PRESS RELEASE

For further information, please contact:
Gloria Caudill, Administrator
Armenian Studies Program
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
gcaudill@umich.edu
(734) 763-0622

AFTER KOSOVO: WHITHER KARABAKH?
One-day colloquium to be held at the University of Michigan will be
webcast live

The Armenian Studies Program at the University of Michigan is
pleased to announce the convening of a one day workshop on Kosovo and
its consequences to be held at the Ann Arbor campus on January 30,
2009.

With the American and European recognition of an independent
Kosovo, against the express desires of Serbia and Russia, and without
the sanction of the United Nations, a new precedent was set for the
process of recognizing new states after conflict and unilateral
secession.  This one-day workshop will assess how the factor of
international recognition of Kosovo’s independence could influence
non-recognized states that emerged from similar circumstances, such as
Nagorno or Mountainous Karabakh in the Caucasus.

Mountainous Karabakh represents an interesting case because the
question of its fate has repercussions for the whole of the Caucasus
region, an arena that has recently become a central focus of East-West
power games.  The workshop also aims to cover the analytical gap in
the understanding of these conflicts by bringing together
international experts to examine the present and future of Mountainous
Karabakh in light of the recent developments in Kosovo and Georgia.

The main speakers at the workshop are (in alphabetical order):
Dr. Vicken Cheterian (Cimera, Geneva, author of the just published War
and Peace in the Caucasus: Russia’s Troubled Frontier);
Prof. Benjamin Graham (University of California, Davis, writing
currently on Abkhazia and frozen conflicts);
Prof. Mklulas Fabry (Georgia Institute of Technology, author of
Recognizing States);
Mr. Gocha Lortkipanidze (New York, former diplomat, the Republic
of Georgia);
Mr. Antranik Migranyan (Institute for Democracy and Cooperation,
Moscow/New York);
Mr. Elin Suleymanov (Consul-General of Azerbaijan in Los
Angeles).

Professors Ronald Grigor Suny (University of Michigan, author of
Looking Toward Ararat:  Armenia in Modern History) and Gerard
Libaridian (University of Michigan, author of Modern Armenia:  People,
Nation, State) will serve as commentators.

The workshop will meet in two sessions on Friday, (January
30): 900 AM-12:00 NOON and 2:00 PM-5:00 PM (EST) in Anderson Room D,
Michigan Union, the University of Michigan; the workshop is open to
the public. Most importantly, the workshop will be webcast live
( 009.asx) and therefore
can be watched by anyone with access to the internet.

The colloquium is being co-sponsored by CIMERA, a research
organization in Geneva, Switzerland; a follow up gathering of the
workshop will be held in Geneva, Switzerland in the Spring of 2009.