{"id":8684,"date":"2014-08-18T14:40:48","date_gmt":"2014-08-18T09:40:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/1905.az\/?p=8684"},"modified":"2014-08-18T14:40:48","modified_gmt":"2014-08-18T09:40:48","slug":"on-reporting-the-nagorno-karabakh-conflict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1905.az\/en\/on-reporting-the-nagorno-karabakh-conflict\/","title":{"rendered":"On Reporting the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ruins_of_the_Armenian_part_of_the_city_of_Shusha_after_the_March_1920_pogrom_by_Azerbaijani_armed_units._In_the_center_-_church_of_the_Holy_Savior<\/a>By Dr.\u00a0<\/strong>Kamala Imranli-Lowe<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and Dr.\u00a0<\/strong>Galina Yemelianova<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

In early August 2014 the British media reported an escalation in the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. This has brought the conflict, which has been less covered since the cease-fire of May 1994, back to the media\u2019s attention.\u00a0This blog is intended to shed some light on the role of the British, and the wider Western, media in shaping particular attitudes among the public, as well as policy-makers involved in the negotiation process over this conflict. It is based on analysis of the main premises of over 4,000 reports and analytical commentaries on the conflict by BBC TV,The Guardian<\/em>,\u00a0The Observer, The Times<\/em>,\u00a0The Financial Times, The<\/em>\u00a0Independent\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0The Economist<\/em>\u00a0in the period 1988-2014, including during the \u2018hot\u2019 stage of the conflict from 1988 to 1994.\u00a0It focuses on the media\u2019s interpretations of historical causes of the conflict and juxtaposes these interpretations with relevant historical facts.<\/p>\n

The analysis of the media has revealed that: (i) the reporting of the conflict began in February 1988 despite the fact that it actually began in November 1987; (ii) it largely relied either on Armenian sources, or lacked reference to any sources; (iii) most published academic commentaries were by Western academics of Armenian origin and were clearly sympathetic to the Armenian case.<\/p>\n

Of particular interest is the media confusion over the time of \u2018separation\u2019 of Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenia, as well as the particular wording in describing the background of the conflict, which significantly distorted the historical facts and contributed to the shaping of particular attitudes to the conflict parties among the British public and policy-makers. Here are just a few examples of such problematic and inconsistent premises:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Nagorno-Karabakh\u00a0belonged to Armenia before the 1917 Revolution.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Nagorno-Karabakh\u00a0was part of Armenia from the first century AD to 1923.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0Nagorno-Karabakh\u00a0was part of Greater Armenia but in 1921 it was attached to Muslim Azerbaijan by Stalin.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After the declaration of Soviet power in Armenia, Azerbaijan decreed that Nagorno-Karabakh\u00a0should be part of Armenia, but this decision was reversed by Stalin on 5 July 1921.<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Nagorno-Karabakh has been ruled from Baku since 1922 or 1923, when Lenin transferred it to Muslim Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So, it transpires that according to some reports the \u2018separation\u2019 of Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenia occurred in 1917, while according to others it was in 1920, 1921, 1922 or even 1923. The common premise, however, is the linkage of the \u2018separation\u2019 to Soviet national delimitation and Stalin\u2019s personal involvement, in particular. It is worth comparing this to the editorial in 1919 by a British journalist, Scotland Liddell, editor of\u00a0The Georgian Mail<\/em>\u00a0newspaper published in Tiflis, in which he comments on the question of the British, rather than the Bolsheviks, being accused of causing this \u2018separation\u2019. In reply to the allegation of the Armenian nationalists that \u2018The British Command has lately obstinately endeavoured to annul the whole Armenian question, having forcibly separated from Armenia Karabagh and Zangezour…\u2019, Liddell wrote: \u2018The British never \u201cforcibly\u201d removed Karabagh from Armenia: it was separated geographically as it was…\u2019<\/p>\n

Similarly, the widely publicised interpretation of the events on 5 July 1921 as the day of \u2018Stalin\u2019s decision\u00a0to separate<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0(our italics) Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenia\u2019 or \u2018Stalin\u2019s decision to\u00a0transfer<\/em><\/strong>(our italics) Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan\u2019 does not pass the test of historical evidence. Thus, the protocol of the session of the\u00a0plenum of\u00a0Kavburo\u00a0<\/em>(Caucasian Bureau of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist [Bolshevik] Party), which was convened on that day, states:<\/p>\n

Taking into account the necessity of national peace between the Muslims and the Armenians, the economic relations between Upper and Lower Karabakh and its permanent relations with Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh shall\u00a0be retained<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>(our italics)\u00a0<\/strong>within the Azerbaijan SSR and broad autonomy shall be given to Nagorno-Karabakh with Shusha city as an administrative centre.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The use of the word \u2018retain,\u2019 rather than \u2018include\u2019 and reference to the region\u2019s \u2018permanent relations with Azerbaijan\u2019\u00a0suggest that Nagorno-Karabakh was part of Azerbaijan, and before\u00a0\u00a0the annexation by Russia of the Karabakh Khanate on 14 May 1805, this area of the region was part of the khanate. The latter was\u00a0ruled and predominantly inhabited by Turkic-speaking Muslims, ancestors of present-day Azerbaijanis.\u00a0\u00a0Among the media\u2019s distorted wording was the repeated use of the terms \u2018re-unification\u2019 and\u00a0\u00a0\u2018return\u2019 of Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia as well as the use of the term \u2018enclave\u2019 in relation to Nagorno-Karabakh, which geographically and historically had been part of the territory of contemporary Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n

The linking of \u2018separation\u2019 to 1923 is also factually inaccurate. What in fact happened then was the decision on 7 July 1923 by the Azerbaijani Central Executive Committee to form\u00a0\u00a0the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous\u00a0Oblast\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0with its centre in Khankandi and the decision\u00a0\u00a0on 18 September 1923 by the Karabakh\u00a0Oblast<\/em>\u00a0Committee of the Azerbaijani Communist [Bolshevik] Party to change the name of Nagorno-Karabakh\u2019s centre from the Azerbaijani name \u2018Khankandi\u2019 into the Armenian name \u2018Stepanakert\u2019, in honour of Stepan Shaumian,\u00a0\u00a0a Bolshevik of Armenian origin, who played a central role in the Bolshevisation of the Caucasus.<\/p>\n

The above analysis highlights the issue of the reliability of the sources used by the media reporting on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict (as well as possibly other ethno-territorial conflicts worldwide), and the ongoing political and public implications for the understanding of the true nature of the conflict and its settlement.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

http:\/\/creesbham.blogspot.gr\/2014\/08\/on-reporting-nagorno-karabakh-conflict.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dr.\u00a0Kamala Imranli-Lowe\u00a0and Dr.\u00a0Galina Yemelianova In early August 2014 the British media reported an escalation in the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. This has brought the conflict, which has been less covered since the cease-fire of May 1994, back to the media\u2019s attention.\u00a0This blog is intended to shed some light on the role of the British, and … Continue reading On Reporting the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[678,62,156],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-karabakh-war-slide-10","category-agression-of-armenia-against-azerbaijan","category-analysis-agression-of-armenia-against-azerbaijan"],"fimg_url":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1905.az\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1905.az\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1905.az\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1905.az\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1905.az\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/1905.az\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8684\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1905.az\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1905.az\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1905.az\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}