VICKEN CHETERIAN: KARABAKH FATE HAS REPERCUSSIONS ON THE WHOLE REGION
PanARMENIAN.Net
05.02.2009 13:04 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ 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.
‘After Kosovo: Whither Karabakh?’ one-day workshop organized in
University of Michigan aimed to assess how the factor of international
recognition of Kosovo’s independence could influence non-recognized
states that emerged from similar circumstances: the collapse of
federal structures of a sovereign state.
The guest speakers were: Ben Graham (University of California, Davis),
Mikulas Fabry (Georgia Institute of Technology) and Vicken Cheterian
(CIMERA, Geneva).
"The recognition of Kosovo has introduced a new element in the
recognized pattern of post-Cold War state formation in Eurasia,
despite the claims of some countries that this was an exception,
not a precedent to the usual rules of the game," Mr. Cheterian told
PanARMENIAN.Net.
"As political theorist Karl Schmidt wrote, "Sovereign is he who decides
on the exception." But who is the proper sovereign here? The change
in the status of Kosovo has already had repercussions elsewhere. The
violent clashes of August 2008 in Georgia, followed by Russian
recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia,
underline the novelty of the post-Kosovo world. This question has
gained new significance and urgency. States that have separatist
movements fear that the Kosovo precedent will accentuate the chances
of separatism, while politically mobilized minority movements are
encouraged by it," he said.
Nagorno Karabakh represents an interesting case, not only because
it is located so near the other Caucasian conflicts, but because the
question of its fate has repercussions on the whole region, an arena
that has recently become a central focus of East-West power games,
according to him.
"Sadly, there have been few analytical efforts to chart the recent
evolution and future pathways of the conflict. This workshop aimed
to cover this gap by bringing together political analysts and
international experts to examine the present and future of Nagorno
Karabakh in light of the recent developments in Kosovo and Georgia,"
Mr. Cheterian said.
This meeting of the workshop will be followed by a second at the
University of Geneva, organized by CIMERA and co-sponsored by the
Armenian Studies Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in the
spring of 2009.