The Opponent as an Enemy in Armenian-Azerbaijani Online Communications

Sona Nahapetyan

sona.nahapetyan@gmail

The military actions in 1988-1994 between Armenians and Azerbaijani lead to the transformation of perceptions between two nations and highlited the deconstructive communication for the long-term outcomes. The war was conditioned by the fact that the territory of Arsakh, which was known as Nagorno Karabakh wanted to become independent from Azerbaijan (being an independent state of Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan)and join Armenia, since most of its population were Armenians. The outcomes for the war, especially socio-psychological ones, are promoting a situation, where the perceptions of the contradicting side are taking negative form at the public level.In parallel the Nagorno Karabakh[1] problem was raised, and at the same time Turkey’s tied its relations withAzerbaijan. And the good relationship at the level of ethnic groups led to the processing of enemy image.  Turkey closed the border with Armenia, stating that it will open the border after Nagorno Karabakh conflict is solved. This is especially important to mention at the unconsciousness level, since Armenians identify OttomanEmpire and YoungTurks to be guilty of the Armenian Genocide in 1915 and since up until now current Turkis government does not recognize the Genocide, the enemy image is being transformed from generation to generation. (more…)

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