The conference entitled “Reinstating the Indigenous Rights of Artsakh People: Confronting Azerbaijan’s Genocidal Policy” was discussed by experts in six working sessions at the Catholicosate of Cilicia, organized by the Cilicia Analytic Platform. The last two session were held on Monday, 22 April 2024. His Holiness Aram I closed the conference with his concluding remarks and blessing.
Following the formal ending of the conference, the Cilicia Analytic Platform, held a closed session to study and analyze the issues and propositions.
The first session was presented by Dr Khatchik Ghougassian. He briefly described the importance of the politicization of the Diaspora and emphasizing the issue of the Genocide. He spoke of the urgent need for new strategies to revitalize advocacy for remedies and reparations; to raise public awareness and give international visibility to the cause. He also called for new strategical approaches to the Artsakh conflict based on the lessons learned from the past experience; He called for new strategies to mobilize the Diaspora and globalize the issues. The next speaker, Tigran Yegavian, addressed the role of the diaspora, its current and new challenges, particularly the rising “Panturkism”, and the impact on relations, new agenda and strategies with Armenia. The last speaker, Prof. Hayg Oshagan explained, the current understanding of political identity of the Armenian Diaspora, which was the result of the 1830’s, the rise of the European ideology of nationalism. Therefore, the current understanding of Artsakh and nationalism by the Diaspora should be approached from this perspective he concluded. Dr Hrayr Balian moderated the session.
The third session began with the input of Dr Melanya Palayan. She explained Azerbaijan’s cultural war of appropriation in Artsakh, which dated back to the narrative of their origins from nomadic Turkic tribes: Caucasian Albanians and others. This narrative she said, has justified the appropriation of Armenian cultural heritages and churches in Artsakh. Next speaker, Lernik Hovhannisian discussed the issue of protecting Artsakh’s material and non-material cultural heritages and their protection. Hovhannessian proposed mechanisms to protect. Armine Dikranian presented the existing current international legal mechanisms to protect cultural heritage. The session was moderated by Dr. Khatchig Der Ghougassian.
His Holiness Aram I concluded the three-day conference with a brief reflection and his blessings. He said that the process should continue and expand to different places in different forms. The goal and method of the current conference was an attempt to contextualize and analyze academic topics in real life situations. The presentations, he added, were objective, critical, and yet contributed to building consensus. Addressing the topics of discussion, His Holiness said: “The topics we discussed, were not only current important issues, but also issues that required in-depth analysis and urgent planning strategies.” His Holiness thanked the participants and most importantly, Shahan Kandaharian, Prof. Armen Maroukian and Prof. Ashod Melkonian for planning and preparing the conference, and stated: “The Catholicosate of Cilicia is always ready to support initiatives that will empower Armenia, and currently, the advocacy for the ‘right to return’ of our population of Artsakh under international protection.”
