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Vicken Cheterian: Karabakh Fate Has Repercussions On The Whole Regio

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  • Vicken Cheterian: Karabakh Fate Has Repercussions On The Whole Regio

    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.
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