Monday, March 6, 2023 at 12:30-1:30pm Eastern
In-Person at Harvard Law School, Austin Hall 101, Cambridge, MA

PRESENTER
KARNIG KERKONIAN, Adjunct professor of Public International Law, Artsakh State University and founding partner of Kerkonian Dajani LLP

Nagorno-Karabakh's call for self-determination in the late 1980s was one of the earliest events of democratic fervor signaling the fall of the Soviet Union. It resulted in a backlash of pogroms against Armenians in the streets of Baku, Sumgait and other cities in Azerbaijan. More than thirty years later, the conflict between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan remains unresolved and, after a 2020 war that left thousands dead, it is no longer "frozen" but in active eruption.

Amidst this tension in an already volatile South Caucasus, it is important to realize that the legal lens through which we understand these conflicts has changed too. In particular, the international law governing the principle of self-determination has evolved in those three decades, as have material facts on the ground and even relevant stakeholder motivations. In this talk, Mr. Kerkonian will discuss these monumental shifts in law and land and suggest a meaningful framework for understanding and analyzing this critical conflict, now at the starkest of crossroads.

Karnig Kerkonian holds an A.B. magna cum laude in Government from Harvard University and law degrees: J.D. from the University of Chicago and a post-doctoral Diploma in Public International Law from Cambridge University. A founding partner of Kerkonian Dajani LLP, Mr. Kerkonian regularly handles litigation and appeals covering a range of subjects including foreign sovereign immunity, international business transactions, fiduciary duties, statutory and tort claims, often involving multi-national commercial entities and/or foreign states.

Mr. Kerkonian presents regularly on matters of public international law, the International Court of Justice, the European Court of Human Rights and the application of international law in U.S. courts. He is an adjunct professor of public international law at Artsakh State University.

CO-SPONSORS
Armenian Law Students Association
Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies, Harvard University
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) / Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Series on Contemporary Armenian Issues