ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how Armenia's policy vis-a-vis Turkey has been conditioned by the diverse narratives of its political administrations. It focuses on the shortcomings of Armenian political decision-making in pursuing a viable strategy with its second largest neighbour and negatively shaping this relationship by means of situational, reactive and at times diverging narrative and subsequent policies. The chapter underlines how both the political narrative and subsequent policies vis-a-vis Turkey were employed to earn political dividends. In order to understand the construction of the narratives of survival and security, which form the basis of political discourse on Turkey, it offers a brief historical context of images, symbolism and collective memory shaping the narrative. Following the establishment of the Turkish Republic, the issue of the Armenian Genocide was swept under the carpet of Ottoman history, deliberately forgotten and forcefully silenced.
