Lecture | Nagorno-Karabakh, a new Armenian tragedy

Azerbaijan’s latest offensive has put an end to the dreams of independence of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), whose leaders have announced that it will be dissolved on 1 January 2024. Through blockades, atrocities, famine and repression, Aliyev’s regime has driven more than 100,000 Armenians into exile, taking refuge in Armenia, whose territorial integrity is in danger. Can the international community turn a blind eye to this new crime against humanity in 2023?

To discuss the issue, the Boghossian Foundation is organising a conference with Bruno Cathala, French magistrate, former first Registrar of the International Criminal Court, Vincent Duclert, historian and genocide specialist, Anita Khachaturova, who conducted extensive field research in Nagorno-Karabakh after the 2020 war, and Gaïdz Minassian, a journalist with Le Monde.

Bruno Cathala is a French magistrate, former First Registrar of the International Criminal Court (2003-2008) and former President of the Social Chamber of the French Court of Cassation (2018-2022). After serving as Deputy Registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (2001-2002), he joined the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Appointed Director of Common Services by the first session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Statute of the Court in 2002, he became the first civil servant to be recruited by this organisation. The recipient of numerous awards, Bruno Cathala keeps abreast of international developments and is a regular contributor to the media and other international legal journals.

Vincent Duclert is a researcher (HDR), a teacher at Sciences Po Paris, a historian and a general inspector of national education. A specialist in the history of political ideas in democracies, he extended since 2016 his field of expertise to the theme of genocides. Six years ago, he carried out the Mission d’étude on genocides and mass crimes in a report that was submitted to the French government in 2018. In 2019, President Emmanuel Macron appointed him president of the Commission for Research on the French Archives on Rwanda and the Tutsi Genocide (1990-1994). Vincent Duclert submitted the report to Macron on 26 May 2021. Author of several hundred academic articles, he wrote or edited several dozen books, including Les Génocides, CNRS Editions, 2019 and La République Imaginée (1870-1914), Gallimard, Folio, 2021.

Anita Khachaturova is a doctoral researcher at the Centre d’étude de la vie politique (CEVIPOL) at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB). She is writing a thesis entitled The affective experience of a de facto state’s collapse: the case of Nagorno-Karabakh, in which she analyses the internal dynamics of Karabakh society in the face of defeat in the 2020 war and the ensuing loss of political subjectivity. She has conducted extensive fieldwork in Nagorno-Karabakh after the 2020 war.

Gaïdz Minassian is a journalist at Le Monde and teaches at Sciences Po Paris.

Conférence Ha — Image: Antoine Agoudjian, Faithful Armenians. The last day Armenians can gather at the Armenian Monastery of Dadivank (between the 9th and 13th centuries), Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), the region of Karvatchar (Kelbadjar), November 2020. After the signing of the treaty on November 9, 2020, between Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia, formalizing the Armenian surrender. The region is ceded to Azerbaijan, and the Armenians must leave.

Nagorno-Karabakh, a new Armenian tragedy and a new crime against humanity in Europe

With Bruno Cathala, Vincent Duclert, Anita Khachaturova, and Gaïdz Minassian

Lecture ◇ 20 October 2023