23 02 2008 - International Conference on occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Sumgait pogroms.

Tolerance and Xenophobia in the South Caucasus region
PROGRAMM- February 25
Hotel “Marriott-Armenia” “Tigran the Great” Hall
09:30-10:00 – Registration of participants of the conference
10:00-11:00 – Opening Speech and Plenary session
Opening Speech
Hayk Demoyan, Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum and Institute (AGMI)
Plenary session
• Tigran Torosyan, President of the National Assembly of RA
• Vardan Oskanyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Armen Harutyunyan, Ombudsman of RA
• Radik Martirosyan, President of the National Academy of Sciences of RA
• Zori Balayan, Activist of the Karabakh movement, publicist

11:00-12:15 The First Panel /moderated by Suren Manukyan/

1. Suren Zolyan - Civilization conflict or intercultural dialogue: Freedom of speech and limits of tolerance

2. Aleksander Iskandaryan - Xenophobia as a political form of Post-Soviet identities

3. Gevorg Poghosyan - Building of the national statehood and phenomena of xenophobia in the society

4. Hayk Demoyan - ”Hate speech” and the problem of ethnic belong in the social-political rhetoric in South-Caucasus region

5. Natalya Moshenskaya – International-legal consequences of the declarations made by high ranked statesmen

12:15-12:30 Questions, Comments, Discussion

Discussants
Nikolay Hovhannisyan - academician, National Academy of Sciences
Armen Ayvazyan - political analyst

12:30-12:45 – Coffee break

12:45-13-00 – Presentation of the English-language book “The Western Mass Media coverage of Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict in 1988-1990” by Hayk Demoyan


13:00-14:15 – The Second Panel /moderated by Hayk Demoyan/

1. Pamela de Condappa - Cultural Genocide: A Theoretical Overview

2. Samvel Karapetyan - The condition of the Armenian historical monuments in Azerbaijan

3. Galina Kojevnikova - The Caucasus phobia as one of the prevailing aggressive phobias in Russia

4. Aleksander Verkhovski - The Caucasus as essential “Other” for the Russian nationalism

5. Aleksander Manasyan - The process of European integration and culture of tolerance

14:15-14:30 Questions, Comments, Discussion

Discussants

Samvel Martirosyan – political analyst
Artyom Yerkanyan - political analyst

14:30-15:30 Lunch Break

15-30-16:45 The Third Panel /moderated by Aleksander Verkhovski/

1. Hranush Kharatyan - The 1988 February in Sumgait as modeling period of the National Front of Azerbaijan / on the refugees memories materials/

2. Viktor Krivopuskov – Pogroms in Sumgayit and its echoes in the Soviet and Post-Soviet period

3. Ruben Sahakyan - Sumgayit procedure: retrospective view

4. Haruthyun Marutyan – People’s perceptions of Sumgait massacres during the Karabakh movements

5. Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan - Trans-border peoples as basis for inter-state dialogue

16:45-17:00 Questions, Comments, Discussion
17:00 – 17:10 Coffee break

Discussants

1. Inessa Burkova /member of the KRIK/
17:00-17:30 Closing Session.
Discussion and adoption of conference resolution

19:00 Evening reception

participants from RA

1. Tigran Torosyan, President of the National Assembly of RA
2. Vardan Oskanyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs
3. Armen Harutyunyan, Ombudsman of RA
4. Hayk Demoyan, Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum and Institute (AGMI)
5. Radik Martirosyan, President of the National Academy of Sciences of RA
6. Zori Balayan, Activist of the Karabakh movement, publicist
7. Suren Zolyan, Rector of the Yerevan State Linguistic University after V. Brusov
8. Aleksander Iskandaryan, Director of the Institute of the Caucasus Media
9. Haruthyun Marutyan, Ethnography and Archeology Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of RA
10. Hranush Kharatyan, Head of the Department of National Minorities and Religious Affairs in the Armenian Government
11. Aleksander Manasyan, Academy of Political Studies, “Azat Hayk” benevolent public committe
12. Levon Melik-Shahnazaryan, independent expert
13. Ruben Sahakyan, President of the Chamber of Advocates of RA
14. Nikolay Hovhannisyan, Associate of the National Academy of Sciences of RA
15. Gevorg Poghosyan, Director of the Institute of Sociology and Psychology of the National Academy of Sciences of RA
16. Samvel Martirosyan, independent political analyst
17. Armen Ayvazyan, Director of the “Ararat” Center for Strategic Research
18. Samvel Karapetyan, “Study of the Armenian Architecture” public committee
19. Artyom Yerkanyan, political analyst
Participants from Abroad
1. Viktor Krivopuskov, Chairman of the company of the Russian-Armenian friendship
2. Aleksander Verkhovski,“Sova” center, Moscow, RF
3. Galina Kojevnikova, Expert on tolerance and xenophobia, Moscow, RF
4. Inessa Burkova, Member of the KRIK, Moscow, RF
5. Pamela de Condappa, King’s College, Cambridge University, Great Britain
6. Natalya Moshenskaya, Russian Parliament, Union of the Young Lawyers

Arevik Avetisyan