Armenian and Azerbaijani media should build bridges, journalists of both countries believe

Events similar to the international journalists' conference held in early May in the Italian city of Cagliari could become a sort of bridge between the peoples of Armenia and Azerbaijan. This was stated to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Azer Khasret, head of the Azerbaijani information network CASCFEN, and Boris Navasardyan, President of the Yerevan Press Club, who took part in the above international journalists' conference in Sardinia.

According to Mr Khasret, in many conflict points in the world journalists kept contacts for a long time and organized joint actions. "Azerbaijani and Armenian journalists do the same, if there are projects. However I, being a citizen of Azerbaijan, see the situation in my country, and I understand that such journalistic relations give no fruit," he said and added that public moods hamper to benefit from such meetings.

"The problem is not that we can't find common language with the Armenian people; we can easily find this language. Just if our land remains occupied, or if we have about 1 million forced migrants and refugees, how could we explain people that we should make friends with Armenia?" Mr Khasret looks perplexed.

His Armenian colleague Boris Navasardyan, President of the Yerevan Press Club, who was also present at the conference in Italy, also believes that journalists should continue their contacts despite the political situation.

"We have normal civilized relations," said Navasardyan to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, when talking about relations of Armenian and Azerbaijani journalists, but added that the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict was not discussed by media people at the meeting in Cagliari.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the international journalists' conference "Safety, Diversity and Dialogue - Building Trust in Mediterranean Journalism" took place in the Italian city of Cagliari on May 7-10.