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How do Azerbaijani bloggers perceive Armenians?-studies

09:15 • 06.02.12

International Alert, a London based NGO working on conflict resolution, has conducted a study on how people on opposite sides of the conflicts in the South Caucasus perceived each other.

According to Balcanicaucaso.org, a group of scholars, researchers, and specialists was selected to examine a range of sources, from history textbooks, to the media and blogosphere, as well as speeches made by politicians to understand better the dynamics behind the conflicts in the South Caucasus.

The aim of the research entitled “Myths and conflict” was to identify key words, narratives, and other innuendos that reference the concept of “us vs. them” or “friend vs. enemy”.

A correspondent of Balcanicaucaso.org, who was part of the research, says she looked at the Azerbaijani blogosphere in order to identify systemically-used stereotypes and propaganda to dehumanize Armenians and Armenia.

The expert noted that the tone used to talk about Armenians in the online media expressed even more hatred than in traditional media.

Referring to the Azerbaijani blogosphere, she said it has become become more popular in Azerbaijan only in the last two to three years despite its decade old history.

“According to the most recent Freedom House report, there are in total about 27,000 blogs operating on various blogging platforms. Topics vary extensively with authors writing about art, movies, food, society, tradition, politics, social issues, and more. Of course, among the most widely-discussed themes in blogs and popular blogs are the Karabakh conflict, relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and negative perceptions of Armenians. Let us call them “hate blogs”, she said.

The International Alert research found further that hatred is usually accompanied with acute language.

“It was almost as if the authors were reassuring themselves and their readers that the “other” was no longer a human and that it was ok to humiliate them, belittle them, kill them, let them die, and get rid of them all together,” she says, referring to the studies.

In another post, the author compared Armenia to a disease that should be eradicated. “Yeah, almost forgot, the worst flu I am referring to has a similar name to that of bird flu and swine flu, in our language, we call it “Armenian flu”. The symptoms of this flu include hypocrisy, fraud, and double standards” [Post originally written in Azerbaijani]. In an additional spin to the post, the author proudly added: “We are sick with this Armenian trash! […] Hypocrisy they have, terror they have it […] Now I think, will we even find a vaccine against this dangerous flu? Let's not forget: to find a vaccine is written only in our destiny.”

At the end of the research, the author notes that many young people in Azerbaijan have very strong positions regarding the conflict that are unsupportive of the peace process to say the least. Based on the findings, she highlights the need to do a great amount of work to shift the existing negative attitudes and promote mutual understanding between the two conflicting countries.

Tert.am

How do Azerbaijani bloggers perceive Armenians?-studies