Party- and state-controlled Russian-language publications of the soviet republics as a source of the history of conflicts in the Soviet Transcaucasia (1988-1991)

The history of ethnic and denominational conflicts of the Soviet period in Nagorno-Karabakh (Azerbaijan SSR), Abkhazia and South Ossetia (Georgian SSR) has always been a reason for scientific and journalistic discussions. The persistent high politicization and interethnic tension create two key problems in studying the history of conflicts: the rejection of the principle of objectivity and the lack of representativeness of the source base. To address these challenges, such source as periodicals should be studied. The research discusses the major issues, methods, and possibilities of the source analysis of the party- and state-controlled publications in the Transcaucasian republics. The authors compare the periodicals of the restructuring era with the publications of other periods in the history of the USSR. Besides, they analyze the publications of autonomous administrative entities. The emphasis is placed on the semiotic and diachronic analysis in combination with a historical and comparative approach. This set of analytical and methodological approaches along with facts and interpretations of documents, memoirs, and speeches make it possible to provide a comprehensive source analysis of the party-controlled periodicals in the Georgian and Azerbaijan SSR.