ISFiT: Dialogue in violent conflicts - Armenia and Azerbaijan

Tens of thousands of lives were lost and close to a million people were displaced. Over the past 30 years the region has been continually tension-filled with strong one sided propaganda on both sides. This conflict has intensified in recent years, and led to a new brutal war breaking out again in September 2020.

In 2011, ISFiT’s dialogue groups invited students from Armenia and Azerbaijan to a 10 day long dialogue seminar at Røros. The meaning of the seminar was for the students to get a better understanding of those from “the other side”, and to create relations across the conflict.

It’s now 10 years since the students from Armenia and Azerbaijan met for the first time. ISFiT21 have now invited some of the students who participated to reunite and talk about their experiences of the dialogue seminar in 2011. The participants will talk about their current experiences of the conflict, what they brought with them after the dialogue and how dialogue might have impacted their lives in the past ten years. Has the recent war killed their hope of peaceful coexistence?

The conversation will be facilitated by veteran dialogue worker Steinar Bryn from Nansen Academy, who has extensive experience with dialogue work from the Western Balkans. Joining the conversation is also the Head of Dialogue from 2011, Martin Melvær.

We warn viewers that the conversation contains experiences from wartime, and therefore may not be suitable for everyone.