An immeasurable and catastrophic loss for the region – Georgi Vanyan RIP

Georgi Vanyan, Tekali, Georgia © Onnik James Krikorian 2012

It is with great sadness that I write this post. Georgi Vanyan, human rights and peace activist, has died. Upon hearing that he had been moved on to a ventilator after being diagnosed and hospitalised in Tbilisi with COVID-19 I think we knew that this was how it was going to end, but that doesn’t make the loss any less painful. Following last year’s war, Georgi was needed now more than ever.

Arguably the most genuine peace builder in the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, Georgi was admittedly a controversial figure at home. In 2007 he held a Days of Azerbaijan cultural event at an experimental Yerevan school that was interrupted by nationalist bloggers and many who received grants for peacebuilding, perhaps feeling threatened by someone more genuine than they were, cynically attempted to ostracise him as well. Armenian mass media also launched a coordinated campaign to discredit his work.

In 2009, therefore, I had to meet him. I also had to interview him.

[…] Vanyan argues […]  there needs to be new approaches taken to prepare society for peace. Indeed, he says, the desire to end the conflict needs to be there in the first place.  “Armenians and Azerbaijanis are human beings first of all and have a basic desire for peace. What we need to do is to make this basic desire public and to initiate some kind of open public discussion. Instead of organizing seminars and talking to NGOs, we talk to people in the markets, or in local cultural centers.”

Perhaps Georgi’s greatest legacy will be his Tekali Process, the regular gathering of activists, academics, and residents of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia in the small ethnic Azerbaijani village of Tekali located close to where the borders of all three countries intersect. I traveled with Georgi at the end of January 2011 to review the potential location for the first meeting held in March the same year. 

The roads have seen better days and probably so too have the villagers, but if events continue to be held in a small ethnic Azeri village in Georgia that might all change. Situated just 10 kilometers from the Georgian border with Azerbaijan, and 29 kilometers from the crossing with Armenia, those attempting to establish Tekali as a regional peacebuilding center certainly hope so. One of them, Armenian theatrical director turned activist Georgi Vanyan has already called on other NGOs to relocate some of their existing and future regional and cross-border projects there. If that were to happen, much needed investment could be attracted to Tekali as well as the surrounding area and involve wider society in dialogue, discussion and debate.

Sadly, I could not rejoin Georgi for another visit to Tekali at the beginning of this month, over 10 years later. He had rung me up saying that he might have COVID-19 and so didn’t want to put me in harms way. Once his situation was clear, he said, he will take me there again. Two days later, this was our last communication via FB messenger.

Georgi, you are already missed.

With Armenia and Azerbaijan seemingly close to normalising relations after three decades of animosity there are many of us so sorry that you are now no longer here to see it. You will always be in our memories, however, and despite the efforts of all those who ganged up against you, we will make sure that you are never forgotten.

Georgi, you are a tremendous inspiration and will forever remain so.

Rest in Peace.