Meetings and Discussions

   

Third Meeting of “The Black Sea Peacebuilding Network”

On November 13, 2009 the third meeting of the experts involved in the Georgian component of “The Black Sea Peacebuilding Network” project was held at the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies.

The project is implemented in cooperation with the Crisis Management Initiative, with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland. The project is focused on establishing the self-governing civil society councils in the Black Sea region which will elaborate the recommendation on peaceful resolution of the conflicts and regional cooperation. The project structure is directed on ensuring the involvement of society in this process.

At the meeting two representatives of the Experts Working Group provided their presentations on the following topics: Turkish-Armenian Relations (Ivliane Khaindrava – Republican Institute) and The Education of Ossetians (Naira Bepiev – Tbilisi State University).

The presentations were followed by an interesting discussion among experts. A number of important issues have been discussed: tariff policy of Georgia in relation to Armenia; advantages and disadvantages of the opening of Larsi check-point; the attitudes and points of view expressed by Armenian and Turkish population regarding the mentioned processes; positions expressed in Armenian press; the attitude of Azerbaijan towards Armenian-Turkish relations; situation in Znauri district in terms of education, shortage of text-books in Ossetian language, and appropriateness of teaching in Ossetian language in Georgia.