LECTURE ON ‘ROCKY ROAD OF ARMENIAN-TURKISH NORMALIZATION’ AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Armenian Weekly
January 21, 2010

Dr. Arman Grigoryan, currently a Post-Doctoral Fellow at University
of Michigan, will give a lecture entitled "The Rocky Road of
Armenian-Turkish Normalization: Before and After the Protocols,"
on Thursday, January 28, at 6:30 p.m., in the Lindsay Rogers Common
Room (Room 707) of the International Affairs Building at Columbia
University (420 West 118th Street, New York, NY). The lecture will
be sponsored by the Columbia University Armenian Studies Program,
the Armenian Center at Columbia University, the Middle East Institute
at Columbia University, and the National Association for Armenian
Studies and Research (NAASR).

The signing of the protocols on the establishment of diplomatic
relations and the development of bilateral relations between Armenia
and Turkey have been hailed as a watershed event. After all, the
relationship between Armenians and Turks has been one of the most
hostile relationships in the world since at least World War I.

Therefore, the signing of the protocols was bound to generate some
significant reactions. This presentation will aim to understand the
history of criticisms against normalization, current political shifts
within the government of Armenia, and the prospects of the protocols’
success.

Dr. Arman Grigoryan is a post-doctoral fellow at the University
of Michigan, where he has a joint affiliation with the Political
Science Department and the Armenian Studies Program. Dr. Grigoryan
received a Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University in
2008 after de-fending his dissertation on the role of third parties
in the escalation of state-minority conflicts. He also holds an MA
from the University of Chicago in international relations, and an
under-graduate degree from the Yerevan State University, where he
majored in Turkish studies.

Dr. Grigoryan’s publications have appeared in Ethnopolitics,
International Security, Arme-nian Journal of Public Policy, and
the French Chaillot Papers. His article on the escalatory potential
of third-party interventions will appear in International Studies
Quarterly next year. Prior to his academic career, Grigoryan worked
in the first independent government of Armenia as an ex-pert on
Turkish affairs.

More information about the lecture is available by contacting Nanor
Kebranian at nk@columbia.edu or 212-851-4002 or by contacting NAASR
at hq@naasr.org or (617) 489-1610, or by writing to NAASR, 395 Concord
Ave., Belmont, MA 02478.