“Zhoghovurd” daily writes:

“Within the framework of the election campaign, the state system is already practically engaged in political processes. Ministers are involved in various formats in propaganda campaigns, regional visits and political activity, they are mostly on vacation. In various departments, they operate under a temporary management regime.

These days, Lena Nanushyan is performing the temporary duties of the Minister of Health.

That said, the management of the health care system was entrusted to an official about whom questions have long been accumulated within the government and in the public sphere.

Firstly, from the point of view of image and political perceptions, it is difficult to associate Nanushyan with the main theses of the Communist Party, which the government has been promoting for years. In particular, the fact that his son did not serve in the army due to health reasons became the subject of public discussions. There have been various publications and discussions about this topic in the media, especially in the background when the representatives of the same government constantly talk about the importance of equal obligations and service. Moreover, the two sons of Minister Avanesyan are currently serving in the army.

Another important circumstance concerns the health insurance program. For years, Lena Nanushyan was considered one of the people responsible for the field, but the process never reached practical implementation, and even within the government it was evaluated as a failed direction. Only after Minister Avanesyan took the initiative completely under his control and began to promote the project personally, the government circles started talking about “progress” and praising the minister.

In the official system, they also do not forget that Nanushyan is considered one of the close teammates of former Minister of Health Arsen Torosyan. The topic of Torosyan’s influence in the healthcare system continues to be the subject of active discussions even years after his tenure.

We also tried to get a comment on the topic from Lena Nanushyan, in particular, does she feel comfortable in the status of acting head of the ministry, and how does she evaluate the criticisms directed at her? However, Nanushyan did not answer our calls, and we could not get a comment.”

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On the eve of the election process, the “Civil Agreement” party “with great solemnity” adopted a “code of ethics”, which spoke about tolerance, respect for political opponents, restraint and rejection of hate speech.

However, immediately after these “value system” statements, Nikol Pashinyan announced in a public speech today: “I’m going to choke you, Tsarukyan Gagik, is your tongue long? I’m going to bring a puppy from Belarus, I’m going to make you responsible, no one will save you.”

This is an open threat voiced by the head of state power, which literally pulverizes the “ethical norms” adopted by his own party and exposes the real political culture of the government.

Immediately after Pashinyan’s statement, it became known that the prosecutor’s office sent a request to Belarus to hand over Nver Tsarukyan to the law enforcement agencies of Armenia.

This sequence is politically extremely dangerous.
An image is being created where the Prime Minister’s public threats are followed almost instantly by law enforcement and prosecutorial punitive actions. In such conditions, this process begins to be perceived as the implementation of a political order.
This is not only a violation of political ethics, but a process of discrediting state institutions.

When the head of the country makes public threats, and immediately after that, the power structures are activated, it creates an extremely dangerous impression that the law enforcement system is turning into a tool of political reprisal. In democratic states, this is the red line, the crossing of which leads the state to an atmosphere of fear, pressure and selective justice.

What is even more shocking is that Pashinyan consciously moves the political struggle to the personal and family domain. In a civilized political culture, it is unacceptable to target the family members of a political opponent, especially at the level of the head of the country. This is an indicator of Pashinyan’s political and psychological nervous state.

Pashinyan’s vocabulary has long been beyond the boundaries of rhetoric befitting a statesman. It increasingly resembles the language of street reprisals, where the political opponent is considered a “target to be destroyed”.

This is an extremely dangerous trend, especially before the elections, when the government is obliged to guarantee equal competition, political tolerance and neutrality of law enforcement agencies. Instead, the public sees a dangerous combination of threats, aggressive rhetoric and politicization of power mechanisms.

Pashinyan’s hysterical and aggressive rhetoric is an expression of political insecurity, growing fears and sense of loss of control.

In this situation, it is more important that the opposition political forces do not give in to provocations and continue the struggle to make June 7 a day of real changes and change of power.

“Prosperous Armenia” has repeatedly stated that it is in favor of a competitive, civilized and substantive election campaign. However, it is also obvious that the current government is trying to move the political process into the field of oppression, fear and repressive methods.

The June 7 elections thus become not only an opportunity for a change of power, but also a referendum on the state and political future of Armenia: between democracy and law or a state of threat, fear and political reprisals?

Political scientist Suren Surenyants

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RA Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Austria Andranik Hovhannisyan received the delegation representing Armenia in “Eurovision 2026”.

The ambassador highly appreciated the great work done by the delegation in the international competition and, congratulating SIMÓN, wished him a brilliant performance and victory.

Let’s remind that in “Eurovision 2026” SIMÓN will perform in the second semi-final on May 14, under number 6.

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Quite expectedly, the topic of the war against our immediate neighbor Iran completely disappeared from the Armenian public agenda, but its influence has not gone anywhere, on the contrary, it has strengthened (when you enter the store, you are dealing with it, seeing the price tags of the goods).

But now let me share something else that enables two important implications.
The American media, referring to the sources of the US intelligence services, note that in the background of the ongoing negotiations, Iran has not prepared for peace, but on the contrary, it has managed to restore most of the losses it suffered in the first weeks of the war (including missile launchers), thus increasing its stock of resistance.

Consequence 1:. your position in negotiations is solid when your opponent sees principle rather than concession.

Consequence 2:. nothing is finished in our region.

This is especially relevant when you remember that exactly 5 years ago these days, Azerbaijan entered the sovereign territory of Armenia in Syunik, and the de facto ruling group of Armenia announced that they would negotiate for the Azerbaijanis to leave.

They did not come out, they went deeper and they are preparing to go deeper in the strategic quagmire.

Turkic scholar Varuzhan Geghamyan

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The ombudsman of Artsakh’s cultural heritage, the vice-president of “Azkayin” historical and cultural NGO Hovik Avanesov is sounding the alarm.

“As a result of the monitoring of social networks, it became obvious that the cemetery of the fallen freedom fighters of the village of Vaghuhas, Martakert region of the temporarily occupied Artsakh Republic, became the next target of the Azerbaijani authorities’ vandalism. The study and analysis of the video published in the Azerbaijani social network domain, in the context of the destruction of cultural heritage, ethnic hatred and gross violations of international humanitarian law, allows us to record a number of highly worrying and reprehensible manifestations.

First of all, the circumstance of ethnic and religious targeting is obvious. The Armenian inscriptions on the tombstones and the images of the fallen freedom fighters clearly show that it was not just a cemetery that was targeted, but an important place of Armenian identity, national memory and spiritual heritage. This is not ordinary vandalism, but a deliberate act based on ethnic hatred, the purpose of which is to eliminate the Armenian trace and erase the historical memory.

The actions recorded in the video are characterized by exceptional cynicism and blasphemy. The author of the video deliberately walks over the tombstones, stands on the portraits of the deceased, hits and desecrates them. This behavior is not only damage to the graves, but also a deliberate disrespect to the memory of the dead, the sanctity of the funeral and human dignity. Such actions contradict not only international legal norms, but also the most basic principles of universal morality.

The video also clearly shows many broken, cut, displaced and damaged tombstones, which proves that the cemetery was systematically and purposefully destroyed. The scope and nature of the damages do not indicate an isolated incident, but a deliberate policy of destruction of cultural values. Such operations against Armenian cultural and memory sites in the territories temporarily occupied by the dictatorial regime of Baku have been of a continuous and systemic nature for a long time.

The component of psychological terrorism is also particularly dangerous and reprehensible. The video recording of the actions and their dissemination on social platforms, as well as the Azerbaijani expressions in the video, prove that the purpose of what happened is not only to destroy the traces of the Armenian cultural presence, but also to exert psychological pressure on the relatives of the victims, forcibly displaced Artsakh Armenians and the entire Armenian society. This is an attempt to create an atmosphere of open humiliation, fear and defenselessness, which also has a propaganda character.

Considering the fact that the video may have a heavy psychological impact on the relatives of the fallen freedom fighters and the public, we do not publish it. The video is preserved in the archives of the Artsakh cultural heritage ombudsman’s office as factual evidence of another criminal operation against the Armenian cultural heritage.

It should be emphasized that this is not the first recorded case of desecration of the memory of those who died for the defense of the motherland in Vaghuhas village. Back on January 5, 2024, our partner, the State Service for the Protection of the Historical Environment of Artsakh, PUAK, alerted that Azerbaijani soldiers had destroyed the khachkar erected in 2021 in memory of Mkhitar Aghabekyan, who was killed during the large-scale war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh in 2020, on the roadside of the village. The author of Khachkar was Yura Mangasaryan. This fact once again proves that the actions against the Armenian memory and cultural presence are not random or one-time manifestations.

The authorities of Azerbaijan in the temporarily occupied Artsakh destroy and desecrate the monuments and cemeteries commemorating the heroes who were martyred for the defense of the motherland with particular cruelty and consistency. These actions have already gone beyond the scope of individual cases of vandalism and turned into a coordinated policy implemented at the state level, the purpose of which is the elimination of Armenian historical and cultural heritage and erasure of national memory. More than a dozen similar facts have already been recorded in different settlements of Artsakh, which document the consistent process of cultural genocide.

The silence and inadequate response of the international community continue to contribute to the deepening of the atmosphere of impunity. Meanwhile, such actions against cultural heritage, sanctuaries and cemeteries should receive a clear political, legal and moral evaluation. When the graves of the dead and the places of national memory are targeted, not only the rights of one people are threatened, but also the universal values ​​on which the existence of the civilized world is based,” he said.

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As a result of the explanatory work of the police, another number of cases of voluntary surrender of illegally stored weapons and ammunition were registered.

Calling the Kotayk department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs 112 operational management center, the citizen reported that he left weapons and ammunition near the fence of one of the restaurant complexes in Abovyan city.

The officers of the Kotayk community police department found four 9 mm pistols, three 12 mm hunting sniper rifles, two 7.62 mm assault rifles, an “AKS” type assault rifle, and 29 bullets at the mentioned place.
A case of voluntary surrender of illegal weapons and ammunition was also registered as a result of the explanatory work of the officers of the Hrazdan Community Police Department.
The citizen who called the police reported that he had left weapons and ammunition in the pavilions near the Hrazdan reservoir.

Community police found a “Kalashnikov” assault rifle and 55 bullets of different calibers at the mentioned place.

The police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs urges to voluntarily hand over the illegally stored weapons and ammunition in order to avoid criminal liability.

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