The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict on YouTube

Recently there has been a growing number of people discussing the role of social networks in conflict resolution between Armenia and Azerbaijan over disputed territories of Nagorno-Karabakh. This quest brought me on YouTube website. After entering keywords “Azerbaijan”, “Armenia”, and “Nagorno-Karabakh” into the search box I have started surfing various videos – an emotionally challenging journey that took me about seven hours to complete. In this post I would like to share my findings and analyze how the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is presented on the world’s largest video-sharing website.

All search results can be divided into three groups:

A. Those that promote and support a propagandistic and one-sided story of the conflict i.e. “prove” aggressive image of either Armenia or Azerbaijan depending on the nationality of video uploaders. These videos are usually full of violent and sad images that I don’t recommend anyone who is sensitive and emotional to watch;

B. Those that underline might and glory of the Armenian or Azerbaijani military. These videos demonstrate surface, air and naval (in the case of Azerbaijan) forces ready to strike and tear apart the enemy. An interesting fact, though, is both sides tend to exaggerate reality and use images of military equipment and weaponry that is not in actual possession but rather stolen from the Internet;

C. Those few that promote peaceful resolution of the conflict between the two nations.

The full post by Geysar Gurbanov is here.