Results of the research on ‘Armenia and the Armenians, Turkey and the Turks in Armenian Mass Media’ represented

ARMENPRESS
APRIL 27, 2010
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, APRIL 27, ARMENPRESS: The results of the research on ‘Armenia
and the Armenians, Turkey and the Turks in the Armenian Mass Media’
were represented today at the Caucasian Institute. The research was
carried out from December 1 to 31, 2009 by 6 young researches of the
Caucasian institute in assistance with UNDP. More than 200 articles
of various Armenian mass media were involved in the research. Hrant
Mikayelyan, head of the research group, mentioned that the research was
aimed at making clear the opinion of the Armenians about themselves
and the Turks in the context of the Armenian-Turkish relations. The
research showed that the representatives of the Armenian authorities
expressed the same opinions, and the opinions of representatives of
the opposition varied from each other. The articles proved that the
process of the normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations is
quite important for the political life of Armenia.

According to the representatives of the opposition, Turkey would be
the winner in the process, and the coalition members said Armenia
would win. In that period the opinions and statements on Turkey
were mostly negative. Opinions and statements, such as ‘The Turk
remains the same Turk’, ‘Turkey always cheats us’, etc. were made
quite frequently. Hrant Mikayelyan said it is quite strange that the
statements of the Turkish Prime Minister hold quite a firm place in
the Armenian mass media. Opinions on the Armenian Genocide were quite
various. There were some statements, according to which ‘the Genocide
is the fault of the whole Turkish nation’. As to the position of
Armenia about the process, it was mentioned that ‘Armenia should lead
a tougher policy’. The results of the research will be available on the
website of the Caucasian Institute in Armenian, Russian and English.