Photo: © 2015, Peace Dialogue, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to the Republic of Armenia Katherine Jane Leach. Author: Armine Zakaryan.
During a meeting-discussion at Peace Dialogue NGO, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to the Republic of Armenia Katherine Jane Leach presented the peculiarities of the Northern Ireland conflict.
The Ambassador discussed the conflict with the representatives of NGOs, political parties, and media, as well as young people; however she preferred to talk more deeply about what lessons were learned during the conflict resolution from peace building initiatives.
“This conflict has such an old history that its causes and motives are buried in the darkness of the distant past. A number of peace initiatives failed until finally in 1998 it was possible to establish peace.”– said Katherine Jane Leach.
According to the ambassador, there were a number of prerequisites for the establishment of that peace: people were tired of violence and were realizing the necessity of peace, London and Dublin announced that they had no territorial claims and left it up to people to decide how they want to live. In addition, there were a number of social-economic changes that made the signing of the agreement possible.
“In fact we may say that there were right leaders in the right place and that is how peace was established.”- mentioned the ambassador referring to the great role that the newly elected prime minister Tony Blair and the negotiators from Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland had in the resolution of that conflict. However, as a politician she also brought up the tremendous responsibility and the risks that these people were facing at that time. It took seven years after 1998 for the Irish Republican Army to stop the terrorist acts and another nine years for the joint government formed in the Northern Ireland to operate efficiently.
During the meeting the Ambassador of the United Kingdom to the Republic of Armenia Katherine Jane Leach also referred to the conflict in Scotland mentioning that each conflict is unique and in this case, unlike the Northern Ireland conflict, totally different approaches were needed to reach agreement: it was even required to change the legislation in order it would be possible to have an independence referendum in Scotland.“Although the British government is sure that we will be stronger if we stay united, we are ready to accept the results of that referendum whatever they will be.”– concluded the ambassador.
In the end of the meeting the participants had an opportunity to address their questions to the ambassador, draw parallels between these conflicts and the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and hear the ambassador’s viewpoint on this topic.
In the end of the meeting the ambassador got acquainted with the staff and the projects of Peace Dialogue NGO.
