SPECIFIC SITUATION OF THE AZERBAIJANI ANTI-ARMENIAN PROPAGANDA
S.Manusyan - the specialist of the Center of Information Studies of “Noravank” 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 – from the web-sites of special orientation to the false scientific publications in foreign languages – 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 “case” 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 “formalistic” 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 “case” 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 – manipulator (e.g. the US with its info-operations) – 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 – Armenians – 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 “betrays” 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 “super-productivity” 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 “reproduction” of the Armenians.
Another example of such an emotional waste can be found in the material of day.az – the leader of the propagandistic journalism – devoted to the well-known “plagiarism” of the Armenians. At the end it calls with panic alert that the “only” way to divert that plagiarism is “to flood the music stores and studios, TV channels with the disks with the Azerbaijani folk and classical music…”, at the same time it points out the “…vital importance of the state assistance in order to create a structure which will undertake the release of those disks with multi-million copies…”(http://www.day.az/print/news/armenia/147165.html) 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: “in general about 50 million Azerbaijani speaking people speak and understand Azerbaijani… Azerbaijani is a state language and the most widespread means of communication among the people…”. 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 “bore themselves well” or “they broke nothing”.
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 – imputing its own negative inclinations, characteristics to the rival. E.g., in one of the propagandistic movies representing the “image of the Armenian” 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 on the slab from the church in Dashsalakhli village in Ghazakh region (See Pic. 1). According to Azerbaijani source at present Armenians substituted that slab by the one with the Armenian writings, meanwhile the mirror reflection of the picture presented by them is more than vivid: those writings from the very beginning were Armenian (See Pic. 2).
Picture 1
Picture 2
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 “achievements” 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 “the exigency of shooting films on Karabakh issue”, or that “there is necessity to propagate our art of cooking”, or that “the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan is indisputable from the point of view of international law”, or that “there are specialists who can prove from the scientific point of view why such dishes as dolma belong to Azerbaijani cuisine”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 president’s 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 “poet” 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: “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 Armenia”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, Աննա Ժամակոչյան, «Տեղեկատվական հոսքերը և Հայաստանի ինֆոանվտանգությունը». «21-րդ Դար», # 6 (28), 2009; Սամվել Մարտիրոսյան, Ադրբեջանի քարոզչամեքենան. նոր միտումներ, http://www.noravank.am/arm/articles/detail.php?ELEMENT_ID=4290&sphrase_id=1231;
Հ.Դեմոյան, «Լեռնային Ղարաբաղի հիմնախնդրի շուրջ քարոզչության և հակաքարոզչության կազմակերպման և իրականացման եղանակների մասին», «Տեղեկատվական անվտանգության խնդիրների շուրջ», «Տարածաշրջան» տեղեկագիր, Նորավանք ԳԿՀ, Երևան, 2005, http://noravank.am/upload/pdf/76_am.pdf, Կարեն Վրթանեսյան, «Հայ-ադրբեջանական հակամարտության քարոզչական թեզերը», «Գլոբուս. Ազգային անվտանգություն», #2(6), 2009։ http://www.noravank.am/arm/articles/detail.php?ELEMENT_ID=2219&sphrase_id=1223
2Here we speak about the news programmes broadcasted in Armenian on ATV-International channel.
3 http://www.ksam.org/index.php?mtype=news1&mid=435
4 http://www.newsazerbaijan.ru/analytics/20080331/42222402.html
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.
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