On September 13-17 in Gudauri (Georgia) the second working meeting under the bilateral project "Armenian-Azerbaijani/Azerbaijani-Armenian Information Center" was held. The project is implemented by Yerevan and Baku Press Clubs and is supported by the Network Media Program of the Open Society Institute. Similarly to the first meeting (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, March 30 – April 5, 2002), the main subject for the discussion was the complex research conducted on the issue of "Karabagh Conflict and the Prospects for Its Resolution" by a single methodology. The meeting participants representing YPC, BPC, Stepanakert Press Club, the media of Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as the project consultant, sociologist Tom Carson reviewed the results of the five-month monitoring of the MK issue coverage by the media of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Mountainous Karabagh as well as the results of the sociological research among various categories of the Armenian, Azerbaijani and MK population. The discussions in 28 focus groups (comprised of 8-12 people each) were to reveal the opinions on five major questions: do the respondents allow for the possibility of a military resolution to the Karabagh conflict and why; are the parties ready to engage in a war; are the respondents themselves ready to take part in a new war or have their family members participate in it; what do the notions of "compromise", "mutual concessions" signify for the respondents; what is their opinion on the role played by the mediators (the international organizations, other countries) in the conflict resolution?
The findings of this research are to be published as a separate brochure in the English and Russian languages. The most interesting data will also be presented in one of the issues of the YPC Weekly Newsletter.
