CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VOLUME VI (1) Contemporary-Eurasia-VI-1-engl | Page 120

CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VI (1)
ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONS AT THE INSTITUTE OF
ORIENTAL STUDIES, NAS RA
ON THE IRAQI KURDISTAN INDEPENDENCE REFERENDUM
On 27 October, 2017 a roundtable discussion on the
independence referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan was organized at the
Institute of Oriental Studies of the National Academy of Sciences
of Armenia.
In the opening speech the director of IOS, academician Ruben
Safrastyan emphasized the importance of the topic for Armenia as
well as in the geopolitical context and represented his evaluation of
the current situation.
The keynote speaker was Mushegh Ghahriyan, a researcher at
the Department of International Relation of IOS. He represented
the political and economic situation in Iraqi Kurdistan prior of the
referendum, the reasons triggering the Kurdish leadership to hold a
referendum. M. Ghahriyan also summed up the stance of Turkey,
Iran, USA and EU on this issue and represented 3 possible
scenarios about the development of situation.
A question-and-answer and discussion followed M. Ghahriyan's
speech, where Professor Vahan Bayburdyan and other researchers
of IOS Tatevik Manukyan, Levon Hovsepyan, Arax Pashayan,
Armen Manvelyan, Zvart Hovsepyan expressed their viewpoints,
appraisals and notices.
After the discussion, assessing the approaches and opinions
represented during the roundtable, R. Safrastyan noted, “I can
emphasize impartially, that they are not only interesting, but also
well-grounded. Particularly, the report of the keynote speaker is
balanced, conclusions are a result of serious research.
This discussion proved that our specialists are capable of
studying the issues from different angles. In this regard the
presence and remarks of Professor Vahan Bayburdyan were very
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