Ethnic conflicts or economic benefits? A media content analysis about the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway as a part of the Trans-Caspian transport corridor

Introduction. The study analyses the reflection of the infrastructure projects on the Trans-Caspian transport corridor in the media. By combining the roles of transport corridor as a means of regional cooperation and overcoming ethnic issues between the countries, it is aimed at addressing two main questions. The first question would be on the reflection of infrastructure projects on the Trans-Caspian transport corridor in the media in the context of promoting regional cooperation, the second on whether news about infrastructure projects contains any ethnic based messages of discrimination or hostility to exclude any country from such projects. The BTK railway project is used as a case in this paper in this respect. Methods and materials. A conceptual content analysis methodology is applied in this study, which is limited to online media news of three major news agencies of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey within a specific time period beginning from the official inauguration of the BTK until the date of conducting this research - 30 October 2017 - 15 May 2020. Analysis and results. The findings reveal that the news investigated within the context of this research involves positive messages supporting regional cooperation, mutual benefits and common interests that mayhave an incentive impact on public perceptions. It was also discovered that the news about the BTK railway project does not contain any content otherizing or excludes any country, which may help societies to focus on regional cooperation rather than vulnerable ethnic issues. Considering the difficulty of control of social media, it has been recommended that official news may avoid publishing messages with provocative content. Authors’ contribution. A.N. Uste developed the content of the article and carried out its general scientific editing. U. Sanili Aydin proposed a scheme for research analysis. The authors jointly analyzed the results.