Government Narratives in Azerbaijan on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict over Karabakh and the Occupied Territories

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Benedicto, Kelly Christine

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Abstract

This thesis describes current-day (2019) Azerbaijani government narratives regarding the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict and explores how government narrative impacts potential peace building efforts. The Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict is described as intractable, and therefore understanding the active conflict and peace narratives perpetuated by the leaders of the nations at war is key in considering conflict transformation strategies. The study included a three month textual study of publications in selected Azerbaijani newspapers as well as thematic analysis of twenty-four semi-structured interviews in the capital of Azerbaijan. The results of the analysis show that government conflict narrative in Azerbaijan contributes to a willingness amongst the Azerbaijani people to engage in conflict in order to accomplish collective territorial goals. This thesis is intended to be a resource for researchers looking to understand the long-term impacts of identity-based conflict narrative on peace processes in a time of rising territorial disputes.

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Azerbaijan, Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Karabakh, Narrative, Identity conflict

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