‘Now we are whole:’ humiliation, shame and pride in Aliyev’s discourse on the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War

ABSTRACT The article focuses on the role, interchangeability and liquidity of emotions in the speeches of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev during the Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020. It enquires about the functionality of emotions before, during, and after the war and finds that Aliyev prepared, mobilized and motivated society for the war through multiple ‘Address to the Nation’ speeches that aimed to evoke specific emotions such as shame, pride, and humiliation via portraying the occupation of Shusha and the surrounding region as a source of shame and humiliation and the military victories in 2020 as a source of pride for the whole nation, which, combined, constitutes a crucial example of the interchangeability and liquidity of emotions. The emotional appeals in his speeches also justify and garner support for the initiation of the conflict, which, after the victory, transforms into Azerbaijani pride and humiliation of Armenians.