Identities Journal Blog
  • Home
  • About Identities
  • Blog Articles
  • COVID-19 Blog Series
    • Call for COVID-19 Commentaries
  • COVID-19 Symposium
  • Contact
  • Home
  • About Identities
  • Blog Articles
  • COVID-19 Blog Series
    • Call for COVID-19 Commentaries
  • COVID-19 Symposium
  • Contact

Competitive victimhood and reconciliation: the case of Turkish–Armenian relations

1/1/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
The 20th century has witnessed many ethnic and religious conflicts, civil wars, massacres and humanitarian crises all over the world from Southeast Europe to Sudan, and from Rwanda to Northern Ireland. Although negative peace [1] is achieved by signed peace agreements or newly-drawn borders in many cases, this does not necessarily bring about reconciliation and harmonious relations between societies. The violent acts of 1915 -- one of the most catastrophic events in the early 20th century -- deeply damaged Turkish–Armenian relations and still has been affecting new generations. Although some peaceful steps have been taken on a diplomatic level to normalise relations, the intractability of the conflict remains.

Past theory on competitive victimhood demonstrates that contested narratives over being ‘the main victim’ of a conflict are significant obstacles in processes of reconciliation. When victimhood becomes a component of a broader collective identity, it can increase the perception of social prejudice, distrust and hatred towards out-groups. Competitive victimhood refers to a situation in which each side in a conflict claims to be the main victim or legitimise its own crimes on the basis of past victimhood (Noor et al. 2008). Moreover, while in-group crimes are downplayed by moral excuses in such situations, out-group crimes are exaggerated by demonising the enemy (Andrighetto et al. 2012). This leads to competition over who has suffered more and who has more right to resort to violence. Although all members of a community have not experienced violence and harm, victimisation becomes a component of collective identity and gets passed down to subsequent generations. 

Moving beyond the diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey [2], my Identities article,  'Competitive victimhood and reconciliation: the case of Turkish–Armenian relations​', focuses on reconciliation between two communities which have very limited interaction due to a closed border, poor diplomatic relations between states, and mutual distrust and prejudices between communities. Drawing upon two separate nation-wide public opinion polls conducted in Turkey and Armenia, and personal interviews, the article explores how narratives of competitive victimhood reveal in the Turkish and Armenian communities.

Furthermore, a theoretical discussion revolves around the relationship between competitive victimhood and reconciliation pyramid, which moves from becoming acquittances with each other’s narratives to a shared narrative and understanding of the past (Auerbach 2009). The empirical analysis displays that Turks seek moral acceptance while Armenians seek recognition. Studying relations between Turks and Armenians on a people to people reconciliation level also demonstrates that the likelihood of reconciliation increases when parties meet and get to know each other’s narratives on a personal level. However, a lack of interaction between the two communities prevents mutual understanding and both groups tend to deny the other’s narratives by supporting official narratives. The analysis also illustrates that Turkish society remembers the massacres and develops empathy on a personal level.

Finally, if the conflicting communities are divided by time and space as in the case of Turkish–Armenian relations, competing victimhood narratives may become even more rooted by decreasing the likelihood of reconciliation. Thus, interaction and acquaintance with competing narratives expose as significant steps to overcome this obstacle and achieve reconciliation between Turkish and Armenian communities. Accordingly, a question unfolds regarding the reconciliation process in general. If interaction and acquaintance with competing narratives may increase the likelihood of reconciliation, why cannot it still be achieved in places like Bosnia-Herzegovina where communities live side by side with a relatively higher level of interaction and acquittance of each other’s narratives?    

References:
Auerbach, Y. 2009. The reconciliation pyramid -- a narrative-based framework for analyzing identity conflicts. Political Psychology 30: 291–317.

Andrighetto, L., S. Mari, C. Volpato & B. Behluli. 2012. Reducing competitive victimhood in Kosovo: the role of extended contact and common ingroup identity. Political Psychology 33: 513–529.

Galtung, J. 1969. Violence, peace and peace research. Journal of Peace Research 6: 167-191.

Noor, M., R. Brown & G. Prentice. 2008. Precursors and mediators of inter-group reconciliation in Northern Ireland: a new model. British Journal of Social Psychology 47: 481–495.

[1] Galtung (1969) defines negative peace as 'the absence of violence', which can be achieved by signed peace agreements between conflicting parties, and differentiates it from social justice and reconciliation, namely positive peace.

[2] Preconditions for peaceful steps, namely the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh for Turkey and recognition of the Armenian genocide for Armenia, pose intractable obstacles to interstate relations.
Blog post by Cagla Demirel, Södertörn University, Sweden

Read the full article: Demirel, Cagla & Eriksson, Johan. Competitive victimhood and reconciliation: the case of Turkish–Armenian relations​. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power. DOI: 10.1080/1070289X.2019.1611073
0 Comments

    Blog Collection

    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019

    Blog Categories

    All
    Academic Freedom
    Activism
    Adolescents
    Adoption
    Affective Solidarity
    Affirmative Action
    African-American
    African Caribbean Self Help Organisation (ACSHO)
    African Diaspora
    AKP
    Aleviness
    Alternative Epistemologies
    Alternative Futures
    Anarchists Against The Wall
    Anthropology
    Antiblackness
    Anti-racism
    Apartheid
    Archives
    Armenians
    Arts
    Aspirations
    Assimilation
    Asylum Seekers
    Australia
    BAME
    Becoming
    Belonging
    Biographical Trajectories
    Biologisation
    Black
    Black Geographies
    Blackness
    Body
    Bosnia-Herzegovina
    Boundary Work
    Boxing
    Brazil
    British Muslims
    Bushfalling
    Cameroon
    Canada
    Capital
    Capitalism
    Caregiver
    Categories
    Causal Stories
    Central Americans
    Chernobyl
    Children
    Children Of Immigrants
    China
    Chinatown
    Chinese Community
    Chinese Immigrants
    Chinese-Indonesian Women
    Citizenship
    Class
    CLR James
    Cognitive Justice
    Colombia
    Colonial
    Colonialism
    Commemoration
    Community
    Competitive
    Conflict
    Containment
    Context
    Contextualisation
    Cosmologies
    Cosmopolitanism
    Counter-mapping
    COVID-19
    Creole
    Critical Race Theory
    Cross-border Marriage
    Cross-national Comparison
    Cultural Geography
    Cultural Policy
    Cultural Scripts
    Cultural Studies
    Cultural Toolkit
    Culture Of Migration
    Curfew
    Decolonial Solidarity
    Decolonisation
    Denial
    Denmark
    Deportation
    Diaspora
    Digital
    Disaster
    Discourse
    Discourse Analysis
    Discrimination
    Displacement
    Diversity
    Divorce
    Domari
    Domestic Violence
    East Jerusalem
    Eating
    Education
    Educational Mobility
    Egypt
    Elite Students
    Emotion
    Employment
    Epistemology
    Ethnic Boundaries
    Ethnic Classification
    Ethnic Identity
    Ethnicity
    Ethnicity And The City
    Ethnicization
    Ethnic Labelling
    Ethnic Minority
    Ethnic Niche
    Ethnic Websites
    Ethnoracial
    Ethnoracial Identity
    Europe
    European Capital Of Culture
    Exile
    Exotic
    Expat
    Expatriates
    Experiential Knowledge
    Expert Role
    Explicit Normativity
    Exploitation
    Expropriation
    Faith Identities
    Family
    Fandom
    Far Right
    Favela
    Filipina
    Filipino
    Filipinos
    Flanders
    Food
    Football
    Fractal Logic
    France
    Fundamental British Values
    Gender
    Global Neo-colonialism
    ‘gün’ Groups
    Gypsy
    Handsworth Epistemologies
    Hauntology
    Hegemony
    Henri Lefebvre
    Higher Education
    Historical Enquiry
    Hmong
    Hong Kong
    Hospitality
    Humanism
    Humanitarianism
    Human Rights
    Hybridity
    Identification
    Identity
    Ideology
    Imaginaries
    Immigrants
    Immigration
    Immobility
    Impact
    Imperialism
    Implicit Normativity
    Inclusion
    Incorporation
    India Israel Relations
    India-Israel Relations
    Indigenous
    Indonesian Women
    Institutions
    Integration
    Intercultural Communication
    Interdisciplinary
    Interest Convergence
    Intermarriage
    Intermarriages
    International Marriage
    Intersectionality
    Interviews
    Intimate Citizenship
    Invisible Boundaries
    Ireland
    Islam
    Islamophobia
    Italy
    Japan
    Jewishness
    Joint Struggle
    Journeys
    Justice
    Kashmir
    Kinning
    Kinship
    Knowledge
    Knowledge Production
    Korea
    Labour Agency
    Labour Market
    Labour Migration
    Language
    Laowai
    Latin America
    Latinos
    Law
    Legal Discourse
    Liberalism
    Local Identity
    Los Angeles
    Mapuche
    Marginalisation
    Mariana Islands
    Marriage
    Marriage Migration
    Marseille
    Marxism
    Masculinity
    Media
    Mental Health Services
    Microaggression
    Micronesia
    Middle Class
    Migrant Entrepreneurs
    Migrant Farm Workers
    Migrants
    Migrant Women
    Migrant Workers
    Migration
    Migration Research
    Military Occupation
    Mixed-ethnicity
    Moralities
    Motherhood
    Movement
    Multicultural
    Multiculturalism
    Multiethnic
    Muslim
    Narrative
    Narratives
    Nation
    National Identity
    Nationalism
    Nation In Danger
    Nation-state
    Neighbourhood Arts
    Neoliberalism
    Neonationalism
    NGOs
    Nicaragua
    Nigeria
    Nigerian Identities
    Non-governmental Organisations
    Normativity
    Northern Mariana Islands
    Norway
    Nostalgia
    Occidentalism
    Okinawa
    Orientalism
    Othering
    Palestine
    Palestine Israel
    Palestine-Israel
    Parenting
    Peace
    Performativity
    Place
    Place Branding
    Place-making
    Poetry
    Poland
    Policy
    Policy Analysis
    Political Subjectivity
    Politics
    Popular Culture
    Populism
    Post-apartheid
    Postcolonial
    Postcolonial Theory
    Post-war
    Power
    Precarious Status
    Protests
    Public Inquiries
    Public Sociology
    Race
    Race-relations
    Racial Capitalism
    Racial Identity
    Racialisation
    Racialization
    Racial Schemas
    Racism
    Reconciliation
    Refugees
    Religion
    Remittances
    Representations
    Research
    Research Communication
    Research-policy Nexus
    Riace
    Rights Claims
    Role Identity
    Russian Women
    Science Studies
    Scientific Misconduct
    Second-generation
    Securitization
    Self-identification
    Self-victimisation
    Settler Colonialism
    Shame
    Silence
    Singapore
    Sixth Pan-African Congress
    Social Contact
    Social Exclusion
    Social Identity
    Social Relations
    Social Space
    Solidarity
    South Africa
    Sports
    State
    State Power
    State Racism
    Stereotyping
    Stigma
    Stuart Hall
    Student-worker
    Subjectivity
    Sunniness
    Sweden
    Sydney
    Syrian Refugees
    Temporality
    Third Sector
    Third Sector Organisations
    Threat Perception
    Transculturalism
    Transnationalism
    Transnational Racialization
    Travel
    Turkey
    Turks
    Undocumented
    Uprising
    Urban Ethnography
    Urban Multiculturalism
    Urban Space
    Utopia
    Vanley Burke
    Victimhood
    Vulnerability
    Walking
    West Bank Separation Wall
    White Nationalism
    Whiteness
    White Sociology
    Women
    Words
    Worker Exit
    Working Class
    Youth

Explore Identities at tandfonline.com/GIDE