| dc.description.abstract | This research focuses on the role and impact of Islamic discourses in the Armenian-Azerbaijani Conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. As an ethnoterritorial interstate dispute between Christian Armenians and Muslim Azerbaijanis, the ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict is an intriguing case study from the perspective of instrumentalization of Islamic discourses. This research, thus, attempts to explore whether and how Islamic rhetoric has evolved since the 1980s, when the Conflict erupted upon the rubbles of the godless Soviet Union, until the most recent war of 2020. While the peculiarities of Azerbaijani Islam are thoroughly discussed in this research to demonstrate how they relate to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, a particular emphasis is put on illustrating the Islamic discourses surrounding the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War of 2020. Furthermore, this thesis draws on important Islamic concepts like Islamic Solidarity and Ummah to analyze how Islam ‘mattered’ in this ongoing ethno-territorial conflict. Using discourse and media analyses as well as historical approaches, this research investigates the ways Islam entered the Conflict and gradually became more involved in it, reaching its ‘Islamic peak’ in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh war of 2020. As for theoretical contributions, this research attempts to look at the contemporary Azerbaijani politics from a ‘post-secular’ light, thus challenging the discourse that post-secular perspectives are only applicable to modern Western societies. Moreover, I critically reflect on the notion of Azerbaijanis’ orinetalization within the Nagorno- Karabakh Conflict, adding to the existing theory on this intriguing discourse. | |
