Conflict-time memory laws: Armenian Genocide recognition in Greece

This analysis unpacks how interstate conflicts change the scope and function of memory laws. Following diplomatic ruptures, memory entrepreneurs deploy conflict-time memory laws to essentialize adversaries, cause them reputational damage, and communicate specific interpretations of the conflict to both domestic and international audiences. At the same time, conflict-time memory laws also recalibrate collective memory narratives by linking past grievances to contemporary conflicts. Developing the concept of conflict-time memory laws, the article evaluates Greece’s 1996 recognition of the Armenian Genocide following the Imia crisis with Turkey (1995–1996). The study reveals how the conflict provided a diverse group of Greek MPs with a strategic opportunity to recognize the Armenian Genocide, shame Turkey, and characterize it as immutably transgressive to both domestic and international audiences. The concept of conflict-time memory laws introduces novel insights into the interactive dynamics between memory politics and interstate conflicts.