Barış İnşası ve Koruma Sürecinde Kırsal Kadınlar: Azerbaycan’lı Kırsal Kadınların Dağlık Karabağ Sorununa Bakış Açıları

Abstract

Women are undoubtedly among those who have been most adversely influenced by the Karabakh war and the lack of a formal evaluation of the situation regarding women who are directly or indirectly affected by the conflict in the area remains an inadequacy. It is crucial to highlight the challenges faced by conflict-affected women and what should be done from a female perspective. The major goal is to comprehend the Karabakh conflict from the perspectives of women who have experienced it by looking through the effects of the wars between 1988-1994 and 2016–2021. This study also aims to discover how rural women feel about the conflict and its resolution. In order to achieve a sustainable peace, women's views must be heard and understanding the viewpoints of women is crucial to prepare populations for peace. By documenting these perspectives, I will demonstrate how the local and central governments should pay attention to the opinions of the rural women affected by the conflict. Methodology: In the study, theoretical information was given with an overview of the history of the Karabakh Conflict, and in the implementation part, in-depth interviews, which is a technique of qualitative research method, were conducted with 10 rural women who witnessed the war directly or indirectly. Findings: As a result, the Karabakh conflict has had a huge negative impact on women's lives, mentally, economically, and socially. The country's long history of war has left the role of women in society as "housewives" and deepened gender inequality. At the same time, the deficiency of recognition of women peacekeepers in society indicates that there are few or no women working in this field or perhaps they refrain from working openly due to the fear of being lynched in society. Women do not want war anymore and the conflict to end peacefully due to the failure to sign a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan shows that the threat has not yet completely subsided. In particular, the daily coverage of ceasefire violations in the media creates fear in society and enables to the formation of an impression that "there is a threat of war at any moment."