Bright Garden Voices

Bright Garden Voices bringt zwei Künstlerinnen zusammen: Silvina Der-Meguerditchian und Fidan Akhundova. Beide leben in Berlin und sprechen offen über ihre Erfahrungen, Wahrnehmungen des Konflikts und die Kraft der Kunst als Brücke zwischen Kulturen. 💬🎨In diesem besonderen Dialog geht es um Identität, Erinnerung und die Frage, wie Kunst Verständigung ermöglichen kann, wo Politik oft scheitert. E...

Обычный разговор привёл к неожиданному открытию: их мамы оказались астрологами. В этом выпуске Têt-à-Têt мы пригласили двух девушек- армянку и азербайджанку. У них есть кое-что общее: их мамы работают астрологами. Они делятся историями о том, как это повлияло на их жизнь, воспитание и взгляд на будущее. Откровенный разговор, юмор и немного звёздных предсказаний. A simple conversation led to an une...

Los acontecimientos que suceden en las relaciones entre Armenia y Azerbaiyán se suelen percibir e interpretar diferentemente fuera del Cáucaso. ¿Cómo se puede acercar las realidades del Cáucaso a sus diásporas en el exterior? ¿Qué influencia tienen o pueden tener estas comunidades en los procesos de cambio que suceden en y entre Yerevan y Bakú? Y, ¿qué está pasando entre ambos países en estos mome...

What role does Iran play in the South Caucasus today? From the First Karabakh War to the debate over a possible US-backed “corridor” through Armenia, our guests discuss the region’s shifting geopolitics and Tehran’s response.

On August 8, history was made in Washington D.C. as presidents Ilham Aliyev and Nikol Pashinyan signed a US President Donald Trump-sponsored declaration of steps toward a peace deal, followed by synchronous public announcements of the agreement by Baku and Yerevan. This development has left some optimistic with regard to Armenia-Azerbaijan relations, but others remain skeptical as many uncertainti...

A milestone may have been reached in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict as both parties report advanced progress toward a peace treaty. Yet, persisting tensions and uncertainties question whether the prospects for normalization are within reach. Our guests, Könül De Moor and Phil Gamaghelyan, discuss the latest developments of the ongoing peace negotiations, civil society engagement, and future pro...

Shujaat Ahmadzada discussed his family roots, aspects of the Nagorno-Karabakh / Armenian-Azerbaijani conflicts, conflict transformation, and schools of thought in politics and conflict studies.

Elchin Mammadov joins Arnold Alahverdian to discuss Nakhchivan vis-à-vis the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, and his experiences engaging with Armenians in California and on social media.

Our meeting #12 featured Lucia Babayants, a prospective candidate for Eurovision 2012 and Narguiz Birk-Peterson, the host of Eurovision 2012 in Azerbaijan, who discussed how the politics between Armenia and Azerbaijan have long permeated into this contest in various ways. The meeting was was recorded on December 10, 2022, a day before Junior Eurovision 2022 took place in Yerevan.

Our meeting #11, "On the latest developments", took place on September 27th, 2022. Zaur Shiriyev and Arman Grigoryan discussed the developments in September 2022 in the Armenian-Azerbaijani context, the broader conflict, and their perspectives on a lasting peace

Anush, Argentinian-Armenian, and Bilge, Turkish-Azerbaijani, get to know each other for the first time through questions related to their identity as diasporans of their community, their experiences growing up and encountering "the other". Recorded in August 2023 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Garden Chat #15 featured Giorgi Rizhvadze, a Georgian civil society activist, who joined Diego to talk about the recent protests in Georgia around the controversial "foreign agent" bill, the state of the local civil society, as well as the potential impact of new law on Armenian and Azerbaijani civil societies.

Our meeting #16 featured Uli Nasibova and Maria Zakaryan, whose family histories include the enclaves of Yukhari Askipara and Artsvashen respectively. Uli and Maria shared their family stories and their opinions about the ongoing delimitation process.

Our Garden Chat  #14  featured Rufat Agayev, a stand up comedian of Armenian and Azerbaijani heritage, who joined Marat to discuss his experience of growing up during the first war, his journey to the US and the role of humor in political and social issues.

Our tenth meeting was a special meeting in honor of the late Georgi (Georgy) Vanyan. On October 15th, 2021, Georgi left us after losing a battle with Covid-19. He passed away in Georgia, the same country where some of his initiatives came to life. Since the 1990s, Georgi had advocated for peaceful relations between Armenians and Azerbaijanis, setting in motion various initiatives. He envisioned a...

Our thirteenth Garden Chat featured Elnura Hüseynova, an Azerbaijani poet and literary historian. She joined our volunteer Narek Aleksanyan for a conversation about her new article on Sayat-Nova in Azerbaijani national memory and historiography.

Our 12th Garden Chat featured Thomas de Waal, a veteran journalist and writer specializing on South Caucasus and Eastern Europe. In the interview with our volunteer Marat Grigoryan, de Waal talked about his work and the developments in Nagorno-Karabakh and between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the fall of 2023.

Our tenth Garden Chat featured Mirkamran Huseynli, a PhD fellow at Vytautas Magnus University. In the interview with our co-director Arnold Alahverdian, Huseynli talked about Azerbaijani history textbooks and nationalism, the common notions of alterity (otherness) in the Azerbaijani society and how Armenians fit into that picture. Recorded on July 11th, 2023.

Oğul Tuna joined Andrea for a chat about his research and views on history and politics regarding Armenians and Azerbaijanis, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Oğul has researched the parallel lives of the Armenian and Azerbaijani Bolsheviks, Stepan Shahumyan and Nariman Narimanov in order to understand the interplay between nationalism and socialism in the South Caucasus between 1905 and 1925. He is intere...

Our third Tət-à-Tեt #3 Raffi Chilingirian is a talented duduk player residing in Beirut, who joined Uli Nasibova in Los Angeles for a conversation about the duduk and about similar and shared musical styles, instruments, and traditions among Armenians, Azerbaijanis, and other peoples in the region. Raffi started the conversation with a masterful and touching performance of Sari Aghjik / Sarı Gəlin...

Our second Roundtable was an engaging discussion with Javid Agha, who answered the questions of our audience about society, politics, identity, history and minorities, with a few questions on Udis and Caucasian Albanians as well.

Garo Paylan is a former Turkish-Armenian MP and a founding member of HDP (People’s Democratic Party) in Turkey. He is an outspoken voice about politics, human rights and civil society in regards to Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Paylan joined us for our first Roundtable, a virtual space dedicated to audience interaction special guests.

Our second Tət-à-Tեt features Collectif Medz Bazar, a band with musicians of Armenian, Turkish, American and French descent based in Paris. With their multicultural background, their music not only expresses a lot of these different influences but also spreads a message of fraternity between peoples. In this interview, our collaborator Deniz Aslan interviewed them to ask them about their history,...

Our meeting #15, "LGBTQ+ people and the war", featured queer activists from Azerbaijan and Armenia, Aykhan Osmanli and Kelly Hovhannisyan. They discussed the pressing issues LGBTQ+ people face in both countries, the impact of the armed conflict on queer people and the possibility of cross-border solidarity. The illustration in the photo was made by Lili Nazarov for feministpeacecollectiv...

In Part 2 of the meeting between Ülviyyə Nasibova and Arnold Alahverdian, Uli first describes her experiences having taken part in Imagine Dialogue, a dialogue initiative which includes programs involving Azerbaijanis and Armenians and recounts her time studying Caucasian Albanians back in 2004, when this was not yet a popular topic among Azerbaijanis.