Due to lack of available information about the roots and causes of the conflict , foreign reporters filled the information vacuum with constant references to the religious factor , i.e. the fact that Armenians were predominantly Christian , whereas Azeris were predominantly Muslim ; a factor which in fact was virtually irrelevant in the course of the entire conflict . Readers already aware of rising military Islamism in the Middle East were considered a perfect audience to be informed of a case of " Muslim oppressors victimising a Christian minority " . Religion was unduly stressed more than political , territorial and ethnic factors , with very rare references to democratic and self-determination movements in both countries . It was not until the Khojaly Massacre in late February 1992 , when hundreds of civilian Azeris were massacred by Armenian units , that references to religion largely disappeared , as being contrary to the neat journalistic scheme where " Christian Armenians " were shown as victims and " Muslim Azeris " as their victimisers . A study of four largest Canadian newspapers covering the event showed that the journalists tended to present the massacre of Azeris as a secondary issue , as well as to rely on Armenian sources , to give priority to Armenian denials over Azerbaijani " allegations " ( which were described as " grossly exaggerated " ) , to downplay the scale of death , not to publish images of the bodies and mourners , and not to mention the event in editorials and opinion columns
Khojaly Massacre
Khojaly Massacre
Nagorno-Karabakh War