Criminal proceedings have been initiated in connection with the fight that took place in Yerevan City Hall, yesterday, June 23, during the session of the Council of Elders.
The Investigative Committee reported that a criminal proceeding was initiated in accordance with Article 195, Part 2, Clause 5 of the Criminal Code (physical intervention by a group of persons) in connection with the report received on the incident that took place in the Yerevan Municipality on June 23.
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4 min read
Julien Segura was fresh off volunteering for the campaign of insurgent New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, when he launched his own run for State Assembly.
After Tuesday night, when the results of the state primaries begin to come in, the 29-year-old progressive will find out if he will join the ranks of local New York politicians.
For the last five years, Segura, a lifelong resident of Sugar Hill in Harlem, a predominantly Latino-Caribbean area in Upper Manhattan, had been working on progressive political campaigns. This included volunteering for Andrew Yang’s New York City mayoral campaign, giving him a close-up view of city politics. As a teenager, he was involved in the 2011 Occupy Wall Street movement against economic inequality.
He is part of a growing trend of young candidates who believe their youth and cultural backgrounds can be an asset in politics, long an arena largely for well-connected older men. On his father’s side he is Spanish from Algeria, and on his mother’s side he is Armenian from Lebanon, where he still has family.
“What really got me into it was my own identity as an Armenian and wanting to have a fair shake,” said Segura.
“[Sugar Hill] is an area that’s not very loved. I didn’t want my community to be gentrified to the point where my neighbours couldn’t live here anymore. It’s depressing that it’s this predictable,” he said, referring to his diverse district that is largely working class and where people often struggle to stay in their neighbourhoods due to the city’s rising housing costs.
In this race to represent New York’s Assembly District 71, he is trying for a second time to unseat incumbent Al Taylor, who has held his seat for nearly a decade.
Taylor, who has held office since 2017, has been criticised for voting against LGBTQ+ rights legislation, one of several areas where Segura saw an opening to bring in updated policies. Segura first ran against him in 2024, garnering nearly 30 percent of the vote, giving Taylor one of his few serious challenges while in office.
Neither candidate has been endorsed by Mamdani, possibly because they both helped with his mayoral race.
For his campaign, Segura has assembled a team of around 20 volunteers and 15 staffers, this time with the momentum of Mamdani’s campaign behind them. Their support has been grassroots, without the donations of corporate political action committees (PACs).
They have refused support from the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and other large donors, a position that has essentially become a litmus test for progressives in the Democratic Party.
His campaign manager, Damien Cavallo, told TNA that their grassroots campaigning has made Segura something of a local celebrity among ordinary residents.
“We’re building a cross-cultural coalition,” he said. “We’re bringing in people who aren’t normally politically active. We’re taking in people who were off the books and bringing them on board.”
Like many other progressive candidates, Segura became drawn to politics when working in his own community and learning about what needed to be fixed. For him, that happened when visiting homes while working on data collection for the 2020 census.
“It showed me how poorly structured things were,” Segura said. “I realised the housing situation in my community was among the worst in the city. It was my call to action.”
Segura has seen the effects of the cost-of-living crisis on his neighbourhood, with many people leaving Manhattan for the suburbs. Sugar Hill and surrounding areas are particularly vulnerable to gentrification given their location and population of working-class residents, many of whom can’t afford to stay where they grew up due to New York’s high housing prices.
He has used the word “displacement” to describe people leaving their original neighbourhoods due to rising costs, often a term for those displaced by war, but increasingly used to describe intense gentrification.
Though he doesn’t share the same background as many people in his district, he shares a concern for keeping it diverse and building bridges.
One of his main interests has been interfaith organising, which was sparked by attacks on the local Sikh community in the years following the 9/11 attacks. Through their conversations, he found commonalities with his own family’s history of persecution, namely the 1915 Armenian genocide, which is still not recognised by some major countries. In 1984, thousands of Sikhs in India experienced mob violence following the assassination of then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
“I realised their community is similar to my own. Their genocide is also not recognized,” he said.
On his campaign website, he notes New York politicians from different backgrounds and generations who have given him hope – Bernie Sanders, the de facto leader of progressive politics, as well as Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Mamdani, himself part of the South Asian diaspora. The New York mayor has started what many of his supporters call the “Mamdani effect” of young progressive insurgents taking on the Democratic establishment.
“The area has been primed by Zohran,” said Segura. “If I’ve just voted for a 30-year-old for mayor, why not a 30-year-old for assembly? Once the psychological boundaries have shifted, it’s hard to shift them back.”
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A regular meeting of the North-South Road Corridor Programme Management Council was held under the chairmanship of Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatryan.
According to the Prime Minister’s Office, participants discussed issues related to the construction of the 7-kilometre Kajaran tunnel and the reconstruction of an approximately 4-kilometre access road leading to the tunnel.
The council reviewed the results of the evaluation of financial proposals submitted under an international tender for technical supervision services for the Kajaran tunnel construction project.
Members also considered the first-stage results of tender procedures for the procurement of consultancy services for a project management consultant and technical supervision services for the construction of a 27-kilometre section of the 60-kilometre Sisian-Kajaran road project.
The agenda also included discussions on the expert examination process for the Bargushat tunnel construction project.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Khachatryan stressed the importance of implementing the planned work in line with the outcomes of the discussions and issued relevant instructions to the responsible authorities.
Published by Armenpress, original at
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In recent days, the possible 14-point agreement between the USA and Iran has been actively discussed in the international press. Even if only part of the published information is true, one important fact is already visible. the logic of that agreement seriously questions the so-called TRIPP project, which the RA authorities presented for months as an almost inevitable scenario for the future of the region.
It is noteworthy that at least some of the discussed points are based on the recognition of Iran’s security interests and the exclusion of new sources of tension in the region. And this directly contradicts the ideology on which the TRIPP project was built.
This once again proves how short-sighted and based on a wrong assessment of the situation the policy of the RA authorities was. Instead of being guided by the state interests of Armenia and taking into account the positions of all actors in the region, for months they presented to the public projects born in foreign centers as an already established reality.
Today, when the geopolitical conditions change literally within days, it becomes clear that once again the authorities were in a hurry to serve political propaganda, presenting it as a diplomatic achievement.
The state cannot be built on assumptions, wishes or temporary programs of external sponsors. The state is built on a realistic calculation, national interest and correct assessment of regional realities.
And the processes developing around TRIPP show that geopolitics is changing faster than the propaganda theses of the RA authorities.
And unfortunately, the price for this is usually not paid by the government, but by Armenia.
Narek Mantashyan, a member of the “Armenia” bloc
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Members of Armenia’s ruling Civil Contract parliamentary faction have submitted a package of legislative amendments proposing a residency requirement for participation in nationwide elections and referendums, under which only Armenian citizens who have lived in Armenia for at least six months during the preceding year would be eligible to vote.
The authors of the draft are lawmakers Arusyak Manavazyan and Alkhas Ghazaryan.
The lawmakers’ initiative follows reports circulating in both international and Armenian media ahead of the parliamentary elections held in Armenia on June 7, alleging that Russia, in an attempt to influence the election results, was taking steps to encourage a large number of Armenian citizens residing in Russia to travel to Armenia, participate in the elections, and vote in favor of specific political forces — the “Strong Armenia” and “Armenia” alliances, as well as the “Prosperous Armenia” party.
Against the backdrop of these reports, a broad public debate emerged in Armenia over why, until now, there has been no legal regulation stipulating that the right to vote in nationwide elections should be granted to people who permanently reside in Armenia, are familiar with the situation in the country, understand the existing challenges, and make their voting decisions based on that understanding. Representatives of the ruling “Civil Contract” party had promised that, if they succeeded in the elections, they would address this issue.
As justification for the proposed legislation, the lawmakers stated that under the current regulations, there is no mechanism ensuring that the exercise of the right to participate in National Assembly elections and referendums reflects a permanent citizen–state connection (unlike elections for local self-government bodies and local referendums).
The package of draft laws proposes that, in the context of participation in nationwide elections and referendums, importance should be given not only to the formal aspect of a person’s connection with the state through citizenship, but also to the substantive aspect of that connection.
Accordingly, it is proposed to introduce an additional requirement for participation in elections and referendums: as of the 48th day before the voting or referendum day — and in the case of early National Assembly elections or a repeat vote, as of the 28th day before the voting day — a voter must have been physically present in the Republic of Armenia for 183 or more days during the preceding 365 days.
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TUMO Los Angeles
Marie Lou Papazian connects TUMO, Peleshyan and Armenian identity
BY PAUL CHADERJIAN
GLENDALE – Marie Lou Papazian stood before the TEDxLittle Armenia audience a few months ago and traced the beginning of TUMO to a personal moment that many Armenian families would recognize.
She was studying education and technology at Columbia University. She was also seven months pregnant with twins. Her husband was in Los Angeles, caring for their three young boys.
“My life was split,” Papazian said. “On one side, I was fully immersed in academia, cognitive science, learning theories, instructional design, how memory works. And on the other side, I was constantly thinking about my kids. What choices will they have? What kind of education would they get? What life is going to be for them?”
That tension became the starting point for one of the most important Armenian education ideas of our generation.
Papazian, the founding chief executive officer of the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies, spoke at TEDxLittle Armenia at USC’s Bing Theatre. The event brought together Armenian voices from education, film, technology, law, design, robotics, music and civic life.
Shushan Karapetian organized the event, with Kristine Sargsyan as co-organizer. The program grew out of a collaboration between the USC Dornsife Institute of Armenian Studies and TEDxYerevan. Its theme, “Hybrid Identities,” gave speakers a wide frame to talk about Armenian life across countries, professions and communities.
The lineup included Ani Adjemian, Ashot Arzumanyan, Aroussiak Gabrielian, Karen Khachikyan, Armen Derkevorkian, Marie Lou Papazian and Sev Ohanian. Ludvig Ispiryan and Natalie Palmgren also performed. The speakers moved through ideas of belonging, potential, design, kindness, music, technology, Hollywood, public life and the Armenian imagination.
Papazian’s talk focused on education and identity. She spoke about how learning happens when ideas connect.
“In one of my classes in cognition, we were studying how memory works,” she said. “Effective learning happens not when information is stored as isolated facts, but when ideas are connected, like a network, like a web.”
That quote carried the heart of her message. She described learning as a living system. It grows through connection. It strengthens through choice. It becomes meaningful when it touches the life of the learner.
Papazian said her own children helped her see that idea clearly.
“I started thinking about my kids, how they loved learning when they were given choices, when they were given freedom, when learning was like a passion, not a pressure,” she said.
That sentence also explains why TUMO feels so different from many traditional education systems.
TUMO gives teenagers room to choose. It lets them explore technology, design, animation, music, game development, writing, photography and other creative fields through a self-guided model. Students work at their own pace. They join workshops. They build skills through discovery.
Papazian described TUMO this way: “The TUMO Center for Creative Technologies is a learning environment where teenagers develop their skills at the intersection of design and technologies. They are given total freedom to explore different skill areas. There are no grades, no competition, no exams.”
That model now reaches far beyond Armenia.
The newly-launched TUMO Los Angeles gives Southern California’s Armenian and non-Armenian communities a direct connection to an idea created in Armenia and now shared with the world.
For decades, Armenians in Los Angeles built institutions to preserve language, culture, memory and community. TUMO adds another chapter to that story. It brings a new Armenian model of learning into one of the largest Armenian communities outside Armenia.
That matters because Armenia has exported something original and useful. It has offered the world a fresh education model built around confidence, creativity and self-direction. It gives teenagers a structure without crushing their curiosity. It trusts them to move toward their own interests while giving them mentors and tools to grow.
Papazian connected that educational idea to a broader Armenian story.
She spoke about the question Armenians often ask one another: Where are you from?
“Every time I meet a new Armenian, they ask me where I am from,” Papazian said. “They mean from which Armenian community I come from. Well, it’s difficult. Bear with me. I was born in Egypt, raised in Lebanon. I moved to New York when I was 23. Then I went to Spain when I was 28 where we had the kids.”
She then told the audience about leaving Barcelona. Her Spanish friends asked why the family would leave a place where they had built such a good life.
“We told them we wanted to raise our kids in an Armenian community and to have them go to an Armenian school,” she said. “So, you’re going to Armenia? Well, no, Glendale, California. That was really, really difficult to explain.”
That sentence captured the complicated map of Armenian life. Glendale can function as a cultural home. Los Angeles can carry a version of Armenia. Armenia itself can surprise those who arrive with an inherited picture of the homeland.
“So, where am I from? I don’t know,” Papazian said. “I was an Armenian Diasporan, a truly Diasporan.”
Eventually, she and her family moved to Armenia. She said they have lived there for 20 years.
“An Armenia that was not the idealistic homeland of my imagination, and an Armenia that was not the diaspora I knew so well, a new Armenia, a different Armenia that emerged and became visible,” she said.
That “new Armenia” shaped TUMO.
In her talk, Papazian brought in the Armenian filmmaker Artavazd Peleshyan to explain how meaning can arise when images, memories and experiences meet. She called him one of her favorite directors and described how his films create powerful connections through the way images sit next to each other.
That reference matters because Peleshyan’s films have long asked viewers to bring their own memory and emotion to the screen.
In my own writing about his films “We” and “Seasons,” I saw how individual images carry clear meaning on their own. A crowd moves. Earth shifts. Wheels turn. Shepherds carry sheep through rushing water. Hay comes down a hill. Bread and cheese appear. A bride prepares for celebration.
Once Peleshyan places those images in sequence, they begin to speak to one another. They create feeling. They suggest labor, survival, movement, repetition, belonging and the small joys that give life shape.
Papazian used that same idea to talk about life, identity and education. Her own path moved through Egypt, Lebanon, New York, Spain, Los Angeles and Armenia. Her work grew through motherhood, scholarship, technology and community. TUMO came from those connections.
That gives TUMO Los Angeles its deeper meaning.
It is a school. It is also a statement. It says Armenian identity can create new tools for the world. It says a small country with a global diaspora can build ideas that travel. It says young people can learn through freedom, structure, imagination and trust.
At TEDxLittle Armenia, Papazian gave the audience a way to understand that achievement. She did not frame Armenian identity as a fixed inheritance. She described it as something active, layered and creative.
Her talk made the case that Armenians can carry many places at once and still build something coherent. They can draw from diaspora memory, Armenian reality, family life, intellectual life and creative ambition. They can make institutions that belong to Armenia and to the world.
TUMO Los Angeles now places that idea in the middle of Southern California.
It gives Armenian teenagers and their neighbors access to a model born from an Armenian experience and built for a global future. It also gives the diaspora a new kind of pride. Armenia has produced a learning system that other cities want to adopt.
For a people often asked where they are from, TUMO offers another answer.
It asks what they can create.
Paul Chaderjian is a Los Angeles-based broadcast journalist, writer, and author of the novel “Letters to Barbra.” His work explores diaspora identity, cultural memory, and global storytelling. Follow Paul on social media @pchadNEWS.
Armenian Defence Minister Suren Papikyan met with representatives of French companies KNDS and Airbus in Paris, where they discussed a number of issues related to ongoing cooperation.
Papikyan announced the meeting in a post on his Facebook page.
The Armenian defence minister travelled to Paris on 14 June on a working visit to attend the Eurosatory 2026.
As part of the exhibition, Papikyan visited the joint pavilion of Armenia’s defence industry companies, which showcases the country’s research, technological and manufacturing capabilities.
Published by Armenpress, original at
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US Vice President JD Vance has said that he plans to attend the signing ceremony in Switzerland for a newly announced peace deal with Iran, adding that President Donald Trump could also be present.
“I certainly plan to be there, but it’s possible the president himself could be there,” he told Fox News in an interview. “We’re still figuring out the logistics on who’s going to attend that signing ceremony.”
U.S. President Donald Trump earlier announced that a deal with Iran has been finalized. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose country has been mediating talks between the United States and Iran, has said that the peace deal will be signed on Friday in Switzerland.
“We can say with confidence Iran will never have a nuclear weapon,” Vance said.
“If the Iranians comply with this deal, it is going to fundamentally transform the Middle East for the next 50 years,” he said.
According to The New York Times, the Iranian side will be represented at the signing ceremony in Geneva by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.
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