We were indignantly informed that the Azerbaijani authorities leveled the St. Hakob Church of Stepanakert city and the khachkars and monuments in the surrounding area, which according to Azerbaijani sources were allegedly illegal structures and should be dismantled. The information received regarding the destruction of the Saint Astvatsatsin Mother Cathedral of Stepanakert is also very worrying. This is stated in the statement issued by the Mother See.

The Mother See of Saint Etchmiadzin strongly condemns the consistent destruction of the spiritual and cultural heritage of Artsakh carried out by the Azerbaijani authorities. It is obvious that the government of Azerbaijan continues to target the Armenian Christian sanctuaries with the aim of erasing the Armenian trace from Artsakh.

This vandalism carried out at the state level proves once again that Azerbaijan’s anti-Armenian policy has not undergone any change, which makes the statements about establishing a stable and long-term peace with Armenia doubtful.

The Mother See of Saint Etchmiadzin calls on the head of the RA government and the representatives of the government to take urgent and effective steps to prevent the systematic appropriation and destruction of Artsakh’s spiritual and cultural heritage.

We also call on all states and international organizations interested in the preservation of cultural heritage, peaceful coexistence and cooperation of peoples in the region to take effective measures to stop cultural crimes in Artsakh.

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The government recognized the surrounding areas of the Cascade cultural hub project as a priority interest. the project was included in the agenda of the session of today, April 23, in the package of non-reportable issues.

«23.10.2025 of the Government of the Republic of Armenia “On approving the investment plan, giving consent and authorizing the granting of a plot of land with the right of development to JTB DEVELOPMENT SP without a tender and the expropriation of a plot of land in the form of direct sale” no. By Decision 1499-A (hereinafter: Decision), the RA Government approved the investment program of the “Cascade Cultural Hub” architectural project, which essentially consists of two components

By the above-mentioned decision, the mayor of Yerevan was authorized on behalf of the Republic of Armenia with “GTB DEVELOPMENT” JSC. to seal the land in the city of Yerevan with a plot of land intended for zone B2 from the northern part, a plot of land stretching from the western part to the steps of the Cascade complex, from the southern part by a road and from the eastern side later as a plot subject to urban greening, in an area of about 1.8 ha, in accordance with Part 3 of Article 7 of Annex No. intended to be an agreement defining the rights, duties and responsibilities of the state and the acquirer during the process of expropriation of property.

The contract was signed on March 18, 2026,” says the justification of the project.

The author of the project is the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures.

And “GTB DEVELOPMENT” LLC, implementing the project, will invest 20 billion 46 million drams for the project, it was also said that in parallel with the reconstruction works of the “Cascade” complex, the investing company will be given the opportunity to build a multi-functional complex on the right side of “Cascade”, the project of which will be drawn up and architectural solutions will be provided by Jean-Michel Wilmot, the complex and “Cascade” taking into account the need to ensure harmony between the existing and reconstructed sections and the existing environment.

The entire project is expected to be completed in five years. The justification also clarifies that the adoption of the decision does not impose an additional financial burden on the state or municipal budgets. all expenses will be realized at the expense of private investments.

“GTB Development” LLC was founded in 2024․ on October 24․ the real main beneficiary is Grigor Ter-Ghazaryan with 97.5 percent (1 percent participation by Indian citizen Sulakhan Singh, 1.5 percent by American citizen Bobby Singh Kang). Ter-Ghazaryan is the son-in-law of Armen Sargsyan, the brother of the leader of the Republic Party Aram Sargsyan. Aram Sargsyan is one of the supporters of Nikol Pashinyan, and the “Republic” party is represented in the Yerevan Council of Elders.

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US President Donald Trump has announced that at the request of Pakistan, he is extending the two-week ceasefire with Iran established on April 8, which expires on April 22. It is noted that the ceasefire is being extended indefinitely.

On the Truth Social platform, Trump wrote that attacks on Iran will be suspended until “the leaders and representatives of that country can come up with a joint proposal.” At the same time, the blockade of Iranian ports will continue.

“Therefore, I have instructed our armed forces to continue the blockade and remain ready and capable in all aspects. The cease-fire will be extended until they present an offer and the discussions are completed, one way or another,” added Trump.

In another post, the US president noted that Iran does not want the Strait of Hormuz to remain closed because it loses $500 million a day. According to Trump, if the naval blockade of Iran ends, “there will never be a deal until we blow up the rest of their country, including their leaders.”

Iran’s Minister of Agriculture also stated that the blockade of Iranian ports by the US had little effect on the country’s ability to supply basic goods and food, noting the high level of domestic production and alternative import routes. “Despite the blockade of the US Navy, we have no problem with the supply of basic goods and food, because due to the size of the country, it is possible to make imports from different borders,” stated the Minister of Agriculture.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked President Trump for extending the ceasefire with Iran on behalf of himself and Field Marshal Asim Munir at the X, noting that it would allow diplomatic efforts to continue. He expressed hope that both sides will continue to maintain the ceasefire and reach a comprehensive peace agreement during the second round of negotiations planned in Islamabad.

Despite the US extension of the ceasefire, Britain’s Maritime Operations Center said that Iranian forces had fired on two cargo ships in the Strait of Hormuz, seriously damaging one.

Majid Mousavi, commander of the Aerospace Forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, threatened Iran’s southern neighbors with the destruction of their oil industry if the territory of those countries is used for attacks on Iran.

This situation indicates that a delicate balance has been created in the Middle East, where the parties are trying to avoid a full-scale war while maintaining the maximum pressure levers. Trump’s decision to extend the ceasefire but maintain the naval blockade is a classic “whip and donut” policy with several strategic layers.

168.amin a conversation with Russian Turkologist Viktor Nadein-Raevsky said that Washington’s waiting for the Iranian proposal is like a strategic pause, which will give an opportunity to understand how to behave in the future and to reorganize in general, to review the future scenarios of developments.

According to him, this stage is also a similar stage for Tehran, which was able to reach this decision by its resistance. At the same time, according to the analyst, with this latest phase of the war, the current US administration realized that a direct military conflict has unpredictable consequences for the world economy, particularly the energy market.

“Waiting for an offer from Iran, the USA throws the ball into Tehran’s court. Along with all this, the US believes that the blockade causes great damage to Iran, so it is more appropriate not to spend a lot of money on the war itself, but to exhaust Iran with the blockade. However, narrow specialists express different opinions about this calculation. Another important circumstance is that by considering Pakistan’s mediation, the US shows its allies that it is taking them into account. This is important against the background of the decline of the USA’s reputation and reputation as an ally after the developments with the Persian Gulf countries,” said Victor Nadein-Raevsky.

He does not consider this to be a cessation of war, the parties are trying to maintain a policy of maximum pressure on each other, without large-scale military clashes, which could resume at any moment.

“Without hot military operations, however, the war situation, the atmosphere is maintained with all its risks. Naturally, if it is not possible to find some possible deal formula during this pause, the situation will become much more dangerous. However, in Iran, taking into account the previous attempts to negotiate, they understand that simply participating in the negotiation does not solve any issue, the negotiation does not protect against aggression, so there is a way to go and come to a new situation of relations,” he said.

For the South Caucasus and other regions, he said, all this means that the tension in the neighborhood is maintained at the same level, which implies a responsible foreign policy and a correct balancing policy between the East and the West.

“Tensions around Iran are directly projected onto the South Caucasus, where Armenia and Azerbaijan face a difficult choice, having a neighbor Iran that has hard-line positions, and a partner US at a stage of relations when the US is a mediator in the region and is trying to implement big projects.

For the South Caucasus, this means a period of high alert. While superstates are waiting for each other’s proposals, small regional players should also make their own observations, position themselves and be ready for all possible scenarios.

Naturally, the main problematic topic for Iran in this region is American activity in the South Caucasus, we are talking about activity in the direction of both Armenia and Azerbaijan, and participation in political and logistical projects, which, as everyone knows, concern Tehran. Today, that concern will be more, therefore, the problems with Iran will be more in that regard. And how the interests of Iran and the USA will be reconciled in the region,” said Victor Nadein-Raevsky.

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No matter how much Nikol Pashinyan and his political team try to legitimize the various statements and demands coming from Baku against Armenia, saying that they are a mirror, including the statements stemming from the “Western Azerbaijan” state project and not only, they have nothing to do with reality.

We have written more than once that Aliyev himself never considered the “Western Azerbaijan” state-political program, which is consistently promoted, as a mirror, but considered it in the context of human rights.

The President of Azerbaijan has not voiced statements consistent with Nikol Pashinyan’s statements on historical-political or legal-political issues, if not to say the exact opposite.

Latest fresh examples. Nikol Pashinyan is trying to change the model of patriotism inherited from his ancestors and parents among the Armenian society and the Armenian youth, injecting the thesis that it was imperial, non-state and dictated and authored by foreigners. And it doesn’t matter that what is offered to us in the logic of “real Armenia” is actually imposed, dictated, which implies a rejection of Armenian history with its mistakes and successes. Pashinyan’s government is trying to convince us that this way we will be more perceptible by foreigners and the international community. Perceptible or incapable of resistance, weak, serving the interests of outsiders and easy? digestible

There is also a manipulation here. Pashinyan and CP say one thing: if we don’t erase our history and start from scratch, a war will start, we can’t settle relations with Turkey, and another, contradicting themselves, they declare that Azerbaijan does not allow Turkey to negotiate with Armenia. Alen Simonyan announced the other day.

At the time, during Serzh Sargsyan’s rule, in fact, Azerbaijan was an obstacle that prevented the implementation of the Armenian-Turkish protocols, in fact, at that time, Armenia was ready to regulate relations with Turkey without preconditions, but this did not mean giving up its own history, the facts of the past, and writing “modern history” from the zero point. But, when today the authorities say that Azerbaijan is hindering…, when there have been so many concessions by Armenia, an objective question arises: does this once again show that the peace is not really stable?

Let’s return to Pashinyan’s model of “patriotism” and note that at the 9th Congress of the Council of Elders he announced:

«The growing threats in the world, especially the erosion of national and spiritual and family values ​​in many countries as a result of the harmful influence of globalization and social networks, once again emphasize the importance and role of the Institute of Elders in Azerbaijan. Educating our youth in the spirit of national patriotism and attachment to one’s own roots and putting them on the right path is one of the main tasks of our older generation.”

Is this equivalent to what Nikol Pashinyan teaches?

Moreover, during a regular briefing after the Cabinet meeting today, one of the journalists asked Nikol Pashinyan whether he is ready to publicly commit to supporting the punishment of war crimes in the territory of the Republic of Armenia, even if it refers to the military and political elite of Azerbaijan, to which he stated that such conversations are a double-edged sword.

Then there was also a question about the cases of vandalism carried out by Azerbaijan in Artsakh, to which Pashinyan answered that they will not be discussed at the state level.

And parallel to this, the Azerbaijani propaganda media unanimously published articles about Armenian “vandalism”, which, in particular, “happened” in Aghdam, Akna and Shushi. Moreover, on the national self-determination day of Turkey, which ensured the victory of Azerbaijan in the 44-day war, the delegation of the Defense National University of that country visited the occupied Shushi, accompanied by soldiers and officers of the Azerbaijani army, where some episodes of the 44-day war were recalled.

In Baku today, they also remembered how 3 years ago on these days, a checkpoint was placed on the border with Armenia on the Lachin-Stepanakert road, establishing control over the Lachin corridor, which was outside the tripartite document of November 9, 2020. However, in Azerbaijan, without hiding, they consider this another stage of state policy after the 44-day war, which should lead to the complete depopulation of Artsakh.
And in Yerevan today, the traditional torch procession organized by the Dashnaktsutyun will take place, which may make Nikol Pashinyan cringe, especially when it takes place on the day of Turkey’s national self-determination…

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Even last year, on November 27, Nikol Pashinyan published a video on his Facebook page, stating that he had met with a group of bishops of the Apostolic Church, and there was only one issue on the agenda of the meeting: the removal of His Holiness the Patriarch from the Catholicosic throne. Among the bishops who met with Nikol Pashinyan, the leader of the Artsakh Diocese Vrtanes shocked people the most. The Armenians of Artsakh were first shocked by the action of the leader of the Diocese, then they were angry and decided to go to him personally and find out why he joined Nikol Pashinyan’s anti-Church and anti-Catholic campaign and came out against the Patriarch.

Of course, none of the Artsakh Armenians received the answer to this question from Bishop Vrtanes personally, but the bishops who met with Nikol Pashinyan received the name “tiradav”.

It seemed that, taking into account the anger of the Artsakh Armenians, the leader of the Diocese of Artsakh would understand all the shame and consequences of his action and return to his original functions, that is, dealing with the spiritual and cultural problems of the Artsakh Armenians and keeping them united, but it did not happen, because weeks after meeting with Nikol Pashinyan, on December 18, 10 “tyrants” went to the Mother See, joining against the Church of St. Etchmiadzin “attacked” several dozen people and former priests who were disorganized.

This step of Bishop Vrtanes upset and surprised the members of the Diocesan Council of Artsakh, although after the meeting with Nikol Pashinyan, he issued a statement stating that “he participated in the meeting with Pashinyan as a member of the episcopal committee of the Mother See, and it has nothing to do with the Artsakh issue and the issues that concern our compatriots.” This statement, of course, angered the Artsakh Armenians even more.

During these months, Reverend Vrtanes did not have any contact with media representatives, he left all phone calls unanswered.

Today, we learned that the members of the Artsakh diocesan council last met with Bishop Vrtanes on December 8, after that several members of the diocese, including the chairman, have nothing to do with him.

Today, there is no connection between the members of the diocesan council and Bishop Vrtanes, the members of the diocesan council mainly work with the Mother See without the mediation of Bishop Vrtanes.

According to our source, Reverend Vrtanes probably realized the serious consequences of his actions while remaining in isolation, and he has to publicly admit that he made a big mistake by joining the false agenda put forward by Nikol Pashinyan.

Let’s remind that last year, on May 26, Karekin II, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, went to Bern, Switzerland, and participated in the “Religious Freedom” organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Swiss Protestant Church. at the international forum entitled “Preservation of the Armenian spiritual, cultural and historical heritage in Artsakh/Nagar Karabakh”. During the conference, His Holiness addressed not only the issues of preservation of the spiritual and cultural heritage in Artsakh, but also the return of prisoners and Armenians of Artsakh held illegally in Baku. After that, the attacks on His Holiness and the church began, first, the spiritual leader of Azerbaijan accused the Apostolic Church of “inciting war”, then the RA government, led by Nikol Pashinyan, started the attacks, demanding the removal of the Catholicos.

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Tomorrow is April 24. the 111th anniversary of the Great Genocide is coming to an end, and, naturally, these days, a number of questions are becoming more relevant, what will be the fate of the recognition, condemnation and overcoming the consequences of the Armenian Genocide, if, of course, the problem can be formulated in this way, what is its significance not only for our past, but also for our present and future, for our security, our existence and identity, and what is the state of the process of international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide by the representatives of the current government of Armenia, In the conditions of pushing the issue of the Armenian Genocide into the background and apparently engaging in the speeches of Turkish denial.

On topic 168 TVs «Revue:” is the guest of the program Hayk Demoyan, former director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, Doctor of Historical Sciences.

«We have a completely different situation on the eve of the 111th anniversary. We started 2015 with events dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, and a pan-Armenian declaration was also adopted. Of course, we must understand that we have no right to be emotional, we must carefully consider the situation that exists today in international relations, in international law and in general around us. This was not what Nikol Pashinyan and Ararat Mirzoyan are repeating, who want to reorganize themselves in the conditions of new realities, by honoring the memory of the victims and the victims, disrespecting the memory of the victims and the survivors, they first want to establish themselves and formulate messages to Ankara and Baku. The hybrid peace, not the “hybrid war” that they constantly emphasize, the hybrid peace that today they want to wrap around the neck of the Armenian people, has its open and hidden sides, it is another useless and fruitless effort to achieve that Turkey will at least open a little under some pretext, so to speak, the door through which they can sneak in. It won’t happen because Turkey has its own prerequisite language, Azerbaijan has its own prerequisite language, and worst case scenario for the velvet group, the two together have synchronized prerequisites that will be updated regularly.“, the Genocide expert commented in particular.

Hayk Demoyan declares that the efforts to renounce Western Armenia, Ararat, the marginalization of the memory of the Great Genocide, the making of negative statements and this “KVN” of the memory of the Armenian Genocide are purposeful, have a specific purpose and a client.

«Today, we are dealing with a government that is a follower of orders, including the issue of commemorating and forgetting the memory of the Armenian Genocide.– says the Genocide expert.

Hayk Demoyan describes Nikol Pashinyan’s famous statements about the Armenian Genocide as complete ignorance, stating:

«In such cases, in our school they say: bring your diary, TWO. Moreover, they write two of them with red ink.”

Commenting on illiteracy, of course, does not bring honor to any person, let alone science, let alone Genocide studies. Pashinyan is trying to open windows, open Overton’s window and sneak in there, start discussing the topic. If he had read a small book, instead of writing a shameful book, he should have understood that it is not necessary to approach the topic of genocide when you have not read, first, a survivor’s memoir, any scientific work,” Hayk Demoyan added.

Talking about the forced depopulation and ethnic cleansing of Artsakh in the context of the topic, the genocide expert emphasizes that it was a genocidal act, and “Nikol Pashinyan and his team were personally involved in the genocide.”

Hayk Demoyan considers the targeting of the memory of the genocide and history by the current authorities to be the most dangerous phenomenon. Drawing historical parallels with the example of the “denazification” of Germany after the defeat of Nazi Germany during the Second World War, the historian says:

“It should be prohibited by law to be a member of the Communist Party, the Communist Party, because what happened in 2018 and who organized and prepared the handing over of power to Nikol is fascism.”

Hayk Demoyan also spoke about the situation in the museum-institute after the dismissal of the director of the HCTI, Edita Gzoyan, and the situation related to the renovation of the Tsitsernakaberd memorial complex.

Speaking about the Torchlight Procession, which is traditionally held today, April 23, Hayk Demoyan mentioned that he would like this year’s Torchlight Procession to be a process of rejecting people and phenomena.

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Inflation in Armenia has intensified since the beginning of the year. Wage growth has slowed down and inflation has accelerated. This means that this year the ordinary citizen, who only relies on salary and has no other income, will not live well. On the contrary, many people will live worse because their incomes will not increase due to price increases.

Of course, this does not apply to the ruling political team, the members of the CP who hold public positions and are richly fed by state funds, who receive not only high salaries, but also bonuses and other incomes in excess of the salary. The incomes of these people are so high now that inflation, even activated inflation, does not change much in their life and lifestyle. Now they receive so much income that they can not only not notice the inflation, but also afford to buy expensive houses, apartments, cars and continue to live a luxurious life.

The impact of inflation is felt first of all by those citizens whose incomes, anyway, barely met the minimum needs, if, of course, they did. If they didn’t satisfy, now they won’t satisfy more, and these people will have to be satisfied with less now. Acceleration of inflation is a problem especially for the socially disadvantaged groups of the society, which are quite a large number in Armenia today.

According to official data, the rate of inflation in Armenia has accelerated by almost 40 percent since the beginning of the year. Average inflation reached 4.5 percent. But it still does not say much to an ordinary citizen living on a salary, because he feels the impact of price increases on him to a much greater extent than the 4.5 percent inflation. It is expressed first of all through price increases coming from the markets of food and basic necessities. Food products, according to the latest data, managed to increase in price by 7.8 percent. That’s after last year’s 5.4 percent inflation.

Cumulative food inflation in Armenia was 13.2 percent in two years.

Now imagine what kind of heavy burden of price increases is borne by the citizen whose incomes have hardly increased during 2 years or have increased less than the cumulative inflation. But let’s leave cumulative inflation aside and talk about this year’s inflationary manifestations.

In March, compared to March of the previous year, food prices in Armenia increased by 7.8 percent. Meanwhile, the average salary increased by 5.3 percent. We also know whose account it was. There are 2-3 areas where salary increases occur, which leads to an increase in the average salary, although many working citizens usually do not feel this increase. For example, minimum wage workers, whose salary was AMD 75,000 3 years ago, and it is now. And those people, in the same way as bureaucrats who receive millions, are affected by inflation.

Wage increases elude many, instead they face inflation at every turn. According to the latest data, compared to last year, the average salary in Armenia increased by 14.9 thousand drams. We are talking about the so-called dirty salary increase. If we remove the taxes, the increase will be barely 10-11 thousand drams. But it was mainly at the expense of high salary earners. In organizations with up to 50 employees, where people receive a maximum of 238 thousand drams on average, according to official data, the average salary, which is not yet taxed, has increased by only 3.5-4 thousand drams in the last 1 year. It is about 340,000 workers, who make up almost 42 percent of working citizens.

The average salaries of these people increased by only 1.7-2.5 percent in 1 year. During that same period, the rate of inflation was twice as high.

In the case of food products, the rate of inflation has more than tripled the rate of increase in wages received by those 340 thousand working citizens.

Do you think these people started to live better or worse?

It is clear that it is worse than they lived at least one, maybe several years ago.

Taking into account the fact that there is no hope of raising the minimum wage this year, and as we can see, the wages of low-wage citizens are growing much slower than the accelerating inflation, which means that they will not live well in the near future, they will live even worse than today.

According to official data, the highest inflation in the food market this year was recorded in the case of eggs. Compared to the previous year, the price of eggs has increased by more than 30 percent. There are other products whose inflation is close to it, but let’s assume that these products are not very vitally important for citizens. However, we cannot say the same, for example, about meat products, which recorded double-digit inflation. The price of beef has increased the most, by more than 15 percent in the last 1 year. The inflation of lamb meat is close to 14 percent, and the price of pork meat has increased by 12 percent.

The inflation of fish products was relatively low. Trout has increased in price by 3 percent this year, but after the sharp price increase of the previous year. The price of that same trout increased by 21.5% last year, and this year the prices have increased by 3% on top of 21.5%.

Let’s move to the dairy market, where twelve-month inflation in March was 12.8 percent.

After last year’s almost 14 percent inflation, vegetable oil is expensive by another 9.5 percent. In the last 1 year, the inflation of butter was 8.2 percent, cheese – 8.1 percent.

Bread products, fruits and vegetables have become more expensive. Vegetables, especially after last year’s sharp price increase.

We are not talking about the price increases of non-food products, let alone services. And hundreds and thousands of citizens, including working citizens, whose wages hardly increase or increase much less than inflation, are affected by all of these.

Nikol Pashinyan and the CP members, who from time to time claim that they have improved people’s lives, now let them say whether these 340,000 working citizens, or 42 percent of employees, whose wage growth rate was at least twice lower than the average inflation, three times lower than food inflation, are they living better or worse.

HAKOB KOCHARYAN

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