Books by Vicken Cheterian
The assassination in Istanbul in 2007 of the author Hrant Dink, a high-profile advocate of Turkis... more The assassination in Istanbul in 2007 of the author Hrant Dink, a high-profile advocate of Turkish–Armenian reconciliation, reignited the debate in Turkey on the annihilation of the Ottoman Armenians. Many Turks subsequently re-awakened to their Armenian heritage, reflecting on how their grandparents were forcibly Islamised and Turkified, and the suffering they endured to keep their stories secret. There was public debate around Armenian property confiscated by the Turkish state and the extermination of the minorities. At last the silence had been broken.
After the First World War, the new Turkish Republic forcibly erased the memory of the atrocities, and traces of Armenians, from their historic lands—a process to which the international community turned a blind eye. The price for this amnesia was, Cheterian argues, ‘a century of genocide’.
Turkish intellectuals acknowledge the price society must pay collectively to forget such traumatic events, and that Turkey cannot solve its recurrent conflicts with its minorities—like the Kurds today—nor have an open and democratic society without addressing the original sin on which the state was founded: the Armenian Genocide.
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War and Peace in the Caucasus, Russia's Troubled Frontier, 2009
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Papers by Vicken Cheterian
Small Wars & Insurgencies, 2023
The interaction between Russia and Turkey since 2015 suggests a new quality in foreign affairs co... more The interaction between Russia and Turkey since 2015 suggests a new quality in foreign affairs combining tactical alliance and strategic competition. The Russian invasion of Ukraine did not change this. By studying the cases of Syria, Libya, and Nagorno-Karabakh, we observe not only elements of geopolitical competition and cooperation but also that the combination of the two contradictory approaches in foreign affairs created new opportunities beneficial to the two sides. Russian-Turkish interactions are a unique case study in international relations and are conditioned by their geopolitical competition with the west, a fact that the war in Ukraine did not alter.
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Confluences Méditerranée, 2023
Distribution électronique Cairn.info pour L'Harmattan. Distribution électronique Cairn.info pour ... more Distribution électronique Cairn.info pour L'Harmattan. Distribution électronique Cairn.info pour L'Harmattan. La reproduction ou représentation de cet article, notamment par photocopie, n'est autorisée que dans les limites des conditions générales d'utilisation du site ou, le cas échéant, des conditions générales de la licence souscrite par votre établissement. Toute autre reproduction ou représentation, en tout ou partie, sous quelque forme et de quelque manière que ce soit, est interdite sauf accord préalable et écrit de l'éditeur, en dehors des cas prévus par la législation en vigueur en France. Il est précisé que son stockage dans une base de données est également interdit. Article disponible en ligne à l'adresse Article disponible en ligne à l'adresse https://www.cairn.info/revue-confluences-mediterranee-2023-1-page-55.htm Découvrir le sommaire de ce numéro, suivre la revue par email, s'abonner... Flashez ce QR Code pour accéder à la page de ce numéro sur Cairn.info.
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Journal of Strategic Studies, 2022
In 2020, the Azerbaijani army launched a massive attack on Armenian positions in Nagorno-Karabakh... more In 2020, the Azerbaijani army launched a massive attack on Armenian positions in Nagorno-Karabakh. After 44 days of fighting, Azerbaijan scored a major victory, forcing Armenian forces to retreat from the territories around Karabakh, followed by the deployment of Russian peacekeeping troops. While many analysts have focused on advanced technology to explain Azerbaijan's victory, this article argues that a comparative study of the First Karabakh War (1991-1994) and the Second Karabakh War (2020) points to differences at the strategic level, including political transitions, diplomatic policies, and military forecasts, to propose a comprehensive and strategic discussion of the two wars, away from technological determinism. KEYWORDS War; drones; strategy; Russia; Karabakh; Armenia; Azerbaijan Why did Armenia win the First Karabakh War (1991-1994), and lose the Second Karabakh War (2020)? Or, to put it another way: Why did Azerbaijan lose the first war, but win the second? The 2020 war between Armenia and Azerbaijan is important in contemporary international politics because it was a confrontation between two regular armed forces, unlike most contemporary conflicts, which tend to be asymmetrical struggles between regular armies and insurgent groups. In its aftermath, numerous analysts concluded that drones supplied by either Israel or Turkey to Azerbaijan played a decisive role in sealing the fate of the war. 1
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Journal of Historical Sociology, 2021
This paper argues that a long view perspective of contemporary sectarianism between Sunni and Shi... more This paper argues that a long view perspective of contemporary sectarianism between Sunni and Shia Islam in the Middle East could be read on the background of earlier forms of sectarianism going back to the 19 th and 20 th century history of the region. Such an approach would disentangle sectarianism from primordial narratives as an intrinsic problem of Islam going back to the early schism of the 7 th century and place it in social formations and social practices, and link it to the emergence of sectarianism during the Ottoman age of reforms. It would explicit arguments that link sectarianism with modernism, discussing how the emergence of modern, secular institutions that were based in early-modern millet system led to sects and sectarianism. The outcome of this approach is conceptualization of sect and sectarianism, its categorization, and confronting it with other modern narratives of the history of the Middle East.
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British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies , 2019
The mass violence inflicted by the radical Islamist fighters of the ‘Islamic State’ organization ... more The mass violence inflicted by the radical Islamist fighters of the ‘Islamic State’ organization on the Yazidi population of Iraq is the latest of modern genocides. The violence has placed this little known but ancient community of the Middle East at the centre of international attention, triggering direct international intervention in the fight against ISIS. This article aims to study the motives of ISIS in attacking the Kurds of northern Iraq and in particular the Yazidi population. It will also study the contradictory narratives that emerged in the aftermath of the attack to use it to critically challenge the grand-narratives of the modern history of the Middle East. If one writes the history of the Middle East from the experience and the perspective of the Yazidis, it will be a radically different one than those found in our history books. Hence, its subversive potential that needs to interrogate us.
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Europe-Asia Studies
Did the 1915 genocide of the Ottoman Armenians play a role in the genesis of the Karabakh war? In... more Did the 1915 genocide of the Ottoman Armenians play a role in the genesis of the Karabakh war? In the early phase of the conflict, many Armenian activists and politicians drew parallels between the evolving struggles of the present and the traumatic events of 1915. This essay explores the ways in which Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey have referred to the events of 1915 to formulate their policies towards the conflict. The essay argues that the largely suppressed past trauma was present in the mass psychology of the conflicting parties, although in radically different ways, and that it shaped developing events. After depoliticising genocide commemorations in the early years of its independence, Armenia has recently witnessed an increase in references to the genocide in political discourse. The same also applies, somewhat paradoxically, to Azerbaijan, which has developed its own state-sponsored discourse of genocide, vehemently denying that the genocide took place while portraying Azerbaijan as a victim of genocide itself. This exchange of roles clearly needs further explanation.
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In the post-Soviet Caucasus, a number of borders remain blocked as a result of ethno-territorial ... more In the post-Soviet Caucasus, a number of borders remain blocked as a result of ethno-territorial conflicts that emerged in the early 1990s. Yet, there is one closed border that does not fit the pattern: the Turkish–Armenian border. This border has not been the site of any conflict in that period, and belongs to an entirely different geopolitical space: the border that previously separated the Soviet Union from Turkey, as well as independent Armenia from the Republic of Turkey. To understand the nature of the conflict that keeps the Turkish–Armenian border closed, therefore, one has to look for historic references that go beyond the Soviet legacy and bring in Ottoman history, and specifically the Genocide of Ottoman Armenians in 1915–1916. This analysis sheds new light on understanding the modern conflicts of the Caucasus, which have previously been studied mostly within the context of the Soviet experience.
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ISIS has made unrestrained violence part of its propaganda effort, and to spread fear and subdue ... more ISIS has made unrestrained violence part of its propaganda effort, and to spread fear and subdue populations it conquered. ISIS succeeded in transforming the salami-jihadi ideology of its predecessor al-Qaeda into an ideology of confessional war. Confessional violence has long and unchecked history in the Middle East which goes beyond ISIS, and needs a radical revision to take the region out of its spiral of endless conflicts.
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Conflicts in the Caucasus began as a result of the weakening of the institutions of the Soviet Un... more Conflicts in the Caucasus began as a result of the weakening of the institutions of the Soviet Union.
Since then there have been some major transformations. Initially, there were ‘triangular conflicts’ with
the centre (Moscow) on the one side and two competing national projects on the other side (a Union
Republic and a minority group with an autonomous status within this republic). After the collapse of
the Soviet Union, these conflicts evolved into bilateral ones between two popular-nationalist
movements with competing territorial claims: newly independent nation states, on the one hand, and
minority groups with autonomous status, on the other.
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A series of events in 2008 influenced the Karabakh conflict resolution efforts: the
Kosovo declar... more A series of events in 2008 influenced the Karabakh conflict resolution efforts: the
Kosovo declaration of independence, the August war, and Russian recognition of
independent Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Two new diplomatic initiatives to resolve
the Karabakh conflict were launched immediately after the August war, one by
Russia and the second by Turkey. This article discusses why the two initiatives
failed, and the structural problems of Karabakh conflict resolution efforts.
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he violent overthrow of Kurmanbek Bakiyev in April this year followed by inter-ethnic clashes in ... more he violent overthrow of Kurmanbek Bakiyev in April this year followed by inter-ethnic clashes in June produced a new security challenge in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan, which once in the past was praised as “Switzerland of Central Asia” and “oasis of democracy” had not witnessed such level of violence in two decades of independence. The night Bakiyev was overthrown 84 people were laid dead and over a thousand wounded, while the inter-ethnic clashes in June has claimed may be up to two thousand dead, thousands of houses burnt down, and four hundred thousand people displaced.
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Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, 2009
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Central Asian Survey, 2009
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The Journal of North African Studies, 2010
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Books by Vicken Cheterian
After the First World War, the new Turkish Republic forcibly erased the memory of the atrocities, and traces of Armenians, from their historic lands—a process to which the international community turned a blind eye. The price for this amnesia was, Cheterian argues, ‘a century of genocide’.
Turkish intellectuals acknowledge the price society must pay collectively to forget such traumatic events, and that Turkey cannot solve its recurrent conflicts with its minorities—like the Kurds today—nor have an open and democratic society without addressing the original sin on which the state was founded: the Armenian Genocide.
Papers by Vicken Cheterian
Since then there have been some major transformations. Initially, there were ‘triangular conflicts’ with
the centre (Moscow) on the one side and two competing national projects on the other side (a Union
Republic and a minority group with an autonomous status within this republic). After the collapse of
the Soviet Union, these conflicts evolved into bilateral ones between two popular-nationalist
movements with competing territorial claims: newly independent nation states, on the one hand, and
minority groups with autonomous status, on the other.
Kosovo declaration of independence, the August war, and Russian recognition of
independent Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Two new diplomatic initiatives to resolve
the Karabakh conflict were launched immediately after the August war, one by
Russia and the second by Turkey. This article discusses why the two initiatives
failed, and the structural problems of Karabakh conflict resolution efforts.
After the First World War, the new Turkish Republic forcibly erased the memory of the atrocities, and traces of Armenians, from their historic lands—a process to which the international community turned a blind eye. The price for this amnesia was, Cheterian argues, ‘a century of genocide’.
Turkish intellectuals acknowledge the price society must pay collectively to forget such traumatic events, and that Turkey cannot solve its recurrent conflicts with its minorities—like the Kurds today—nor have an open and democratic society without addressing the original sin on which the state was founded: the Armenian Genocide.
Since then there have been some major transformations. Initially, there were ‘triangular conflicts’ with
the centre (Moscow) on the one side and two competing national projects on the other side (a Union
Republic and a minority group with an autonomous status within this republic). After the collapse of
the Soviet Union, these conflicts evolved into bilateral ones between two popular-nationalist
movements with competing territorial claims: newly independent nation states, on the one hand, and
minority groups with autonomous status, on the other.
Kosovo declaration of independence, the August war, and Russian recognition of
independent Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Two new diplomatic initiatives to resolve
the Karabakh conflict were launched immediately after the August war, one by
Russia and the second by Turkey. This article discusses why the two initiatives
failed, and the structural problems of Karabakh conflict resolution efforts.
Azerbaijan on the periphery of the old Soviet world. Though ending with an uneasy ceasefire in 1994,
the conflict suddenly resumed in 2020, when Azerbaijan launched an offensive across the 1994
armistice line. Here, two scholars explain why it is vital for all to pay attention.