What we do in the South Caucasus
Four generations of Georgian IDPs © Dato Meskhi
Conciliation Resources (CR) has been working in the South Caucasus since the mid-1990s. We focus on two conflict areas: the Georgian/Abkhaz conflict and the Karabakh conflict.
At the heart of both conflicts is a contest between territorial integrity and self-determination. In both cases the peace process has swung between dialogue and deadlock, with periods of heightened tension and the ever-present risk of renewed violence.
Our aim is to improve the prospects for peace by connecting people across the conflict divides, challenging prejudices, influencing peace-making strategies, and working to tackle the root causes of the two conflicts.
We do this by working on projects and initiatives involving a broad spectrum of people from local and international politicians and government officials to civil society activists, young people and displaced communities.
Our work in the South Caucasus divides into three main areas:
Dialogue and civic activism: we have a long track record in creating opportunities for dialogue and activism both within societies and across the conflict divides. Current projects include supporting a network of internally displaced people in Georgia; and organizing meetings between Georgian and Abkhaz young adults through our Youth Dialogue Project. Georgian and Abkhaz partners are also involved in a series of activities as part of CR’s project to ‘Increase public participation in policy-making’ leading to greater accountability in conflict-affected regions.
On the Karabakh conflict, our Dialogue Through Film project has helped young Azerbaijanis and Karabakh Armenians to work together to make short documentaries.
Policy: we aim to encourage debate and strategic thinking both locally and internationally about the Georgian/Abkhaz and Karabakh peace processes. In addition to organizing regular briefings and consultations with international policy-makers, we also work with politicians, analysts and academics in the South Caucasus.
The Karabakh Trap is a paper published in 2009 aimed at policy makers and diplomats, setting out the case for greater international engagement on the conflict. Following this the Karabakh 2014 initiative brought together Azerbaijani and Armenian analysts to explore scenarios for the future peaceful resolution of the conflict. Our current Karabakh Contact Group project focuses on core issues in the Karabakh peace process, drawing on comparative international experience.
Our long running Schlaining Process offered Georgian and Abkhaz politicians and activists a unique opportunity to meet and talk informally away from the official peace process. More recently, a Parallel Policy Research project has lead to some innovative reflection by Abkhaz and Georgian authors on the conflict, and potential for change. A 2010 survey on IDP attitudes provided valuable material for informing debates and policy toward IDP issues in the Georgian/Abkhaz context.
Media: we recognize the importance of the media in stimulating public debate about the Georgian/Abkhaz and Karabakh peace processes. We support a number of local partners working in both the traditional and new media.
Eyewitness Studio is an internet-based project opening up a window on everyday life in Georgia by helping ordinary people to make and post their own short films. Absence of Will is a hard-hitting Georgian documentary that asks why the Georgian/Abkhaz war in the early 1990s happened. Asarkya and Abrec are two small independent TV production companies making short films about life in Abkhazia. People and Times is a local newsletter for Abkhazia’s ethnic Georgian community, written and produced by local people.
Analyticon is a monthly journal edited in Nagorny Karabakh and offering analysts from across the South Caucasus a platform for debate on key regional issues. We have now also started a new project involving film-makers from the region and from Turkey to learn lessons from Turkish-Armenian dialogue.
Read more about our Caucasus media projects
Find newsletters and other media on our Caucasus resources page
