social media in armenia-azerbaijan communication, cooperation and conflict transformation

14 August 2011, Istanbul, TurkeyRestoring Confidence of Civil Society Activists through Capacity Building and Education

SOCIAL MEDIA IN CROSS BORDER ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN COMMUNICATION, COOPERATION, CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION AND GRASS ROOTS ACTIVISM

ISTANBUL, TURKEY

Onnik Krikorian

Caucasus Regional Editor, Global Voices

http://www.globalvoicesonline.org

[email protected]

[email protected]


Nagorno Karabakh• 1994 ceasefire

• Approx 25,000 dead

• Approx 1 million refugees and IDPs

• 14-16 percent of Azerbaijan controlled by Armenian and Nagorno Karabakh forces

• Border skirmishes and clashes, increase in sniper incidents

• Peace deal still elusive

• Territorial integrity vs. Right to self-determination

• Threat of new war


Media Perpetuating Conflict?

[A] negative context [is set] in the public consciousness, which hinders dialogue and mutual

understanding […] Without more accurate and unbiased information […] free of negative rhetoric

and stereotypes, Armenians and Azerbaijanis will continue to see themselves as enemies without

any common ground.

Armenian and Azerbaijani International News Coverage – Empirical Findings and Recommendations

for Improvement, Caucasus Resource Research Centers (CRRC)

http://epfound.am/files/mb_fg_report_finalized_edited_12.27.2008.doc


Media Perpetuating Conflict?

[...] people are often inclined to consider their existing attitudes and beliefs to be true and filter the

news through this lens. Thus, they accept messages in order to maintain their original perceptions. […]

bias in the local media [...] serves as a means to fuel and perpetuate hatred. This is a role the media

has and continues to play with regards to the conflict over Nagorno Karabakh.

Armenian and Azerbaijani International News Coverage – Empirical Findings and Recommendations

for Improvement, Caucasus Resource Research Centers (CRRC)

http://epfound.am/files/mb_fg_report_finalized_edited_12.27.2008.doc


Attitudes in Armenia


Attitudes in Azerbaijan


Attitudes in Georgia


Another Alternative?

Throughout history, war has affected media, with conflict often creating an information void. In the

21st century, media has begun to affect war more than ever before. Digital media technologies [...]

have increased communication and information dissemination in conflict settings [...]. These new tools

can be used to foment violence or to foster peace, and it is possible to build communication systems

that encourage dialogue and nonviolent political solutions.

Ivan Sigal, Global Voices Executive Director, Digital media in conflict-prone societies, Center for

International Media Assistance (CIMA)

http://cima.ned.org/publications/research-reports/digital-media-conflict-prone-societies


Social Media Crossing Borders


Twitter Communication


Conflict Sensitive Journalism

Peace Journalism (also called conflict solution journalism, conflict sensitive journalism, constructive

conflict coverage, and reporting the world) has been developed from research that indicates that all

too often news about conflict has a value bias toward violence. It also includes practical methods for

correcting this bias by producing journalism in both the mainstream and alternative media; and

working with journalists, media professionals, audiences and organisations in conflict. The concept was

proposed by Johan Galtung.

Wikipedia, Peace Journalism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_Journalism


Alternative Narratives

Nowhere in the world can you find two groups of people closer to each other. That is why we often

have these stupid disputes between Armenians and Azeris. "This house is Armenian" or "this house is

Azeri." Or "this music is Armenian or Azeri." This is exactly because the two have so much in common.

[...] I normally say, and people don't like this, that Armenians are just Christian Azeris and Azeris are

just Muslim Armenians. That is how much they are alike.

Seymur Baycan, Re-arming the Caucasus, Al Jazeera English

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz47DkYn4Kk



Re-arming the Caucasus, Al Jazeera Englishhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz47DkYn4Kk



We hear far too little of what I call this “third narrative” of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, a

narrative of peace. It spins the idea that the two peoples are capable of getting along fine, have lived

together in the past and, if politicians are able to overcome differences on the Karabakh conflict, can

live together in the future. International mediators are too timid to speak this narrative or feel that it is

not their business. The media in both countries suppresses it.

Thomas de Waal, senior associate in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment and

author of Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War

http://peace.oneworld.am/conflict_voices_may_2011.html


http://peace.oneworld.am

Caucasus Conflict Voices


Identifying Activist Networks

The reason why the KGB wants you to join Facebook is because it allows them to learn more about you

from afar. It allows them to identify certain social graphs and social connections between activists.

Many of these relationships are now self-disclosed by activists by joining various groups.

Evgeny Morozov, author of The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom

http://www.rferl.org/content/interview_morozov_internet_democracy_promotion/2284105.html


Identifying Activist Networks


Imaginary Cosmopolitanism


Imaginary Cosmopolitanism

I study the ways new media shapes people's perceptions of the world. It's my fond hope that social

networks such as Facebook will help users broaden their perspectives by listening to a different set of

people than they encounter in their daily life. But I fear services such as Facebook may be turning us

into imaginary cosmopolitans.

[...]

Is Facebook a space for cross-cultural interaction? For fomenting reactionary hatred? Or is it primarily a

space for online interaction with our local, offline friends?

Ethan Zuckerman, Global Voices co-founder, Does Facebook unite us or divide us?

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/08/03/zuckerman.facebook.global/index.html


Cyber Realism

New media tools will certainly help in getting people better acquainted with each other, but at the

same time can also be used to reaffirm existing biases. Just search on the Internet for Armenian and

Azerbaijani web sites and you can find a lot of trash and very harmful discourse from nationalist

websites. I’m mildly optimistic, but at the same time think we should be very cautious about what

we find on the Internet as well.

Bart Woord, International Federation of Liberal Youth (IFLRY) Secretary General

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/08/03/caucasus-an-interview-with-bart-woord/


Need for a holistic approach

There's a strong interest in developing an online civic space where there can be level-headed

discussion of controversial topics across communities. [...] But like most other places the existing

NGO sector seems poorly prepared to make the most of the digital opportunities [...]

Dan McQuillan, Twitter activism in Tbilisi

http://www.internetartizans.co.uk/taking_twitter_activism_to_tbilisi



I think you can’t do it just with social media tools, but as we’ve seen over the past 15 years, you

definitely can’t do it by meeting in Tbilisi for a weekend every summer. It becomes an “entertainment”

and I’ve had experience with those conferences in Georgia where it’s just one big coffee break and a

waste of money. However, I think that both approaches combined could propel things along.

Micael Bogar, Projects Manager at the American University's Center for Social Media

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/08/01/caucasus-an-interview-with-micael-bogar/



Also use:- Social Networks - Blogs - Twitter...


Questions & Discussion

[…] the internet is not magic; it is a tool. Anyone who wants to use it to bring nations closer together

has to show initiative, and be ready to travel physically as well as virtually. As with the telegraph before

it—also hailed as a tool of peace—the internet does nothing on its own.

The Economist, A cyber-house divided

http://www.economist.com/node/16943885?story_id=16943885


Links

Global Voices Online

http://www.globalvoicesonline.org

Global Voices Advocacy

http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/

Rising Voices

http://rising.globalvoicesonline.org/

Technology for Transparency

http://transparency.globalvoicesonline.org/

Caucasus Conflict Voices

http://peace.oneworld.am/

social media in armenia-azerbaijan communication, cooperation and conflict transformation

News & Politics

alternative media

media perpetuating conflict

media professionals

local media

azerbaijani media ngos

digital media technologies

conflict solution journalism

conflict settings