Building truth and trust: “If we can build trust and pass it on to future generations, peace in the region will become irreversible”

Arzu Abdullayeva is a peace activist from Azerbaijan whose efforts contributed to the release of 500 people from captivity. For her work on peacebuilding and promoting democracy, she won the Olof Palme International Peace Prize (1993), the EU and US Democracy Award (1998), and the Netherlands Helsinki Committee Award (2015) for civil society. Her work with women continues through the Track II Women Diplomacy School, which is part of Peace Agora of trusted Think Tanks HCA initiative and provides women with knowledge and skills to lead public dialogue and influence decision making.

1. What motivated you to become involved in peace activism?

My path in peacebuilding began with the conviction that dialogue and trust can overcome even the deepest wounds. For more than 30 years, I have been involved in initiatives where civil society activists, including women peace activists, sought ways to resolve the Karabakh conflict and achieve reconciliation between Armenians and Azerbaijanis.

Among the most memorable moments were our meetings organized at the border, along a mined road between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Young people and women walked towards each other, carefully stepping exactly in each other’s footsteps, without a single step aside where mines could be hidden. We also held other meetings together with Armenian colleagues – for example, on the Åland Islands, where we studied the autonomy model and dreamed that it could serve as a possible example for resolving the Karabakh conflict. These encounters gave hope that compromise was possible. Even after the war, we continued to search for compromises, offering various peaceful solutions. Civil society has always been, and remains, a key actor in peacebuilding.

2. How do you see the role of women in peacebuilding and reconciliation processes in your region?

Women often remain outside official negotiations, yet they are the first to take responsibility for rebuilding trust. This is because the burden of war falls most heavily on women: refugees, internally displaced persons, hostages in captivity, families left without breadwinners, where women have to become both mother and father. I have seen women from different communities build bridges where politicians erected walls. Their participation is not only a matter of equality, but of sustainability.

Women bring particular sensitivity to human stories, to the future of children, to the memory of losses. The future of peace in our region depends on how much we can institutionalize women’s participation and make their voices a permanent part of decision making. Above all, we must train them both in leadership and in professional skills to conduct negotiations with the opposite side and with the authorities of their own countries.

3. What is the role of dialogue among communities in truly beginning healing and reconciliation?

Dialogue is the foundation of reconciliation. The most powerful moments for me are connected with human encounters. In Tbilisi, we organized the initiative “Where are you, my friends?!” – a meeting of relatives and neighbours who had not seen each other since the beginning of the war. I will never forget the eyes of a mother from Baku and her daughter from Yerevan, filled with both sadness and joy.

Equally unforgettable were the faces of prisoners who at first thought they were being led to execution, but then realized they were being freed. Some returned home after a month; others after a year. Never forget  the initiative The missing people, where mothers from both parties met and promised work together for their loses on war sons . In total, thanks to our peace initiatives, supported by colleagues from the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly and to Red Cross, 500 people were released by our joint  work from captivity. This remains one of the most significant humanitarian achievements of our work.

Of course, there were difficulties: we were sometimes criticized for travelling “to the enemy side,” even called traitors. But we explained: war serves those who profit from it, not the peoples caught in conflict. Continuing hatred only helps those forces.

4. What do you consider the relevance of the Women, Peace and Security agenda?

For me, the Women, Peace and Security agenda is a call to action: women must not be objects of war, but subjects – leaders of dialogue, reconciliation and peacebuilding.

I participated in the project “Sincerity, Truth, and Trust”, where we worked to overcome stereotypes and mistrust. A particularly memorable moment was meeting Professor Mary Kaldor, co author of the Human Security doctrine. We discussed United Nations Security Council resolution 1325, and to ensure its effectiveness during wartime, we developed a road map – a National Action Plan. We also prepared a draft Soldier’s Code of Conduct, where the protection of women and compliance with humanitarian norms must be mandatory in the legal documents of warring States.

We have a strong and coordinated group of women experts – colleagues from UN Women and the South Caucasus Women Mediators Network: Nina Tzikhistavi, Julia Kharashvili, Nargiz Azizova, Kristina Arab, Tadjikan Shabdanova, Sajida Abdulvagabova, Natalia Martirosyan, and my late colleague and friend Anahit Bayandur, with whom I received the Olof Palme International Peace Prize (1993). Without their support, it would have been almost impossible to achieve positive results in such difficult work as peacebuilding and human rights.

5. How do you see the future of peacebuilding in Azerbaijan and the South Caucasus?

The future of peace in the South Caucasus depends on whether we can transform individual initiatives into a sustainable process, based on trust and broad public participation. Peace cannot be achieved only through political agreements – it must be built on continuous dialogue among people. That is why we created the initiative Peace Agora of trusted Think tanks, which unites citizens, experts and cultural figures to strengthen peace from the grass-roots and support diplomatic processes at the highest level.

Unfortunately, in 2020 the Second Karabakh War broke out and lasted for 44 days. No one was able to prevent it from happening. Within the framework of the Peace Agora initiative, we prepared proposals for the reintegration of Karabakh Armenians and began negotiations on this matter with Armenian colleagues. Communication with Karabakh colleagues was impossible due to the absence of a channel of contact. We made efforts and contributed to ensuring that during the Second Karabakh War in 2020, and later during the so called “anti terrorist operation” of 2023, there would be no forced deportations and no ethnic cleansing.

For me, the future of peacebuilding is not only about agreements on paper, but about everyday steps people take towards one another. If we can build trust and pass it on to future generations, peace in the region will become irreversible.