Paradise Lost: Nagorno-Karabakh's Quest for Independence from Aspiration to Exile

The Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs presents Dr. Artyom Tonoyan and “Paradise Lost: Nagorno-Karabakh’s Quest for Independence from Aspiration to Exile.”

On September 28, 2023 the leaders of the Republic of Artsakh, an autonomous entity nestled in the mountainous terrain of the South Caucasus and unrecognized by the international community, put out a statement that sent shockwaves throughout the region. In a press release, they revealed their decision to dismantle the formal apparatus of self-governance by year’s end, effectively bringing an end to their existence as an autonomous entity and formalizing Azerbaijan’s sovereignty over the breakaway territory. The announcement was the bitter culmination of a series of events that had unfolded over the preceding months: A ten-month blockade of the Lachin Corridor, (the region’s sole road connecting to Armenia), a relentless three-day military offensive that saw hundreds of soldiers and civilian casualties, and the ensuing forced exodus of Nagorno-Karabakh’s 120,000 Armenian inhabitants.

Although for many people the news of the dissolution of Nagorno-Karabakh came as a shock, it was not entirely unexpected. The announcement was the tragic coda to the war launched by Azerbaijan three years prior to retake the territory that had proclaimed independence from the Soviet Union and Soviet Azerbaijan three decades earlier in 1991. The upcoming lecture will provide a historical context of the conflict, from its beginnings in late 1980s to its eventual blood-soaked conclusion, and what may come next.

A native of Gyumri, Armenia, Dr. Artyom Tonoyan is a sociologist and Visiting Professor of Global Studies at Hamline University, in St. Paul, Minnesota. His research interests include sociology of religion, religion and politics in the South Caucasus, and religion and nationalism in post-Soviet Russia. His articles have appeared in Demokratizatsiva: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization, Society, and Modern Greek Studies Yearbook, among others. He has been a frequent guest on the BBC, Deutsche Welle, France 24, and other outlets. He is the editor of the recently published volume Black Garden Aflame: The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict in the Soviet and Russian Press.

Sponsored by the Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs, International and Global Studies, Russian and East European Studies, Political Science, Religion and History.

Talk will be live streamed to an audience in RAJ CON, followed by Q&A.