Recently, most of us were witnesses to the failure of the Turkish and Azerbaijani film festivals organized by the Caucasus Center of Peace Building Initiatives in Armenia, first in Yerevan and then in Vanadzor. With this piece, I would like to reflect on the effects and impacts this event had on society, in other words, how it affected people around me in Peace Dialogue NGO. Although I am one of those who completely agree with the organization of such festivals and cultural exchanges among people divided by conflicts, I find it very useful to learn from those challenges that others (colleagues) face. I had a great chance to study the impact of the festival’s failure in Vanadzor. So, I will develop my thesis based on this experience.

Unfortunately, we were not informed about the organization of the festival in advance, and we didn’t know through which channels people were informed about it. But anyway, I have a more or less clear idea of what happened through random meetings and conversations with people who were there – from both sides. And of course, the media gave some scraps of information about the event; therefore I have a multifaceted source of information that will help me in its analysis.

These past few days, I have had a chance to talk to twenty-two people, six of them were those who went to the Turkish film festival in Vanadzor. Of this number, three people went to see the movies because they were interested in them, and the other three went just because they had nothing to do that day (as they explained). They received information about the festival from their relatives and fellows who were working at the schools. Only two people I spoke to disagreed with the decision to stop the festival. The other twenty supported the actions by officials to stop the event, not because they didn’t want to see the films, but because they thought that the officials had more information than themselves and were thus in a better position to make the decision. I had a chance to hear the disagreements of the people who were there on the topic. After the debates, they came to the conclusion as a group that the decision was correct. Almost all the people finally agreed that there was some hidden agenda in showing these films. I had a chance to only talk with this group of people, but I assume that this belief was broader.

On the one hand, I consider that the idea of the festival was to establish a culture of respect towards diversity, to present the culture of a conflicting society. On the other hand, I feel that it brought a group of people to form the idea that there was a hidden agenda. So this group compiled different facts, different factors from this short story and made an interesting conclusion. It was mentioned several times by different participants that NGOs just want to fit the needs of international organizations, to gain grants for funding their activities, and so on. They are sure that their conclusion does fit reality. Going back to the theory of conflicts and structural and cultural violence, when society supports the violent decisions of their decision-making officials, it is only because society performs in conditions where they can’t come to alternate conclusions. So what happened was, after the failure in Yerevan of the Azerbaijani film festival, the same organization brought the Turkish film festival to Vanadzor. What is to be expected?

Let’s just look at the situation from the perspective of ordinary people. They just started to wonder what was going on. Why did the organization that failed with the previous festival in Yerevan bring another one to Vanadzor? What was the reason? Those were the questions asked by people who I spoke with. Questions without answers can bring wrong conclusions in societies accepting structural violence, like in Armenia. For instance, they found their answers in the deputy mayor’s speech, who was the official that had prohibited the festival asking if it would be possible to organize a festival of Armenian films in Turkey. In Azerbaijan? Even those who wanted to see the films closed their minds to the idea. The worst thing was that as a response to the initiative, an alternative program was launched – the screening of “anti-Armenian Azerbaijani films” – dozens of young people have watched exactly these films. Though I clearly understand that the nationalistic opponents of the peace movements resist changes in the Caucasus or Armenia, indeed these are lessons to be learned. What could we learn from this concrete case is that it would probably be better to organize a multicultural film festival that included Turkish films as well as films of other, “neutral countries.” Or in the case of Azerbaijan, maybe a Caucasian film festival that also featured Armenian and Georgian films.  People should have space to choose. For instance, in our organization we provide space to youth who work with us, for whatever they want, whether it be Turkish or Azerbaijani film presentations or anything else. They come with their peers who want to see these films. We do not strive for any big publicity.

So, what is the purpose of these festivals? To give a chance for people to become familiar with the culture of “enemies” or to repulse them from the idea? To raise their resistance towards multiculturalism and respect? Instead, we should find ways to foster cooperation among conflicting societies that may be not only more subtle, but also more effective.