Armenia and the information war

[Federate]

Re: Armenia and the information war

Excellent find ninetoyadome, glad to see Armtown has picked up on the information war. Believe it or not, that's not the only charges they lay on Syrian-Armenians. Many Turks also believe Syrian-Armenians are the leaders of the PKK and play an active part in it.

[ninetoyadome]

Re: Armenia and the information war

Excellent find ninetoyadome, glad to see Armtown has picked up on the information war. Believe it or not, that's not the only charges they lay on Syrian-Armenians. Many Turks also believe Syrian-Armenians are the leaders of the PKK and play an active part in it.

Thanks
It clearly shows the idiocy in azerbaijan and turkey. All these azeris r being praised in azerbaijan because of there anti-Armenian rhetoric. farida mammadova is an azeri historian who specializes on the Caucasian Albanians. without any proof she came to the conclusion that the azeris are the descendants of the Caucasian Albanians going as for to claim Armenian monuments and land as Caucasian Albanian. Alot of people have complained about her work and yet azeris still site her research as evidence.
Among the critics of Mammadova's works is Russian historian V.A. Shnirelman, who dedicated a whole chapter in his "Wars of Memory" book to Mammadova's mistakes, misinterpretations and to the influence of anti-Armenian authors V.L. Velichko and Ziya Bunyadov on her theories.
According to Thomas de Waal, Mammadova has grasped the Albanian theory "to supersede completely Armenians from Caucasus". "She has placed Caucasian Albania on the territory of modern Republic of Armenia: all the territories, churches and monasteries in Republic of Armenia have appeared Albanian". He describes Mammadova's theories as "an improved version of what became a very rough tool in Azerbaijan".

here is what shes quoted saying about the Armenians.
During her interviews Mammadova has made anti-Armenian statements:
And, it is known, that on whole planet exactly the Armenian people is distinguished by the absence of spiritual and other human values.
In the world there are only two nations that have national identitiy, but have not statehoods. They are xxxs and Armenians. The difference is that xxxs have created their state on their historical homeland, and Armenians have created their state not on their historical native land.

uneducated people like her are famous in azerbaijan which shows the level of education in azerbaijan.

[Federate]

Re: Armenia and the information war

The likes of Mammadova, Bunyadov and pretty much anyone who comes out of "azerbaijan" are laughable at a scholarly level. They have been discredited by virtually everyone and "azerbaijan's" history is nothing but pseudo-history filled with anti-Armenian propaganda. They need these "scholars" in their country so they can legitimize their claims against Armenia and spread their rhetoric. They play a key role in the information war.

As you have posted, even questionable figures like Thomas de Waal see through the garbage they post which really says something

[Federate]

Re: Armenia and the information war

This is exactly the purpose of this thread. Useful interview! Worth the read.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Karen Vrtanesyan: “There is perhaps no other country in the world where such racist propaganda is disseminated as in Azerbaijan”

The policy of Azerbaijan to sow the seeds of hate in its own population and overseas regarding Armenians should be a cause for major concern. Recently, a group has been formed in Armenia to study those theses on which Azerbaijan formulates its propaganda. In the interview that follows, Karen Vrtanesyan, Director of the Armenianhouse.org on-line library and a member of the group, responds to questions posed by Hetq.

It is no secret that an informational war is taking place between Armenia and Azerbaijan. How is Armenia faring in this undeclared battle?

From 1988 till 1994 we fully understood the importance of propaganda or publicity and despite our limited resources we were able to wage a fairly effective psychological/informational war. But after 1994, we suddenly relaxed our efforts, thinking that the matter had ended. The situation immediately turned in the opponent’s favor since the battle for the Azerbaijani Turks hadn’t ended and, contrary to us, they saw themselves as a nation at war. Picture for a moment that in a field somewhere one person starts shooting at someone and the intended target, not aware of what is happening, continues to pick flowers.

Generally, propaganda can be divided into two types for illustrative purposes – warfare (crisis) propaganda and long-term propaganda. The former solves short-term problems: through the use of various devices and even outright falsehoods to force the enemy to undertake unfavorable actions. Yes, the next day it can become clear that you have been deceives but the course of the battle has already been altered. It makes no sense to employ such propaganda in other than crisis conditions since people start to adopt a critical approach, asking ‘inconvenient’ questions’, and when they don’t receive satisfactory answers they become skeptics.

The problem lies in the fact that fifteen years after the signing of the ceasefire the Azerbaijani side continues to use warfare propaganda. While there is not one serious Armenian news agency that would intentionally distribute disinformation, under normal conditions, it is a fairly routine matter for Azerbaijani news outlets to do so. Even the state Azeri Press Agency openly disseminates misinformation, so you can imagine what the other Azeri news outlets are involved in. Let me cite a recent example. One of the Azeri news sites published a fabricated interview with Armenia’s human rights defender.

By disseminating such “information”, the primary aim is to demoralize, divide and frighten the Armenian side; in a word, to weaken the resistance of Armenians. Essentially, they are warfare tactics. And the Azerbaijani Turks are very consistent and systematic when it comes to carrying out this work. They fully appreciate its importance.

Even though it oftentimes remains in the shadows, Turkey remains Azerbaijan’s prime ally in such activities and often initiates such campaigns. Turkey is a much more serious opponent than Azerbaijan. Her anti-Armenian propaganda drive never stops, despite all the talk about “football diplomacy” Turkey continues to assist Azerbaijan in every aspect. We must realize that frequently it is Turkey or Turkish specialists that are behind the moves made by Azerbaijan.

Armenian news outlets often reprint news that’s appeared in the Turkish or Azerbaijani press. How harmful is this practice?

This stems from inadequate preparedness. The enemy is handing you a live grenade which you take and start to play with. Eventually, you’re the one who pulls the pin by circulating such news in the Armenian media. Frequently, those who reprinted Azeri news reports don’t even mention the source and the reader is led to believe that it is original copy. What happens next is that the Azeri press then cites such “planted disinformation” in the Armenian press. It’s a vicious cycle in which we are voluntarily circulating the enemy’s propaganda.

In addition, many of our young, inexperienced reporters believe that, for example, the Azeri “day.az” website provides unbiased news of a more pressing nature than Armenian news outlets. What they fail to understand is that propaganda doesn’t always come in the form of absolute falsehoods. Propaganda can be carefully crafted just by concealing a tidbit of fact here and there, by taking statements out of context and by altering original emphasis.

From what you say, is reasonable to conclude that the Armenian response to the Azerbaijani information assault isn’t adequate?

Yes. I get the impression that the Armenian elite sees itself as a part of Western Europe and thus many don’t appreciate the security threats posed in the information sector. Those who think this way are actually cut-off from the reality that surrounds them. Those officials whose job it is to stay on top of these issues either have no clue as to what’s going on or else exhibit an amazing degree of self-confidence. I find such a stance both perplexing and perturbing. The amount of vitriol that is being fed to the masses in Azerbaijan regarding Armenians won’t disappear on its own. Even if a peace treaty were to be signed tomorrow it will be the same temporary ceasefire we have today. There is perhaps no other country in the world where such racist propaganda is disseminated as in Azerbaijan. Present day Azerbaijan can be compared to 1930’s Nazi Germany where anti-xxxish propaganda was state policy and out in the open. Azerbaijan is consciously creating a populace ready to commit genocide

Often get-togethers are organized between Armenian and Azeri youth in which the Armenians are woefully ill prepared and uninformed to withstand the assault by their Azeri counterparts who have prepared themselves in advance. The Armenians are thrown into a panic, not knowing how to respond, and often wind up listening to the arguments of the Azerbaijanis.

Are you saying that every piece of disinformation disseminated by Azerbaijan in its informational assault should illicit a corresponding response by the Armenian side?

No. In the long run disinformation turns around and bites the hand of the source of the disinformation.

It would be wrong to link propaganda only to disinformation. First, in certain instances, it is possible not to respond to slander, not to spread it even further. Most of the time, though, it is necessary to respond and the response doesn’t have to be via symmetric methods. First, I don’t agree that one must always prove himself right. When one directs false accusations at you and you merely seek to prove your innocence, you start to be seen by a neutral observer as the guilty party, whether or not that’s the case.

The only real defense against the shrill propaganda of the Azerbaijanis is a good counter-offensive. Of course, this should be executed without needless emotionalism, but rather based on the facts. This is especially the case since we have a list of serious charges to be levied against the Turks of Azerbaijan. I don’t know why, but we have forgotten about the 1990 Baku massacres and the 1988 events of Gandzak. We still don’t know the actual number of Armenians killed in Sumgait and no one in Armenia is working to find out. Besides these well-known incidents, many more Armenians and Russians have been killed in Azerbaijan and we don’t seem to be concerned about exposing these events. Even if we forget these past events, Azeris are always committing violations against Armenians. An Azerbaijani prisoner is well treated in Armenia but Armenians who fall captive to Azeri Turks are tortured and even murdered. One of our Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan was cruelly tortured to death at the end of last year. Why aren’t these issues constantly being raised in international; tribunals? Why isn’t constant pressure being exerted on Azerbaijan?

We must not also forget that anti-Armenian propaganda is also being directed at neutral nations. People who haven’t a clue about Armenia and Azerbaijan are reading terrible things about Armenia and Armenians and no counter arguments are being offered to dissuade them from believing those lies. These “outsiders” take things at face value and don’t have the desire to check the facts or go beyond the surface. Any why should they? They have their own mundane problems to attend to. Gradually, the poisonous flow of anti-Armenian propaganda leaves its mark in the minds of many. One fine day these people, under the influence, might demand that their leaders adopt a more pro-Azerbaijani foreign policy. Our government must immediately set about to expose this despicable Azeri propaganda to the light of day and to international public opinion.

A well organized system designed to monitor information streams must be created that will rigidly follow any and all anti-Armenian activities and statements.

Are the theses you formulate essentially intended as responses?

Since a propaganda campaign is being waged the response must be based on certain claims. A list of the arguments and claims used against us in the propaganda war should have been prepared a long time ago but no one ever did the work. We finally had enough and last year a few of us sat down and recorded some of these arguments. We collected some ninety claims to which new ones are being added on a daily basis. We classify these arguments according to target audience, type of reasoning, etc. For instance, arguments of an historical nature comprise a large group. These models attempt to distort historical facts by manipulating time lines and leaving out important events and instead, by focusing greater attention on incidentals. The primary aim is to portray Armenians as occupiers and newcomers to Karabakh.

Another group is comprised of arguments based on so-called international rights. Here too, important events are left out that are not conducive to the Azerbaijani side. For example, they claim that Armenia has conquered lands internationally recognized as belonging to Azerbaijan but they leave out the fact that there is no such concept as “internationally recognized territories” since all nations sign treaties with their immediate neighbors delineating their borders. Today, Azerbaijan has disputable borders with all its neighbors; Iran, Turkmenistan, Russia and Georgia. We have no such treaty with Baku regarding the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and from this point of view our border isn’t “recognized” either. Furthermore, Azerbaijan claims to be the legitimate successor of the 1918-1920 Azerbaijani Democratic Republic, but it too neither had a specifically delineated border with the Republic of Armenia. Moreover, both Artsakh and Nakhijevan were territories in dispute.

Another group is comprised of those arguments that propound that today all issues are resolved in a “civilized” fashion and that it is only the hard-headed Armenians who have become prisoners of history and are repulsed by modern democratic methods. One would thus think that the United States invasion of Iraq or detaching Kosovo from Serbia took place centuries ago.

What do you intend to do after forming a list of arguments in circulation?

The work must be drafted in such a way that it can be used. The claims need to be refuted or interpreted so that their objectives are made clear. Their sources must be uncovered. It also must be taken into account that some of the theses lose their impetus over time and thus are reformulated, giving rise to new arguments. Also, we must accept the fact that certain arguments are based on fact, no matter how much displeasure that causes us. These are the most serious and potentially damaging ones.

Upon completing our work we will try to publish our results and distribute them to all who are interested. I’d even expect the foreign ministry would be pleased to have such material at its disposal. Sadly, as I’ve already pointed out, those who have an obligation to engage in such work, due to their official position, take no interest in the matter.
When you broach the subject with them they brush you off as a headache rather than a source of useful information.

Can such disinterest be chalked up to the recent increase in hacker attacks, attacks that have even damaged official websites?

Such hacker attacks pose a serious problem throughout the world. It’s another issue entirely that in our case most of these attacks are successful.

In the framework of “National Security Strategy’ directive, the inter-departmental working group created to come up with an “informational security agenda” recently completed its work. The agenda will soon be presented to the RoA National Security Council for passage. Will the formulation of such an agenda change the existing situation and attitude to confronting problems in this sector?

The formulation of an agenda is not enough. It must be put into practice. Even the most basic of steps that can be implemented with small expenditures aren’t being implemented. Every department tries to pry more money from the budget for itself, often forgetting what the purpose of its work is. Here’s a simple example. Till now, all Armenian T.V. stations still use the map of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region (NKAR) to portray present-day Artsakh. And this takes place when not one international body ever refers to that former region. As far back as 1991 Azerbaijan passed a law that effectively dissolved the NKAR. The Geodesic and Cartography Institute has long since been publishing maps with the correct boundaries.

So what is the reason that our T.V stations still use the boundaries of an administrative region that no longer exists? It only would take one or two thousand dollars to correct these video clips. Then, there would be no need for inter-departmental meetings or the formulation of agendas.

http://hetq.am/en/politics/karen-vrtanesyan/

[ninetoyadome]

Re: Armenia and the information war

the was well said. He's right in the fact that Armenia should not stoop to azerbaijans level and begin reporting false information. The rest of the world will see the true side of azerbaijan. i remember reading an article a few years ago on http://groong.usc.edu/news/ and it was an azeri "historian" claiming that in the past when Greek historians were talking about Armenia they meant azerbaijan and apparently azerbaijan was the first country to accept Christianity, not Armenia. Apparently Mesrop Mashtots was Caucasian Albanian, not Armenian. I remember that article because that was the first time i found out about the anti-Armenian propaganda and that was the first time i began to hate azerbaijan. The article has been deleted and if i find it i'll post it.

[Federate]

Re: Armenia and the information war

the was well said. He's right in the fact that Armenia should not stoop to azerbaijans level and begin reporting false information. The rest of the world will see the true side of azerbaijan. i remember reading an article a few years ago on http://groong.usc.edu/news/ and it was an azeri "historian" claiming that in the past when Greek historians were talking about Armenia they meant azerbaijan and apparently azerbaijan was the first country to accept Christianity, not Armenia. Apparently Mesrop Mashtots was Caucasian Albanian, not Armenian. I remember that article because that was the first time i found out about the anti-Armenian propaganda and that was the first time i began to hate azerbaijan. The article has been deleted and if i find it i'll post it.

Oh yes. Mashtots was also the inventer of the Caucasian Albanian alphabet which is why they probably claim him as their own (even if there is no link between Caucasian Albania and azerbaijan). Armenian medieval historian Movses Kaghankatvatsi is another victim of the information war. The azeris like to claim him as their own as well just because the man specialized in Caucasian Albanian history. As you might have probably guessed, the source for these falsifications come from Bunyadov.

[TomServo]

Re: Armenia and the information war

Jesus was Azeri. Duh.

[ninetoyadome]

Re: Armenia and the information war

I'm not surprised it was bunyadov. again other historians criticize an azeri because of there anti-Armenian. Its just sad that they spend so much time and effort just to report false information about another country, just like khojaly.
According to Russian historian V. Shnirelman, Bunyadov "purposefully tried "to clear" the territories of modern Azerbaijan from the presence of Armenian history". "Another way is to underestimate the presence of Armenians in ancient and medieval Transcaucasia and to belittle their role by reprinting antique and medieval sources with denominations and replacements of the "Armenian state" term to "the Albanian state" or with other distortions of original texts. In 1960-1990's there were many such reprintings of primary sources in Baku, where academician Z.M. Bunyadov was actively engaged".
Soviet academic Igor Diakonov wrote, that Bunyadov become famous for a scientific edition of "a historical source from where all mentions on Armenians have been carefully eliminated".
According to historians Willem Floor and Hasan Javadi, Bunyatov "has made an incomplete and defective Russian translation of Bakikhanov's text. Not only has he not translated any of the poems in the text, but he does not even mention that he has not done so, while he does not translate certain other prose parts of the text without indicating this and why. This is in particular disturbing because he suppresses, for example, the mention of territory inhabited by Armenians, thus not only falsifying history, but also not respecting Bakikhanov's dictum that a historian should write without prejudice, whether religious, ethnic, political or otherwise".
According to Nobel Prize-winner Andrey Sakharov, Bunyadov was known for his anti-Armenian nationalistic speeches.
its sad and disgusting

[ninetoyadome]

Re: Armenia and the information war

i dont know if this was posted before or not.
IF THE HISTORY DOES NOT OBEY-ISSUE AN EDICT

Whether a real Armenian propaganda is developed in Azerbaijan on the state level is not a secret, taking a character of a savage mass hysteria. Anti-Armenian mood is underwent and supported by the authorities who do not disdain of any means at the same time: fotgery, historical falsification, frank lie and sometimes-absolute absurd figments. It cannot do without a day of such kind of materials practically in all the Azerbaijani media, which is a litmus paper of the mood of a society, which, to all appearances, will not be able to get out of the state of anti-Armenian hypnosis any time soon, in which its own authorities have driven. With regret, I have to ascertain, that the political course of the present Azerbaijani governing body evidently does not correspond to the mood of the reconciliation and peaceful co-existance of the two nations, expressing concernment in the settlement of the Karabakh conflict. The most dangerous is in that by means of school programs, textbooks and daily state propaganda anti-Armenian spirits find acceptance to the Azerbaijani young generation. In other words, time bomb is put on years forward. At that, the tone of militarist revanchism the president of Azerbaijan himself generally creates Armenian-phobia. In order to make sure of it, it is enough to follow the rhetoric of Ilham Aliyev of the last years, which is full of discourteous, frankly hostile utterances in address to the Armenians and Armenian. The Azerbaijani president has undertaken the Armenian propaganda, however not realizing that such statements may draw only bewilderment or a mockery in academical circles, inasmuch as the Leader of the neighbor country distorts obvious historical facts and in attempts to become antiquated and to ennoble the history of Azerbaijan per se the president debases and the culture of his own nation. First Yerevan is seemed some ancient Azerbaijani city Irevan, then Karabakh and Nakhichevan are turned into ancient Azerbaijani lands. In short, there is a direct pathological, sickly aspiration “to drive and to leave behind” the Armenians in all spheres with every possible method, alas they do not manage to do this with the history and the historical heritage. If the history is not obeyed to the Azerbaijani version, they may issue a presidential edict correcting this history. On the other hand, at the worst, they may throw on the culture. For example, we may take the recent interview of the musical coordinator of the project of “Eurovision” in Azerbaijan Zahra Badalbeyli (Day.az). The last stroke shocking of a cynicism became the question of the journalist, which is more like a revelation “You know in our country in any international competitions the maintenance of the principle is demanded from the participants “you may lose anybody, but you are to win the Armenian”. The musical coordinator answered that she even agreed the Armenians to be the second and the Azerbaijanis to be the third: “If only they do not become the first, for then “Eurovision must be held in Armenia”. Reviewing Azerbaijani media, there is an impression that the Azeri journalists, political and cultural experts lunched an unrevealed competition among themselves in building up the image of an Armenian as an enemy and in inspiring their own nation with a feeling of superiority over Armenians. All the Azerbaijani Press is literally impregnated by anti-Armenianism. This is a state politics of contemporary Azerbaijan making the country a range for various informational, scientific and cultural manipulations. It remains only to add that the nation of Azerbaijan themselves fell a prey to such politics. Both in Armenia and in NK they have not pay serious attention to such announcements for a long time, though any lie, any slander in the address of our nation must be got a worth repulse. The Azerbaijanis must prove their case but not to pin their hopes on that “the truth will anyway be triumphed over”. The truth will not be triumphed over if not to help it. The lie has been repeatedly reiterated, as is well known, often sounds convincing.
Evika Babayan

http://www.armtown.com/news/en/aza/20090309/2801/

[ninetoyadome]

Re: Armenia and the information war

God i love the Russians
One of biggest tourists websites of Russia does not recognize territorial integrity of Azerbaijan - PHOTO

29 April 2009 [10:35] - Today.Az

One of the biggest tourism information search systems of Russia - Tury.Ru- does not recognize the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and assists in trips to Nagorno Karabakh.

This is told in the letter of our reader addressed to Day.Az.

"Dear Day.Az!

On the website Tury.ru, there is a map on which Armenia goes together with Nagorno Karabakh in the Armenia's section. Moreover, the website offers trips to Karabakh. There are already the opinions of persons, who have visited Karabakh. We want this mistake to be corrected. I believe your agency will assist in it", says the letter.

It should be noted that Tury.ru is an international tourism system that generalizes information on resort in different countries of the world and is intended for the quick search of resort places, hotels and tours reservation.

The website really contains serious mistakes that affect the national interests of Azerbaijan.

The website says that Armenia has a resort - Stepanakert (Khankendi). Moreover the Armenia hotel appears when selecting the Stepanakert city.

At the same time, the maps of Armenia, presented on the website, fix Nagorno Karabakh as an integral part of Armenia.

Certainly, this fact must be considered by the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan, our embassy and compatriots in Russia and certainly the Day.Az readers, especially because Azerbaijan and Russia traditionally maintain good neighbor relations.

/Day.Az/

http://www.today.az/news/politics/51853.html