About Craigellachie

Dec 2003 - THE TIMES, FRI 19 DEC 2003

Hands across the Spey: peace summit delegates arrive to whisky galore in Craigellachie
by Gillian Harris, Scotland Correspondent

A tiny village at the heart of Scotland's whisky trail is hosting international peace talks over the future of the former Soviet enclave of NagornoKarabakh.

Delegates from Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan arrived in Craigellachie, on the banks of the River Spey, yesterday for two days of top-level negotiations aimed at resolving a ten-year conflict. The representatives from the South Caucasus region are staying in a Pounds 135-a-night Victorian country house hotel with a whisky bar which boasts more than 530 single malts.

Craigellachie, population 422, is an unlikely setting for international conflict resolution but villagers hope that a successful outcome will put the tranquil Speyside community on the map.

"Hopefully, if it all goes well, this will go down in history as the Craigellachie accord along the same lines as the Warsaw Pact or the Maastricht treaty," said Duncan Elphick, manager of the Craigellachie Hotel, where the talks are being held.

Organisers believe that the peaceful, rural surroundings will help to bring peace to an impoverished region that has been warring over Nagorno-Karabakh since the 1980s, when ethnic Armenians declared their independence from the rule of Azerbaijan.

The feuding republics, where 30,000 people have been killed and a million have fled their homes, are a world away from secluded Craigellachie, where the social highlights include bingo and the weekly line-dancing session.

Bob Wilson, a councillor, said: "I am biased of course, but Craigellachie is spiritually a very wonderful place and not just because of the whisky. "It is sufficiently remote from the hurly-burly of the world that it offers a first-class venue for people to speak to each other without any outside influences affecting them."

The summit, which was arranged by Angus Robertson, the Scottish National Party MP for Moray will be interspersed with outings to allow delegates a break from the negotiating table.

Last night there was a whisky tasting organised in the hotel's Quaich Bar and today the politicians will compete in a seven-a-side football tournament against players from Aberdeen Football Club. "We want to give our guests some local flavour and introduce them to the delights of Speyside," Mr Elphick said.

Last night's dinner included pheasant and venison reared on local estates. Tonight delegates will be piped into a traditional Highland banquet of salmon, haggis, Aberdeen Angus beef and a whisky dessert at the Glenfiddich distillery.

Addy Daggert, head chef at the hotel, said: "We don't want them holding such important talks on an empty stomach. That would be disastrous. All the food we serve will have been sourced locally and after eating something as delicious as that I find it hard to believe they will continue arguing with each other."

In order to avoid any misunderstanding, their hosts will also be clarifying the difference between a shot of whisky and the Armenian currency - both of which are called a dram.

The delegations are made up of politicians involved in the South Caucasus Parliamentary Initiative. The Armenians are led by Tigran Torosyan, Deputy Speaker of the Armenian parliament, and nine MPs. Vakhtang Kolbaia, Deputy Leader of the Georgian parliament, has brought ten MPs and the Azerbaijan delegation of ten MPs is led by Siyavush Novrouzov.

Each group will meet separately and together to discuss political and economic issues, including an oil pipeline and the future of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Mr Robertson, chairman of the House of Commons South Caucasus region all-party group, said: "Craigellachie may seem like a strange place to hold peace talks but the politicians will feel at ease here and can relax and talk about things they avoid at home."

Stephen Nash, director of Links, a London-based organisation which is sponsoring the summit, said Speyside offered a chance of reconciliation. "It's a very friendly atmosphere and the delegates are all very glad to be here," he said.

Brenda Cooper, secretary of Craigellachie village council, said the community would show the visitors Highland hospitality. "This could really put us on the international map. We have never had anything like this in the village before. "I think the most important person who has ever visited was Annie Lennox."