Armenophobia in Azerbaijan

The idea of this book came after the presentation of Azeriсhild project which represented a systematized compilation of works by Azerbaijani authors intended for children audiences along with a series of examples of works created by children themselves, which gave a clear demonstration of the gap between the real situation in the Azerbaijani society about anything relating to Armenia and the declared tolerance for diversity of cultures and religions. Naturally enough, we tend to label this hatred as armenophobia often without full awareness of the pivotal role it plays in shaping the ethnic identity of Azerbaijanis; such hatred channeled against all that pertains to Armenia stands as the nemesis of their psychological model and fuels the juxtaposition of us vs. them which is fraught with repercussions for Azerbaijanis themselves. The large archive compiled by the authors of this book a) serves as a thesaurus for an analysis of ongoing processes in the Azerbaijani society and b) allows building a temporal perspective on three levels by covering the past history, current situation and expected ramifications of the armenophobic policy pursued at the state level in Azerbaijan.