies. Hundreds of thousands of displaced peoples with the goal of revenge, aspire to return and recover their lands.

Now, while we are writing this letter and you are preparing for your meeting in Granada, it is the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh who are fleeing after having lived since antiquity in this area: another ethnic cleansing right before our eyes.

Misters Aliyev and Pashinian, don’t you think that your peoples should cease that spiral of war? Don’t you believe that your people need to live with a perspective of peace? Do you want your people to continue being enemies or that they begin to be able to live as neighbors who respect one another? Could you make an effort to obtain a Peace Agreement?

Mrs. von der Leyen, Misters Aliyev and Pashinian and Misters Macron, Scholz and Sanchez, Women in Black Against War plead with you to negotiate until you obtain a peace that ends the dynamics of war and force and that will benefit both peoples.

President of the European Commission and Presidents of Germany, France and Spain, the actions of your predecessors that have devastated and continue devastating this planet, including those that have taken place on European soil, we can say clear and loud have entrenched the conflicts and are not a model for pacification, rather all to the contrary, a model to avoid. We think that you must learn from the mistakes and strive for policies that lead to peace. It is for this that WE ASK in this letter that in these negotiations:

♀ You always bear in mind the interests and dignity of the civil populations of the area in order to generate trust and promote harmonious living together.

♀ That the European Parliament and the governments of Germany, France and Spain totally prohibit the sale of weapons to any of the contenders and be vigilant so that shipments of weapons are not made through third parties.

♀ That negotiations never be made that favor our interests, as in hydrocarbons, the reconstruction of war disasters by our business enterprises…

♀ Count on the men and women who are activists for peace and human rights and who, since their actions in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia, are the ones who live daily vulnerability and who must cope with living in the pre-war period, the same war and reconstruction of the post-war social fabric. Please pay attention to them. Do not disregard them as was done with the activists who from the disintegration of the USSR warned and requested that the borders of the various republics and territories not be changed. They clearly understood that in the contrary case, the Caucasus would be a pressure cooker. Once again, those who had the capacity to act, did not want to hear Cassandra. You know the effects on the nearby civilian society and all the global citizenry of toleration, accepting, turning a blind eye towards those policies regarding new borders. Neither can you fall into the mistake of applying external and alien prescriptions.

Misters Pashinian and Aliyev, we beg that:

♀ You make an effort to reach a Peace Agreement. It is the best legacy that you can leave to your respective countries and, therefore, to the entire planet.

♀ Respect, act and implement the Peace Agreement that you consign and the institutions and international treaties that can help to create respect between your peoples.

♀ Endeavour to find the means to ensure that the people of Armenia who are now fleeing from Nagorno Karabakh can return without fearing for their lives.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have here manifested our petitions, but we are sure that they represent
a universal feeling.

Sincerely,

Pacifist and Feminist Network of Women in Black Against the War

Translation: Trisha Novak, USA – Yolanda Rouiller, WiB Spain