Alternative and Counter Narratives in Identity Based Conflict Zones and Countering Violent Extremism (CVE)

2. WHEN WAR IS DECLARED,
TRUTH IS THE FIRST CASUALTY
ARTHUR PONSONBY, FALSEHOOD IN WARTIME, 1928

3. AZERBAIJANI POW, NAGORNO KARABAKH © ONNIK JAMES KRIKORIAN 1994
NAGORNO KARABAKH

4. NAGORNO KARABAKH
• 25,000 DEAD UNTIL 1994 CEASEFIRE
• 1 MILLION REFUGEES AND IDPS DISPLACED
FROM THEIR HOMES
• 16 PERCENT OF AZERBAIJAN CONTROLLED
BY ARMENIAN FORCES
• BORDER SKIRMISHES AND CLASHES,
INCREASE IN SNIPER INCIDENTS
• NEW GENERATIONS OF ARMENIANS AND
AZERBAIJANIS LIVING WITHOUT CONTACT
WITH THE OTHER
• CONFLICT USED AS A POLITICAL TOOL IN
ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN
• PEACE STILL ELUSIVE

5. NAGORNO KARABAKH
[…] people are often inclined to consider their existing
attitudes and beliefs to be true and filter the news through this lens.
Thus, they accept messages in order to maintain their original
perceptions. […] bias in the local media [...] serves as a means to fuel
and perpetuate hatred.This is a role the media has and continues
to play with regards to the conflict over Nagorno Karabakh.
ARMENIAN AND AZERBAIJANI INTERNATIONAL NEWS COVERAGE, CAUCASUS RESEARCH
RESOURCE CENTERS (CRRC)
http://epfound.am/files/mb_fg_report_finalized_edited_12.27.2008.doc

6. NAGORNO KARABAKH
[A] negative context [is set] in the public consciousness,
which hinders dialogue and mutual understanding [...]
Without more accurate and unbiased information [...]
free of negative rhetoric and stereotypes, Armenians and
Azerbaijanis will continue to see themselves as enemies
without any common ground.
ARMENIAN AND AZERBAIJANI INTERNATIONAL NEWS COVERAGE, CAUCASUS RESEARCH
RESOURCE CENTERS (CRRC)
http://epfound.am/files/mb_fg_report_finalized_edited_12.27.2008.doc

7. NAGORNO KARABAKH

8. NAGORNO KARABAKH

9. THE MEDIA
DATA:
FREEDOM HOUSE
CAUCASUS RESEARCH
RESOURCE CENTERS
(CRRC)

10. THE MEDIA
DATA:
CAUCASUS RESEARCH
RESOURCE CENTERS
(CRRC)
How wellTV journalists inform the population (%) CB 2012
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Georgia 12%
7%
8%
4%
8%
11%
8%
9%
19%
49%
28%
42%
21%
33%
16%
6%
14%
4%
Very well Quite well In the middle Quite poorly Very poorly Don't know

11. THE INTERNET
DATA:
CAUCASUS RESEARCH
RESOURCE CENTERS
(CRRC)
CAUCASUS
BAROMETER 2012
0
18
35
53
70
Social Networks Skype Search Email News Music/Videos
2222
24
50
34
70
37
16
31
59
30
50
19
25
22
46
5453
0
13
25
38
50
Internet access from PC Internet access from a cell phone
9
29
1516
24
42
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Georgia
0
15
30
45
60
Every day Less frequently Never Don't know what the Internet is
6
49
19
26
12
59
15
11
2
46
19
33

12. RUSSIAN MILITARY ROAD BLOCK, ROAD TO GORI © ONNIK JAMES KRIKORIAN 2008

13. Anyone who believes that all citizen media are
objective and impar tial is either mad or hasn't actually read
any citizen media. […] What's become very difficult is
using citizen media to understand what's actually
happening on the ground. […] This sor t of situation can get
even more complicated when there aren't impar tial journalists
on the ground.
ETHAN ZUCKERMAN
http://www.eng.kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/13149/
RUSSIA-GEORGIA WAR

14. ANOTHER ALTERNATIVE?
In the 21st century, media has begun to affect war more
than ever before. Digital media technologies [...] have
increased communication and information dissemination
in conflict settings [...]. These new tools can be used to
foment violence or to foster peace, and it is possible to build
communication systems that encourage dialogue and
nonviolent political solutions.
DIGITAL MEDIA IN CONFLICT PRONE SOCIETIES
http://cima.ned.org/publications/research-reports/digital-media-conflict-prone-societies

15. GLOBAL VOICES

16. FACEBOOK & TWITTER

17. SMS AND TWITTER
CRISIS MAPPING
PHOTOGRAPHY
VIDEO
AUDIO
LIVE STREAMING
MOBILE REPORTING

18. ALTERNATIVE NARRATIVES
HTTP://WWW.CONFLICT-VOICES.NET

19. ALTERNATIVE NARRATIVES

20. We hear far too little of what I call this “third narrative”
of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, a narrative of peace. It
spins the idea that the two people are capable of getting
along fine, have lived together in the past and, if politicians are
able to overcome differences […], can live together in the
future. International mediators are too times to speak this
narrative or feel that is not their business. The media in both
countries suppresses it.
CAUCASUS CONFLICT VOICES, MAY 2011
THOMAS DE WAAL, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE
HTTP://PEACE.ONEWORLD.AM/CONFLICT_VOICES_MAY_2011.HTML
ALTERNATIVE NARRATIVES

21. THE MEDIA AND ICT4D

22. USHAHIDI CRISIS.NET

23. A CYBER UTOPIA?
The reason why the KGB wants you to join Facebook is
because it allows them to learn more about you from afar. It
allows them to identify certain social graphs and social
connections between activists. Many of these relationships
are now self-disclosed by activists by joining various groups.
EVGENY MOROZOV, THE NET DELUSION: DARK SIDE OF INTERNET FREEDOM
http://www.rferl.org/content/interview_morozov_internet_democracy_promotion/ 2284105.html

24. THE INTERNET

25. A CYBER UTOPIA?
I study the ways new media shapes people's perceptions
of the world. It's my fond hope that social networks such as
Facebook will help users broaden their perspectives by
listening to a different set of people than they encounter in
their daily life. But I fear services such as Facebook may
be turning us into imaginary cosmopolitans.
CNN, DOES FACEBOOK UNITE OR DIVIDE US?
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/08/03/zuckerman.facebook.global/

26. FOREIGN FIGHTERS
The use of social media among young people going to join
rebel groups in Syria and Iraq has exploded. It is their main
source of information and communication.
The consequences for society of so many people being exposed
to the violence and brutality of war and to radical extremist
groups at the forefront of the fighting are unpredictable, but
unlikely to be positive.
RICHARD BARRETT, UNITED NATIONS COUNTERTERRORISM TASKFORCE (CTITF) CO-FOUNDER
http://techpresident.com/news/wegov/25167/while-jihad-waged-iraq-and-syria-counter-narratives-go-online

27. COUNTER NARRATIVES
Attractive alternative narratives can contribute to the
prevention of radicalization and recruitment if they are
delivered to the target audience by trusted sources. […]
community leaders that are informed of potential
radicalisation and recruitment to violent extremism in their
own communities are better par tners in effor ts to counter
violent extremism in those communities.
DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE COUNTER-NARRATIVES IN COUNTERING VIOLENT EXTREMISM
(CVE), HEDAYAH CENTRE. SEPTEMBER 2014

30. SULEIMAN BAKHIT © ONNIK JAMES KRIKORIAN 2014

31. DISCUSSION
EMAIL
onewmphoto@gmail.com
WEB
http://www.onnik-krikorian.com
http://www.conflict-voices.net
FACEBOOK
http://www.facebook.com/onewmphoto
http://www.facebook.com/conflictvoices
TWITTER
http://www.twitter.com/onewmphoto
http://www.twitter.com/caucasusproject