Bright Garden Voices

Our first Tәt-à-Tեt, featuring Uli Nasibova and Arnold Alahverdian, took place on October 2021. Originally from Azerbaijan, Uli is the owner of Uli's Gelato in LA. In Part 1 of this interview, she shares her families' experiences through the first war, her daily life with Armenians in LA, and views on the conflict.

Rich Elmoyan and Javid Agha (Cavid Ağa) discussed social media and their activity on it, the pros and cons of online platforms for mass interaction, and the responsibility that comes with having a large following.

Rauf shares with our volunteer Emmanuel Chacatrjan his experiences and opinions as a refugee from Lachin about the ongoing crisis in Karabakh.

Prof. Anna Ohanyan and Shujaat Ahmadzada join us to discuss the new reality on the ground after Azerbaijan's military operation on Nagorno-Karabakh.

Sheila Paylan and Sevinj Samadzade discuss gender perspectives on the current crisis in Karabakh.

Our Garden Chat #5 . A moving and sincere chat with S evil Suleymanova, hosted by A ndrea Mansoorian. Sevil shares about her family's & relatives' experiences of coexistence & suffering, growing up an IDP and how her experiences & feminist stance shapes her views. #armenia #azerbaijan #peace #dialogue #karabakh #KarabakhWar #peacebuilding #conflictresolution #idp #idps 

Our Garden Chat #4 was with Laurence Broers, South Caucasus Programme Director at Conciliation Resources , associate fellow at Chatham House and Co-editor-in-chief of Caucasus Survey. We discussed about his work throughout the years and some of his opinions and perspectives on the Armenian-Azerbaijani and Karabakh conflict. He was interviewed by our co-director Diego Ardouin.   #armenia #azer...

This week’s chat was with Timur Nersesov, an Armenian originally from Baku, who shared his personal experiences and thoughts of Baku as a child and on the recent conflict that erupted in Nagorno-Karabakh. He was interviewed by our collaborator Leyla Eminli.

Arnold Alahverdian, our co-director, interviewed Agshin Jafarov for our second Garden Chat. Agshin Jafarov is a minister specialized in Christian-Muslim relations, to discuss Trauma from an Azerbaijani perspective, Displacement and IDPs from the 1st Karabakh War. Agshin Jafarov grew up in Azerbaijan during the last decade of the Soviet Union. He graduated from Baku State University in 2000 and pra...

In our first Garden Chat, Dr Ani Kalayjian was interviewed by our co-director Rauf Mammadov to discuss about trauma from an Armenian perspective. #intergenerationaltrauma #healing

For our 8th meeting we were joined by clinical psychologists Rovshan Suleymanov and Arthur Tonoyan to discuss the status of mental health in Armenia and Azerbaijan and how the war and the conflict between both countries has affected the local populations.  } Bright Garden Voices (Պայծառ Պարտեզի Ձայներ - ParlaqBağ Səsləri - Голоса из Светлого Сада) is a grassroots initiative which provides a p...

Our 7th meeting "Motherland, Fatherland" featured Marat Grigoryan and Julian Senders, both of mixed Armenian-Azerbaijani heritage. We discussed what it is like being from a mixed family background and how this influences their opinions and perspective about the conflicts between both nations. Bright Garden Voices (Պայծառ Պարտեզի Ձայներ - ParlaqBağ Səsləri - Голоса из Светлого Сада) is a grassroots...

Our 6th meeting "Building Bridges" featured individuals who have started or taken part in an initiative aimed at building bridges between Armenians and Azerbaijanis, to get to know about their motivations and hopes.  We were joined by Rosa from Kavkazskiy Perekrestok, Khoren from Armeno-Azerbaijani Transformation #NoWar ,  Lamiya from Kamancha Project, and Aisel Guseinova.   Bright...

Our fifth meeting "Deportations & Pogroms" had four refugees from Armenia and Azerbaijan and guests. Anna, Farid, Stanislav and Zaur shared their experiences when they and their families had to flee their homes, their opinions about the conflict and hopes for the future.   Anna Arutyunova is a cancer researcher at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and is pursuing her graduate...

Our fourth meeting is titled "Women & Patriarchy", with Zümrüd Jalilova and Anna Shahnazaryan as our guests. The issue of gender is at the cornerstone of both the traditional Armenian and Azerbaijani societies. In order for Azerbaijanis and Armenians to understand each other’s society it is vital that they be able to reflect on the structure of their own society and relate it to that of the ot...

Our third meeting is titled "Us & Them", with Nazrin Gadimova-Akbulut and Garine Palandjian as our guests. Matters relating to identity are hotly disputed among Azerbaijanis and Armenians, often carrying various preconceptions and stereotypes. Having gone decades without contact, the new generations of Azerbaijanis and Armenians know very little about the other’s sense of national identity. Ou...

Our second meeting is titled "Talking Through the Lens". Our guests were Arpi Bekaryan, a journalist and video maker from Armenia, and Orkhan Abbasov, photographer and filmmaker from Azerbaijan. We discussed how images shape perspectives of the conflict and how they can be a tool for dialogue. Keep in mind that since the subject of this meeting is imagery, the podcast might lose some relevance wit...

Bright Garden Voices (Պայծառ Պարտեզի Ձայներ - ParlaqBağ Səsləri - Голоса из Светлого Сада) is a project that intends to provide a platform for constructive dialogue between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. We host Zoom meetings where guests from both sides share their experiences and ideas concerning all matters relating to Azerbaijani and Armenian conflicts and issues. Each meeting also hosts an audie...