The role of the media following the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War: The cases of AzadliqRadiosu and MeydanTV news sites in Azerbaijan

Year 2023, Issue: 65, 89 - 107, 30.12.2023

Ilgar Seyidov

https://doi.org/10.26650/CONNECTIST2023-1347779

Abstract

As the second Nagorno-Karabakh War, also called the ‘44-Day War’ (between 27.09.2020-10.11.2020) ended, and the ceasefire agreement was signed, the surrounding Armenian-occupied areas were ceded back to Azerbaijan except for the Khankendi-centered area in Nagorno-Karabakh region. This area is predominantly an Armenian-populated region and is internationally recognized as a part of Azerbaijan but is under the control of the so-called de-facto Artsakh Republic. Although the problem is seen as solved in terms of building peace in the Caucasian region and specifically relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the status of the Armenian-populated region, and social cohesion between the communities remain still problematic. In this context, the study aims to find out how the Azerbaijani media reflect this post-conflict situation. In doing so, the most-followed two online media platforms, MeydanTV and Azadliqradiosu, were selected for the sampling, and topic-oriented framing analysis was employed to scrutinize the news posted during the one-year post-conflict period (between 10.11.2020-10.11.2021). According to the findings, construction/negative peace was the main theme in both news sites. One of the main differences was about framing of rehabilitation phase. While the stories from both Azerbaijani and Armenian people were mentioned in AzadliqRadiosu, only Azerbaijanis were emphasized on MeydanTV.

Keywords

Post-conflict, Azerbaijan, the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict, media, framing analysis

İkinci Dağlık Karabağ Savaşı sonrası dönemde medyanın rolü: Azerbaycan’daki AzadlıqRadiosu ve MeydanTV haber siteleri örnekleri

Abstract

İkinci Dağlık Karabağ Savaşı ya da diğer adıyla ‘44 Gün Savaşı’ (27.09.2020- 10.11.2020 tarihleri arasında) sona erip ateşkes anlaşması imzalandığında, Dağlık Karabağ bölgesindeki Hankendi merkezli bölge hariç, Ermenistan işgali altındaki diğer bölgeler Azerbaycan’a geri verilmiştir. Hankendi merkezli bölgede ağırlıklı olarak Ermeniler yaşamaktadır ve uluslararası alanda Azerbaycan’ın bir parçası olarak tanınmaktadır. Ancak Artsak Cumhuriyeti isimli bir de-facto yapının kontrolü altındadır. Kafkasya bölgesinde barışın sağlanması ve özellikle iki ülke arasındaki ilişkiler açısından sorun çözülmüş olarak görülse de Ermenilerin yaşadığı bölgenin statüsü ve toplumlar arasındaki sosyal uyum hala sorunlu olmaya devam etmektedir. Temel neden, geçmişteki kötü deneyimler, çatışmalar, savaş ve trajik olaylar sonucunda iki ülke arasında oluşan güven eksikliğidir. Bu bağlamda, çalışma Azerbaycan medyasının bu çatışma sonrası durumu nasıl yansıttığını incelemektedir. Amaçlı örneklem aracılığıyla daha fazla takipçisi olan iki çevrimiçi popüler haber sitesi (MeydanTV ve Azadliqradiosu) seçilmiş ve çatışma sonrası bir yıllık dönemde (10.11.2020-10.11.2021 tarihleri arasında) yayınlanan haberler analiz edilmiştir. Bulgulara göre her iki haber sitesinde de yeniden yapılandırma/negatif barış en fazla öne çıkan tema çerçevesi olurken, rehabilitasyon çerçevesi konuları farklılık göstermiştir. Bu anlamda AzadlıqRadiosu’nda her iki taraftan hikayelere yer verilirken, MeydanTV’de sadece Azerbaycan ile ilgili hikayeler bahsedilmiştir.

Keywords

Çatışma sonrası, Azerbaycan, Dağlık Karabağ Savaşı, medya, çerçeveleme analiz

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