Armenia and Azerbaijan after the Washington Accords: What Is Left of the Conflict?
Monday, May 18, 2026
12:30pm PT
Encina Commons, Rm. 123
615 Crothers Way, Stanford, CA 94305
Event Details:
This event will explore the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, which began in the final years of the Soviet Union, claimed tens of thousands of lives, and displaced hundreds of thousands. Guest speaker Olesya Vartanyan has spent more than 15 years working in conflict zones across the South Caucasus. She will discuss where Armenia and Azerbaijan stand today following a series of peace agreements reached at the White House in the summer of 2025. Drawing on years of on-the-ground research, Olesya will take the audience inside the negotiation process, while also offering a more personal perspective: insights from the field that bring the current situation to life and highlight the challenges that continue to shape this fragile peace.
Olesya Vartanyan is a conflict analyst with over 15 years of experience specializing in research, advocacy, and conflict resolution in the South Caucasus. She has recently started her PhD studies at George Mason University’s Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution. Olesya also contributes to EVN Report analyzing regional dynamics in her column “Beyond Borders,” and writes articles and analysis for leading think tanks, including the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, ISPI, and others.
Previously, Olesya worked with leading international organizations, including the International Crisis Group, Freedom House, and the OSCE. She conducted field investigations and authored influential reports on conflict zones such as Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Nagorno-Karabakh, shaping policy recommendations for governments and international bodies while participating in confidential peace processes. Her efforts earned her the International Young Women’s Peace Award in 2024.
Before transitioning to conflict analysis, Olesya was an investigative journalist reporting on security issues in the South Caucasus. During the 2008 Russia-Georgia war, her field reporting contributed to The New York Times’ groundbreaking investigations into the conflict’s origins. She also gained rare access to Abkhazia, covering crisis developments for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and producing an award-winning radio documentary on missing persons from the Georgia-Abkhazia war.