PROFESSOR YURI BARSEGHOV DIES

Noyan Tapan

Au g 8, 2008

YEREVAN, AUGUST 8, NOYAN TAPAN. Prof.Yuri Barseghov, Foreign Member of
the RA National Academy of Sciences, member of the UN International
Law Commission, director of the Armenian Institute of International
Law and Political Science, J.D., died in Moscow late August 6.

He was born on March 7, 1925 in Tiflis (Tbilisi).

Y. Barseghov attended school No 47 in Tbilisi. The school instruction
was in Ruusian, and many teachers were from Russian schools of Kars
that had been given to Turkey by that time. Living in Tbilisi, Yuri
witnessed many tragic events in the fate of the Armenian people. He
saw many Armenian refugees.

Later when he met American journalist Michael Arlen, editor of the New
Yorker magazine, and read his book "Passage to Ararat" in which the
author tells how he, an Armenian by nationality, became an American
by the name Michael Arlen, Y. Barseghov realized why his parents gave
him a Russian name and why he studied at a Russian school, while his
mother taught at an Armenian one.

In 1945 Yuri entered the Moscow State Institute on International
Relations (MGIMO). Upon graduation, he received the qualification
"lawyer, French translator" and an honors degree. At that time one
of the impulses that made him study the problem of the Armenian
Genocide was the decision to raise the issue of correcting the
historical injustice at the Berlin (Potsdam) Conference of the heads
of the great powers: the Soviet government started showing interest
in this issue after the end of World War II. In 1950 Josef Stalin
raised the issue of return of Armenian territories before the allied
powers. MGIMO graduate Yuri Barseghov decided to study this burning
issue professionally and wrote a degree paper on the subject "The
Armenian Territories in International Legal Acts". By 1953 Y. Barseghov
prepared a thesis on the same subject but literally a few weeks before
the thesis defence, it was announced that the Soviet government again
considered it possible to give up territorial claims to Turkey. The
thesis became "no-go".

In the 20th century the problem of recognition of the genocide of
Armenians committed by Turkey and the fate of native Armenian lands
rose again to the level of world politics. During 6 months, Barseghov
wrote a new thesis entitled "Territory in International Law" based on
the first theoretical chapter of the old one. The new thesis became
the first monographic research on this important subject. In late
1953 he defended the thesis.

After completing the MGIMO post-graduate courses, Barseghov started
to work as deputy head, then as head of the editorial staff for
literature on the issues of international relations, diplomacy and
law at "Foreign Literature" Publishing House.

In 1958 Y. Barseghov published a book (with the same title) on the
basis of his thesis. At that time it was quite difficult to publish
a work on this subject. The book was the only one of its kind.

In 1962 Y. Barseghov started to serve in the UN Secretariat. In
1969-1972 he was the head of the unit of international organizations
at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IWEIR)
of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1972 he began to work as special
assistant to the UN Deputy Secretary-General at the UN Secretariat.

In 1979 Barseghov retuned to IWEIR and in the same year he began
teaching at the international law department of the Peoples’ Friendship
University in Moscow and received the title of professor.

In 1984 Y. Barseghov defended his doctoral thesis on the subject "The
International Legal Foundations of Solution of the Global Problem of
Developing the World Ocean" at the Diplomatci Academy of the USSR MFA.

In 1994-1997 Barseghov took part in the work of the OSCE Minsk Group
on Nagorno Karabakh. In 1999 he founded the Armenian Institute
of International Law and Political Science which he headed until
his death.

Y. Barseghov was also a member of the Maritime Law Association and
the International Law Association of Russia from the time of their
foundation.

He was awarded a Mkhitar Gosh medal (Armenia, in 2000), a Mesrop
Mashtots medal (NKR, in 2000), medals "For Victory over Germany" and
"For Defence of the Caucasus" and other decorations.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress