Thursday, March 21st, 2024
REGISTER HERE
Please join us for a one-day academic workshop convening scholars and practitioners from around the world on the topic of Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh. The workshop is not public, but we are extending an invitation to any University of Minnesota faculty and graduate students who would like to join us and listen to any sessions. Please see the full workshop program, speaker bios, and abstracts below, and register here for any sessions you would like to attend. In addition, please join us for the public keynote lecture at 6pm on Thursday evening, delivered by Scout Tufankjian, an Armenian-American photographer who has multiple photo essays on Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh. Click here to learn more and register for the public keynote event.
Please contact Nikoleta Sremac with any questions, at srema004@umn.edu.
Organized by the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Presented with the Human Rights Center, Human Rights Program, History Department, Department of Political Science, Arsham and Charlotte Ohanessian Chair, and the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR).
Workshop Program
Thursday March 21st, 2024
Social Sciences Building Room 710
8:30-8:50 a.m. | Breakfast and Registration |
8.50-9.00 a.m. | Workshop Opening and Welcome
Mr. Joe Eggers Professor Melanie O’Brien |
9:00-10:30 a.m. | Workshop Session 1 Dr. Suren Manukyan Head of Department of Comparative Genocide Studies, Armenian Genocide Museum and Institute, Armenia “Preparing for Genocide: Anti-Armenian Narratives in Azerbaijani Education” Professor Arman Tatoyan |
10:30-11:00 a.m. | Coffee Break |
11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. | Workshop Session 2
Professor Armen T. Marsoobian Dr. Artyom Tonoyan |
12:30-1:30 p.m. | Lunch [Social Sciences Building 715] |
1:30-3:00 p.m | Workshop Session 3
Professor Henry Theriault Ms. Sheila Paylan |
3.00-3.30 p.m. | Coffee Break |
3:30-5:00 p.m. | Workshop Session 4
Dr. Elisenda Calvet Martinez Professor Melanie O’Brien |
6.00-7.30 p.m. | Keynote Lecture [St. Sahag Armenian Church]
Scout Tufankjian |
Participants
Conference Committee
Melanie O’Brien
Visiting Professor, Center of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, University of Minnesota, (MN, USA)
Nikoleta Sremac
PhD Candidate, Department of Sociology, University of Minnesota (MN, USA)
Joe Eggers
Interim Director of the Center of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, University of Minnesota, (MN, USA)
Keynote Abstract
Scout Tufankjian, “Artsakh: Once There Was and Was Not”
Scout Tufankjian will speak about Artsakh and her people – before, during, and after the ethnic cleansing by the Azerbaijani government, and what is being done (and what still needs to be done) to support them, preserve their culture, and continue to fight for their rights.
Scout Tufankjian is an Armenian-American photographer based in New York City, best known for her work documenting both of Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns – including her 2008 NYT and LA Times bestselling book Yes We Can: Barack Obama’s History-Making Presidential Campaign. Her second book, There is Only the Earth, was the culmination of six years documenting Armenian communities in over 20 different countries. More recently, she has served as a temporary acting director of Committee to Protect Journalists’ Emergency Response Team and the Senior Afghanistan Consultant for Too Young to Wed. She has taught photography in Yerevan and Stepanakert, and continues to work as a freelance photographer and as a consultant for both RISC Training. She is currently working as the documentary photographer for One Nation/One Project, and on a new project with composer Mary Kouyoumdjian at the New York Philharmonic about the crisis in Artsakh. More of her work can be seen at www.scouttufankjian.com.
Abstracts and Biographies (in order of participation)
Suren Manukyan, “Preparing for Genocide: Anti-Armenian Narratives in Azerbaijani Education”
School education serves as a key component of state propaganda in Azerbaijan, shaping a unified narrative since the 1990s. Azerbaijani educational systems have systematically propagated distorted narratives demonizing Armenians, fostering hostility and ethnic animosity. Through textbooks, curricula, and state-sponsored propaganda, Armenian culture, history, and identity are marginalized, perpetuating stereotypes and prejudice. Armenians are dehumanized and depicted as perpetual enemies, fostering a climate of fear and aggression. This indoctrination has fueled the conflict in Artsakh, culminating in genocide of the Armenian population. This presentation will analyze Azerbaijani textbooks and educational activities, examining the propaganda disseminated among students and creation of genocidal society in Azerbaijan.
Dr. Suren Manukyan is the Head of the Vahakn Dadrian Department of Comparative Genocide Studies at the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute and holds the UNESCO Chair on Prevention of Genocide and Other Atrocity Crimes at Yerevan State University. He also teaches at the American University of Armenia. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights at Rutgers University of New Jersey (2012-2013) and Kazan Visiting Fellow at California State University, Fresno (2021-22). Dr. Manukyan has extensive experience with the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS). His research deals with genocidal violence and perpetrators, focusing mainly on micro-level dynamics and the historiography of genocide. Dr Manukyan’s most recent publication is ‘The Historiography of the Armenian Genocide’, in The Handbook of Genocide Studies (Edward Elgar, 2023).
Arman Tatoyan, “Human Rights Protection of People Forcibly Displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh”
Human rights protection in (post) conflict zones is a widely recognized and challenging mission. Individuals in these areas face significant obstacles in the protection of their rights and often endure suffering due to political, economic, and other factors. The Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh, numbering over 150,000 people, has faced particularly severe challenges living amidst the hostility and discriminatory policies of Azerbaijani authorities, leading to isolation, mental anguish, torture, and other forms of mistreatment. This animosity persists and serves as a source of political leverage for Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani government has waged multiple violent conflicts against Nagorno-Karabakh with the ultimate goal of displacing (exterminating) the Armenian population. They imposed a 10-month blockade on Nagorno-Karabakh and eventually resorted to aggressive military attacks to compel people to flee their homeland. The central issue now is how to safeguard the human rights of these individuals (right to return, etc.) and ensure that universal human rights values are upheld in such dire circumstances.
Dr. Arman Tatoyan is a Professor and Chair of the Master of Arts in Human Rights and Social Justice Program at the American University of Armenia College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Dr. Tatoyan was the Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) of Armenia and a member of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT); and has served as a Deputy Minister of Justice of Armenia and a Deputy Representative (Deputy Agent) of Armenia before the European Court of Human Rights. He was a member of the International review team under the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC). Dr. Tatoyan is a licensed advocate and international expert of the Council of Europe in Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) countries. Dr. Tatoyan has extensive professional experience in the Constitutional Court and the Cassation Court of Armenia, as well as in civil society and international organizations (UN, OSCE, USAID, etc.).
Armen Marsoobian, “The Azerbaijani-Turkic Erasure of the Indigenous Armenians of the Caucasus: Historical Origins and Denialist Consequences”
The origins of the continuing destruction of the Armenian presence in the South Caucasus finds its historical origins in the beginning of the twentieth century and cannot be divorced from the nationalist ideology of Pan-Turkism. This ideological project reached its most violent apogee in the 1915-1923 Armenian Genocide but did not end there. The century long campaign of genocide denial by successive Turkish governments has fueled the revisionist historical narrative that pervades the Azerbaijani genocidal project of the Aliyev regime. This has culminated in the erasure of the indigenous Armenians of Artsakh, a region of immense historical importance for Armenian civilization.
Armen T. Marsoobian is Professor of Philosophy, Southern Connecticut State University, affiliated faculty, Human Rights Institute, University of Connecticut, Senior Research Scholar, Department of Middle East, South Asian, and African Studies, Columbia University, and Editor-in-Chief, Metaphilosophy. He served as First Vice President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars and publishes on topics in genocide studies, human rights, moral philosophy. He co-edited and authored eleven books, including Genocide’s Aftermath: Responsibility and Repair, Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Genocide and Memory, and Fragments of a Lost Homeland: Remembering Armenia. He organized exhibitions of his family’s photography archive in Turkey, Armenia, Great Britain, United States, and Greece.
Artyom Tonoyan, “Dispatches from a Burning Paradise: The Soviet and Russian Media on the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict”
In his much celebrated book, The Invention of News: How the World Came to Know About Itself, that traces the development of the European news market in the Early Modern period, British historian Andrew Pettegree makes the observation that “[by] the time of the French and American revolutions at the end of the eighteenth century, news publications were not only providing a day by day account of unfolding events, they could be seen to play an influential role in shaping them”. This “events-shaping-news-shaping-events” palindromic paradigm has continued ever since, albeit the width and the depth of this dialectical interplay is in many ways dependent on the dominating political system within which events grow to become both news and newsworthy. Taking Petegree’s observation as a point of departure, the presentation seeks to unpack the coverage of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the Soviet and Russian press while underscoring the powerful role of the media in shaping the perceptions and the dynamics of the conflict, while being shaped by them.
A native of Gyumri, Armenia, Dr. Artyom Tonoyan is a sociologist and Visiting Professor of Global Studies at Hamline University, in St. Paul, Minnesota. His research interests include sociology of religion, religion and politics in the South Caucasus, and religion and nationalism in post-Soviet Russia. His articles have appeared in Demokratizatsiva: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization, Society, and Modern Greek Studies Yearbook, among others. He has been a frequent guest on the BBC, Deutsche Welle, France 24, and other outlets. He is the editor of the recently published volume Black Garden Aflame: The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict in the Soviet and Russian Press.
Henry Theriault, “Group Structures and Self-Determination in the Face of Elimination”
A central issue raised by the destruction of the Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and the violent dispersion of its population over the 1988-2023 period is the right of political self-determination for groups not already in possession of a state. Much attention has been given to legal analyses of whether Artsakh Armenians had and/or have that right. While an important avenue of investigation, it leaves open the question of whether relevant law is itself just, that is, whether Armenians should have that right and law should reflect this ethical imperative. An ethics-based approach to political self-determination that includes territorial statehood turns on three key issues. First, what if members of other groups also live in the territory that is claimed? Second, is a “rights”-based framework actually appropriate to this issue? Finally, under what conditions can a non-state group without a recognized government be considered to have a unified political will that can legitimately express a claim of political self-determination on behalf of the group? This presentation will address each of these issues through an oppression-focused framework, which holds that threats to the continuity of a group – including existential threats – must be taken into account in assessing the validity of self-determination claims by that group.
Henry Theriault is Associate VP for Academic Affairs at Worcester State University, after teaching in its Philosophy Department 1998-2017. Specializing in Continental as well as Political Philosophy, Theriault researches denial, prevention, victim-perpetrator relations, reparations, and mass violence against women and girls. He has lectured around the world and published numerous journal articles and chapters. He is lead author of the Armenian Genocide Reparations Study Group’s 2015 Resolution with Justice and, with Samuel Totten, co-author of The United Nations Genocide Convention: An Introduction. Theriault served two terms as IAGS President, 2017-21. He is founding co-editor of Genocide Studies International.
Sheila Paylan, “Recognizing the End of Nagorno-Karabakh Legitimizes Azerbaijan’s Criminal Means of Achieving It”
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict which started on 20 February 1988 is now said to have “ended” on 1 January 2024, on which day the de facto Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh is considered to have ceased to exist. There are serious problems with accepting such a conclusion, particularly given the illegitimate means that Azerbaijan used, especially over the last three years, to achieve that purported “end”. This presentation will shed light on the dissonance which arises from accepting the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as “ended” or “over” without further ado. It will explain the danger in accepting that the conflict has been resolved in the way that it has and that the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic no longer exists.
Sheila Paylan is an international criminal lawyer, war crimes investigator, human rights and gender expert. She spent more than 15 years advising judges and senior officials of various UN-backed international criminal tribunals, including for Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia, and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. From 2019 to 2021, she was appointed by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to a Team of International Experts to help investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Based in Yerevan, she regularly consults for a variety of international organizations, NGOs, think tanks, and governments. She is currently Senior Legal Advisor to the Center for Truth and Justice, where she provides expert advice on strategies to seek justice and accountability for such violations, particularly before the International Criminal Court.
Elisenda Calvet Martinez, “Transitional Justice in the Context of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict”
After Azerbaijan’s takeover of Karabakh in September 2023, around 100,000 Karabakh Armenians have fled their homes and sought refuge in Armenia. Azerbaijan has said that it will treat the remaining Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh just like any other minority population, but fears of ethnic cleansing of ethnic Armenians in the region remains. As the tension in the region seems far from over, it is important to keep documenting the human rights violations not only for accountability purposes, but also to know the truth of what happened and help determine the type and form of reparations. The inclusion of transitional justice issues in the context of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict is important as it represents the commitment of the parties to the armed conflict to promptly address the atrocities that have occurred and places the victims and survivors at the centre. The establishment of mechanisms of truth, including the search of missing persons and fact-finding processes, justice, accountability, return of prisoners of war and displaced persons from the conflict, and reparation of victims are essential and need to be done with the support of the international community.
Dr. Elisenda Calvet Martínez is Associate Professor of International Law, co-director of the Legal Clinic for the Fight against Impunity and deputy Vice Dean of Research and International Relations of the Faculty of Law at the University of Barcelona (Spain). She has worked for the Spanish Red Cross, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner. Her main lines of research are transitional justice, enforced disappearances and genocide. She is a member of the Executive Board of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS).
Melanie O’Brien, “International Criminal Accountability for crimes in Nagorno-Karabakh”
Conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region has resulted in allegations of a range of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide crimes. This paper discusses some of the alleged international crimes committed in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, focusing on the arguments for the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh qualifying as the genocide crime of ‘inflicting conditions of life designed to bring out physical destruction’ of the Armenian people; and the September 2023 ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh as the crime against humanity of deportation. It explores options for accountability for such crimes, noting that the international community has had little interest in ensuring accountability for crimes committed during this conflict, despite ‘justice’ being one of the main concepts of transitional justice. The paper will address the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction in this particular situation, and offer critique as to potential jurisdictional fora and legal solutions, with some suggestions for specific options for accountability and justice for any international crimes committed during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Dr Melanie O’Brien is Visiting Professor at the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, University of Minnesota, and President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS). Her work has been cited by the International Criminal Court; she has appeared before the ICC as an amica curia and been an expert consultant for several UN bodies. Recent achievements include a 10-year service medal from the Australian Red Cross & a Research Fellowship at the Sydney Jewish Museum. Dr O’Brien’s usual role is Associate Professor of International Law at the University of Western Australia; her most recent book is From Discrimination to Death: Genocide Process through a Human Rights Lens.