SPECIFIC SITUATION OF THA AZERBAIJANI ANTI-ARMENIAN PROPAGANDA
Sona Manusyan
14.10.2010
S.Manusyan – the specialist of the Center of Information Studies
of â~@~Noravankâ~@~] Foundation, the lecturer at the Chair of the
Psychology of Personality at the YSU
In recent period, after some delay, the specialists of informational
influences from Armenia studied in detail the characteristics of
the information policy of Azerbaijan; some counteractions have been
elaborated. Though in the initial stage of this process there was a
concern that the reaction to the increasing Azerbaijani propaganda is
a bit belated, today one may state that the later is recognizable and
predictable for both the specialists and variety of people. The main
Azerbaijani anti-Armenian informational components, theses, directions,
means and counteractions, the sphere of the propagandistic production
of Azerbaijan â~@~S from the web-sites of special orientation to
the false scientific publications in foreign languages â~@~S are
structurally analyzed1.
There is another aspect that makes the anti-Armenian sector of
Azerbaijani propaganda remarkable: due to some reasons, to which
we shall refer later, it can be considered as a non-typical, unique
example, or in other words as a â~@~caseâ~@~] which deserves scrutiny
in propaganda practice.
Summarizing the common definitions of propaganda, the latter can be
defined as a purposive influence on the consciousness and state of
mind of a definite group of people through any means of communication
in needed direction and with predetermined result. The direction,
purposefulness and predetermination are essential components and even
in this aspect the condition of Azerbaijani propaganda is already
unique. Of course, if we analyze the Azerbaijani purely propagandistic
texts from purely â~@~formalisticâ~@~] point of view the target for
the Azerbaijani propaganda is the Armenian society and the purpose is
the psychological breakup of different layers of the target society
through the directed information impact on supposedly vulnerable
points. But dominating motives of the main propagandistic texts and
actions, their orientation uncover that propaganda has some problems
in both the initial purpose of the propaganda and preserving of the
target of the influence. Mostly it does not meet the rules of classical
propaganda and it is a reverse reflection of the later at least in
two aspects: a) the propagandistic material in itself is information
about the characteristics of the one who implements that propaganda,
including its vulnerable sides, b) the mostly negative consequences
of the propaganda are directed against the domestic audience: the
messages and their scope most probably have the reverse impact on
the their own society.
The peculiarity of this â~@~caseâ~@~] of Azerbaijani propaganda can be
presented in several vivid examples on the aforementioned two aspects.
A. The content of the propaganda as information about the country
implementing the propaganda
Generally, the aim of the propagandistic actions and their logic
implies that the party which implements the information actions
â~@~S manipulator (e.g. the US with its info-operations) â~@~S
takes rationally elaborated, impartially estimated steps which are
directed to the emotional, conscious disintegration of the enemy;
meanwhile it stays in shadow in the aspects of its emotions and
characteristics. In other words it manages the situation and does
not constitute its part. In case with Azerbaijan the situation
is different: in the informational material one can see the spare
emotionality, impulsivity, and representation of the vulnerable sides
of the rivals â~@~S Armenians â~@~S is peculiarly intertwined with the
self-presentation of the propagandist party. The flow of propaganda
contains the indicators of characteristics of their own condition
and moods. Simply speaking, that propaganda often â~@~betraysâ~@~]
itself, and makes it in several aspects at the same time.
The tentative analysis of the Azerbaijani propaganda discourse first
of all reveals an extremely great scope of negative mental states. The
â~@~super-productivityâ~@~] and pace of the propagandistic texts,
only partially speak to their persistence and even less to their
efficiency. The abundance of such emotional texts exposes the
alerted situations, imbalance which is reduced through the foul
language and abuse. Thus a partial reduction of negative emotions,
fear, and compensation of the accumulated aggression are taking
place, on the level of the words. Both the texts of the journalist,
who are specialized in the creation of the propagandistic texts,
and the messages heard from the state officials often contain such
characteristic. And it is known that any word becomes less influential
and causes negative emotions alongside with the growth of the number
of cliché. Legitimating of the hatred for the Armenians, in fact,
gradually becomes less controlled process which is an end in itself,
and the initial goal, i.e. influence, is pushed to the sidelines
though by its outward characteristics it is still in the propaganda
field. The journalist professionalism, which demands substantiated,
balanced and influential words, is also pushed to the sidelines.
Sometimes the authors, obsessed by the irrepressible ecstasies of
using cliché and diagnosing, loose the logic connections between the
commented event and what they write. For example, the wedding of 700
Karabakh couples which took place several years ago so exasperated the
well-known Azerbaijani journalist (and most probably his customer)
and his imagination, that he characterized the collective solemnity
using such terms as perverted group act, depravity, the satisfaction
of immoral propensity of the state officials. This disproportional
reaction also contains the indirect expression of the fear of the
â~@~reproductionâ~@~] of the Armenians.
Another example of such an emotional waste can be found in the material
of day.az â~@~S the leader of the propagandistic journalism â~@~S
devoted to the well-known â~@~plagiarismâ~@~] of the Armenians. At
the end it calls with panic alert that the â~@~onlyâ~@~] way to
divert that plagiarism is â~@~to flood the music stores and studios,
TV channels with the disks with the Azerbaijani folk and classical
musicâ~@¦â~@~], at the same time it points out the â~@~â~@¦vital
importance of the state assistance in order to create a structure
which will undertake the release of those disks with multi-million
copiesâ~@¦â~@~]()
Even if we doubt the sincerity of the author it can be stated that
the perceptibility of such feverish calls reveals the appropriate
atmosphere and a special demand.
In the aforementioned examples, in fact, on the one hand, the negative
emotions are aroused among the domestic audience, and on the other
hand, those emotions are satisfied. Thus, instead of the target
messages which are characteristic of propaganda the closed cycle of
the affective discharge and charge of their own public is created.
In some cases the expressions imprudently betray the real perceptions
and stance of the propagandist. For example, in one of the English
language advertisings devoted to their cultural self-presentation
the fact that during his visit to Baku the Pope without fear drove in
an open car is mentioned as an evidence of the infinite Azerbaijani
tolerance. Thus, they indirectly show the self-perception of the
possible highest point of their tolerance, i.e. the fact that they
do not kill on religious grounds. And this is presented with the
sincere shade of delight, and it is not taken into consideration
that the possible English language audience will hardly be delighted
with such an emphasis and it may even seem queer. The expression that
Azerbaijanis understand each other without any problem which can be
found in the same advertisement carry the opposite meaning as well:
â~@~in general about 50 million Azerbaijani speaking people speak and
understand Azerbaijaniâ~@¦ Azerbaijani is a state language and the most
widespread means of communication among the peopleâ~@¦â~@~]. Such facts
are usually normal and understandable when they are not sounded, but
their deliberate emphasizing prompts the possibility of the opposite
option. Usually children betray themselves in such an inaccurate
way when after some undesirable deed they come and say that they
â~@~bore themselves wellâ~@~] or â~@~they broke nothingâ~@~].
The remarkable observations can be made while studying the attempts
to undermine the historical and cultural, genealogical and other
grounds of the Armenian identity. Here also the means used, first
of all, play a role of symptoms which expose the serious problems
connected with their own identity. As a group unit Azerbaijani society
still displays the problems connected with the self-identification,
searching of the grounds of their identity, confusion and etc., so it
is not a mere chance that at the first attempt to undermine the rivals
on the same topic, it falls into its own traps. This is, according to
our convictions, the main reason which conditions the peculiarity of
the Azerbaijani propaganda as a case. One can hardly find the other
precedent while studying the info-policy of other countries when
the propaganda directed against the rival is so intertwined with the
attempts to solve the problems of their own. Such an intertwining is
manifested, e.g., in the fact that Armenians at the same time play
the role of both the group which they try to impact and group that
plays rather influential though antagonistic role in the process
of their identity formation. One of the psychological mechanisms
used by Azerbaijani side while creating the image of an Armenian
is the projection â~@~S imputing its own negative inclinations,
characteristics to the rival. E.g., in one of the propagandistic movies
representing the â~@~image of the Armenianâ~@~] such atrocities of
the Armenians are described that demand from the author of the film
rather hard work of the perverted imagination. E.g., Armenian villain
who entered Khojalu for killing has so much spare time to satisfy his
sadist inclinations that he boils water in a big vessel then binds
it to the back of a woman (so that when she bends the boiling water
spills and burns that woman), and at the same time he eats his meal
and enjoys this performance. Thus, presenting the underlined negative
image of the enemy they violate the simplest rules of realism and
betray the aggressive and morbid elements of their imagination.
The denial of the cultural grounds of the Armenians and the attempts
to appropriate them are often accompanied by the simple turn over
mechanisms. And such kind of turn over sometimes has rather literal
and curious manifestation. You can see an example of such a literal
turn over on 180º in one of the pictures placed on bakililar.az
where Armenian writings are presented in inverted position as ancient
Albanian writings. The picture and its re-inverted variant are more
than conspicuous.
A splinter of the slab from the church in the village of Dash Salakhli
(original) (At present this slab is replaced by the Armenians and
substituted by the slab with Armenian writings)
There is an impression that booth the hatred for everything Armenian
and absolute denial of it is so psychologically legitimized and
it entered everyday life to such an extent that even the most
shortsighted and coarse forgeries are made without even being afraid
that they can be exposed. B. The side impact of the propaganda on
the domestic audience
As it was mentioned above, there are some grounds to state that the
messages chosen to impact on the enemy and their scopes have possible
reverse impact on their own society.
One of such impacts is the simplification of the realities and their
perceptions and de-intellectualization which accompanies that process.
The propaganda speaks about the Azerbaijani cuisine, music and genocide
with the same seriousness and their significance is equalized. It is
a quite usual thing when in the Armenian language news programme2 in
the same video sequence with the same serious voice they pass from
the foreign policy â~@~achievementsâ~@~] to the stories about the
ample harvest of Azerbaijani pumpkins and pro-Azerbaijani statements
of the international structures. It is not a mere chance that in the
same information sources they speak using the same words and style
about â~@~the exigency of shooting films on Karabakh issueâ~@~],
or that â~@~there is necessity to propagate our art of cookingâ~@~],
or that â~@~the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan is indisputable
from the point of view of international lawâ~@~], or that â~@~there
are specialists who can prove from the scientific point of view
why such dishes as dolma belong to Azerbaijani cuisineâ~@~]3. Thus
the simplification comes up to the absurdity creating the explicit
connection between propaganda and cuisine: it is no accident that
the second result when you search «peculiarities of Azerbaijani
propaganda» on Google is «peculiarities of national cuisine» (in
Russian). Amid such primitiveness, the indistinctness of the borders
between what is essential and what is secondary, anything connected
with the Armenians or done by them in any format is perceived very
seriously and gets quick and inadequate response. A fresh example of
such supersensitivity is the article in one of the Azerbaijani internet
newspapers where the author in characteristic ironic style and with
visible sensitivity presents the well-known football predictor octopus
Paul as a worthy candidate to the position of the RA presidentâ~@~Ys
adviser. The point is that just several days before this article which
draws the ungrounded parallels, a humoristic quatrain appeared in one
of the well-known blogs where the â~@~poetâ~@~] seeks help from the
octopus concerning faith of Azerbaijan.
The other group of influences is the inculcation of negative moods
and feelings of chronic character in the society.
E.g. in one of the newspapers you can meet the following expression:
â~@~In Azerbaijan we find that the genocide perpetrated by the
Armenians against our nation was not over at the end of the last
century but it continues till now. This was discussed yesterday at the
international conference devoted to the genocide of the Azerbaijanis
committed by Armeniaâ~@~]4. Of course this is propagandistic
statement directed to the strengthening of the negative image of the
Armenians. But on the other hand the usage of the notion of genocide
for a long time strengthens stable status of a victim, negative
feelings and attaches them permanent character. Intensive video and
text production devoted to Khojalu events belongs to the same sphere
and it is of bigger scope. The articles, TV programmes and web-sites
devoted to that, with repeating views of dead bodies, monuments
and etc., are the attempts to create absolutely negative image of
the Armenian in the eyes of the domestic public and international
community. At the same time all this traumatized and victimize,
i.e. arises the feeling of being a victim among their citizens and
this especially refers to the developing generation. Referring to the
idea that one of the main techniques of propaganda is the reiteration,
they seem to have missed that this cannot be the case with frequent
demonstration of the dead bodies.
The examples brought mainly refer to the doubtful effectiveness of
the information war in the sphere of culture5. However, such a queer
situation with the propagandistic activity of our neigbour does not
annihilate the issues of its danger for us. The situation causes
anxiety at least due to the fact that stable negative attitude is
formed within the society with which we have to live side by side and
cooperate at least in the near future. Such an irrational atmosphere
in the neighbour country causes anxiety at least due to the fact
that it can be as contagious as all bad things are, especially
the negative moods. The anti-Armenian propaganda of Azerbaijan in
some sense has become public mood, the dominant of consciousness. A
general atmosphere is formed where anything negative written, pictured,
told about or build by the Armenians is welcomed without taking into
consideration possible negative consequences for their own society.
Amid such a mean atmosphere everyone who wants takes his chance to
give a product directed against Armenians and to make mint on it and
they often succeed in it regardless of their motives or efficiency.
Such an initiative is hailed per se. One can only hope that such
a total narrowing of the consciousness is criticized not only from
abroad but also by the intellectual strata of their society which is
anxious about their national issues. As a specialist and colleague
we would be happy to hear that psychologists there are worried by
the psychological dangers which threaten their citizens.
Rather symbolic episode which has happened recently helps to conclude
all the aforementioned: the Azerbaijani flag, which had a claim to
be registered in Guinness Book of Records as the biggest and highest
flag ever rose, torn and fell down. The torn flag which initially
had to charge citizens with strong positive emotions caused their
vexatious anger. This seems to be allegoric manifestation of how
undesirable can be the consequences of the actions which are initiated
by self-praising and showing off and how hollow can be the consequences
of hollow efforts.
1See, for example, Ô±Õ¶Õ¶Õ¡ ÔºÕ¡Õ´Õ¡Õ¯Õ¸Õ¹ÕµÕ¡Õ¶,
«Õ~OÕ¥Õ²Õ¥Õ¯Õ¡Õ¿Õ¾Õ¡Õ¯Õ¡Õ¶ Õ°Õ¸Õ½Ö~DÕ¥Ö~@Õ¨ Ö~G Õ~@Õ¡ÕµÕ¡Õ½Õ¿Õ¡Õ¶Õ«
Õ«Õ¶Ö~FÕ¸Õ¡Õ¶Õ¾Õ¿Õ¡Õ¶Õ£Õ¸Ö~BÕ©ÕµÕ¸Ö~Bնը». «21-Ö~@Õ¤
Ô´Õ¡Ö~@», # 6 (28), 2009; Õ~MÕ¡Õ´Õ¾Õ¥Õ¬
Õ~DÕ¡Ö~@Õ¿Õ«Ö~@Õ¸Õ½ÕµÕ¡Õ¶, Ô±Õ¤Ö~@Õ¢Õ¥Õ»Õ¡Õ¶Õ«
Ö~DÕ¡Ö~@Õ¸Õ¦Õ¹Õ¡Õ´Õ¥Ö~DÕ¥Õ¶Õ¡Õ¶. Õ¶Õ¸Ö~@ Õ´Õ«Õ¿Õ¸Ö~BÕ´Õ¶Õ¥Ö~@,
;
Õ~@.Ô´Õ¥Õ´Õ¸ÕµÕ¡Õ¶, «Լեռնային Õ~BÕ¡Ö~@Õ¡Õ¢Õ¡Õ²Õ«
Õ°Õ«Õ´Õ¶Õ¡ÕÕ¶Õ¤Ö~@Õ« Õ·Õ¸Ö~BÖ~@Õ» Ö~DÕ¡Ö~@Õ¸Õ¦Õ¹Õ¸Ö~BÕ©ÕµÕ¡Õ¶ Ö~G
Õ°Õ¡Õ¯Õ¡Ö~DÕ¡Ö~@Õ¸Õ¦Õ¹Õ¸Ö~BÕ©ÕµÕ¡Õ¶ Õ¯Õ¡Õ¦Õ´Õ¡Õ¯Õ¥Ö~@ÕºÕ´Õ¡Õ¶ Ö~G
Õ«Ö~@Õ¡Õ¯Õ¡Õ¶Õ¡Ö~AÕ´Õ¡Õ¶ Õ¥Õ²Õ¡Õ¶Õ¡Õ¯Õ¶Õ¥Ö~@Õ« մասին»,
«Õ~OÕ¥Õ²Õ¥Õ¯Õ¡Õ¿Õ¾Õ¡Õ¯Õ¡Õ¶ Õ¡Õ¶Õ¾Õ¿Õ¡Õ¶Õ£Õ¸Ö~BÕ©ÕµÕ¡Õ¶
ÕÕ¶Õ¤Õ«Ö~@Õ¶Õ¥Ö~@Õ« Õ·Õ¸Ö~BÖ~@ջ», «Õ~OÕ¡Ö~@Õ¡Õ®Õ¡Õ·Ö~@ջան»
Õ¿Õ¥Õ²Õ¥Õ¯Õ¡Õ£Õ«Ö~@, Õ~FÕ¸Ö~@Õ¡Õ¾Õ¡Õ¶Ö~D Ô³Ô¿Õ~@, ÔµÖ~@Ö~GÕ¡Õ¶,
2005, , Ô¿Õ¡Ö~@Õ¥Õ¶
Õ~NÖ~@Õ©Õ¡Õ¶Õ¥Õ½ÕµÕ¡Õ¶, «Õ~@Õ¡Õµ-Õ¡Õ¤Ö~@Õ¢Õ¥Õ»Õ¡Õ¶Õ¡Õ¯Õ¡Õ¶
Õ°Õ¡Õ¯Õ¡Õ´Õ¡Ö~@Õ¿Õ¸Ö~BÕ©ÕµÕ¡Õ¶ Ö~DÕ¡Ö~@Õ¸Õ¦Õ¹Õ¡Õ¯Õ¡Õ¶
Õ©Õ¥Õ¦Õ¥Ö~@ը», «ԳլոբոÖ~BÕ½. Ô±Õ¦Õ£Õ¡ÕµÕ«Õ¶
Õ¡Õ¶Õ¾Õ¿Õ¡Õ¶Õ£Õ¸Ö~BÕ©ÕµÕ¸Ö~Bն», #2(6), 2009Ö~I
2Here we speak about the news programmes broadcasted in Armenian on
ATV-International channel.
3
4
5It should be mentioned that the situation described is characteristic
for all the planes equally. In some special spheres, such as, e.g.,
in the actions oriented at the structure of the RA army, those
propagandistic actions are much more differentiated and specific and
they demand much more serious counteractions.
From: A. Papazian
http://www.noravank.am/eng/articles/detail.php?ELEMENT_ID=5068
http://www.day.az/print/news/armenia/147165.html
http://www.noravank.am/arm/articles/detail.php?ELEMENT_ID=4290&sphrase_id=1231
http://noravank.am/upload/pdf/76_am.pdf
http://www.noravank.am/arm/articles/detail.php?ELEMENT_ID=2219&sphrase_id=1223
http://www.ksam.org/index.php?mtype=news1&mid=435
http://www.newsazerbaijan.ru/analytics/20080331/42222402.html