Asbed BEDROSSIAN (GROONG): We have a sense of
a brewing controversy related to a conference on Turkish studies in Georgia
this month. We understand
that you will be participating in that conference; indeed you will be the first keynote
speaker. Can you tell us something about that conference?
Jirair LIBARIDIAN:
Sure. This is the fourth conference of the University of Utah Turkish Studies
Project. They have held others in different parts of the
world before. This one will take place with the partnership of Tbilisi State
University, in Tbilisi, early June. The theme of the conference is quite
intriguing: "The Caucasus at Imperial
Twilight: Nationalism, Ethnicity and Nation-Building (1870s-1920s)." There will be
some 80 papers presented by known and upcoming scholars.
I was invited to
participate in these series for the first time; after much
thought, deliberation and consultation with some colleagues, I accepted the
invitation.
