{"id":7595,"date":"2016-02-25T20:03:11","date_gmt":"2016-02-25T20:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ancnews.info\/?p=7595"},"modified":"2016-02-25T20:03:11","modified_gmt":"2016-02-25T20:03:11","slug":"professor-amit-chhabra-discusses-international-responsibility-to-engage-with-nkr-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ancnews.info\/?p=7595","title":{"rendered":"Professor Amit Chhabra Discusses International Responsibility to Engage with NKR Government"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK, N.Y.\u2014The Armenian National Committee of New York<\/a> (ANC of NY) organized a lecture at New York University (NYU) on Feb. 25 featuring Professor Amit K. Chhabra, titled \u201cFrom Sumgait Massacres to Independent Artsakh: Charting a Course for NKR\u2019s International Recognition.\u201d The NYU Armenian Student Association, Columbia University Armenian Society, and Armenian Youth Federation\u2019s New York \u201cHyortik\u201d Chapter co-sponsored the event.<\/p>\n

Chhabra is a New York attorney, law professor, and NGO ambassador to the United Nations. He has conducted extensive research in international law with a focus on ethno-political armed conflicts, their resolution, and state recognition issues, including the case of the Nagorno-Karabagh Republic. He has authored a paper called, \u201cSuperpower Responsibility for State Recognition: Charting a Course for Nagorno-Karabakh,\u201d wherein he posits that the \u201cGreat Powers\u201d have an independent duty to unilaterally engage with NKR. His current book The Dust Never Settles: Kashmir, Kosovo, Karabakh is a case study on post-war reconciliation.<\/p>\n

In his remarks, Professor Chhabra noted that because of internal human rights violations and the lack of other viable alternatives, the \u201ctraditional criteria for a valid unilateral secession [of Artsakh]\u2026 appeared to be satisfied.\u201d He further added that, \u201cThe 1991 referendum demonstrated popular will in favor of independence and unification with Armenia. When the Council of Peoples\u2019 Deputies communicated the desired transfer of Nagorno Karabagh Autonomous Oblast within the existing framework of the Azerbaijan SSR and the Soviet SSR, Azerbaijan\u2019s government instead responded with alleged state-sponsored ethnic cleansing of its ethnic Armenian element. As self-determination and the call for independence simply were not respected, Karabagh had one alternative, to secede,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe trick now is to obtain political clout by the great powers to recognize the de facto independent state, rather than continue following their oil interests in support of Azerbaijan\u2019s claim to territorial integrity,\u201d added Chhabra. \u201cDue to their positioning within the international system, the great powers have a duty to unilaterally engage with the relevant players so as to ensure a lasting regional peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sumgait Pogroms were acts by Azerbaijan that were planned and organized by the authorities to make a push for the expulsion of Armenians from Azerbaijan. The pogroms were also Azerbaijan\u2019s reaction to the peaceful activities of the people of the recently independent Nagorno-Karabagh. According to official data of former USSR, 27 people were killed during the days prior to and after Feb. 27, 1988 but in reality this figure is higher than 100.<\/p>\n

Amit K. Chhabra\u2019s Research Paper on NKR can be accessed here<\/a>.<\/p>\n