Author: Hagop Kamalian

Iran accuses Israel of ‘ecocide’ over fuel depot bombings

Hagop Kamalian

Read the article in: SpanishFrançaisՀայերենРусский

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has accused Israel of committing ecocide and violating international law by bombing fuel depots.

In a post on X, the Iranian Foreign Minister said that Israel must be “punished for its war crimes”.

“Israel’s bombings of fuel depots in Tehran violate international law and constitute ecocide. Residents face long-term damage to their health and well-being. Contamination of soil and groundwater could have generational impacts. Israel must be punished for its war crimes,” Araghchi said, posting an image showing plumes of smoke above a building. 

The U.S. and Israel launched what they described as a pre-emptive strike against Iran on February 28, claiming that Tehran was developing a nuclear weapon and posed a threat—an allegation Iran has denied. In response, Iran launched counterattacks, firing missiles and drones at Israel, as well as at U.S. assets and other targets across the Middle East.

Read the article in: SpanishFrançaisՀայերենРусский

Published by Armenpress, original at 
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Armenia chairs 69th session of UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs

Hagop Kamalian

Politics17:37, 9 March 2026
Read the article in: العربيةFrançaisՀայերենRussian

The 69th session of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), the main international forum on drug-related issues, opened on March 9 under the chairmanship of Armenia.

The session is chaired by Armenia’s Ambassador Andranik Hovhannisyan, Permanent Representative of Armenia to the international organizations in Vienna.

The five-day meeting is attended by more than 2,000 delegates from around 130 member states, as well as over 100 international, regional and non-governmental organizations, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said in a press release.

Discussions during the session will focus on the global drug problem, policies aimed at addressing it and international cooperation. Participants are also expected to adopt several normative decisions related to the sector.

The Commission will consider five draft resolutions aimed, in particular, at strengthening mechanisms for the early prevention and control of synthetic drugs and precursors, preventing the illicit use of equipment and supply chains for their production and trafficking, and enhancing public health responses and alternative development programmes.

The Commission will also review recommendations by the World Health Organization on adding new substances to international drug control conventions.

The session is expected to finalize the establishment of a new multidisciplinary expert group to assist the Commission in reviewing the implementation of the conventions.

About 170 side events and 24 exhibitions will be held during the session.

Armenia has been a member of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs since 2024 and holds the chairmanship for 2026.

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Published by Armenpress, original at 
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Artsakh parliament speaker says Pashinyan government not authorized to speak f

Hagop Kamalian
Panorama, Armenia
Mar 13 2026

The speaker of the Artsakh National Assembly states the Armenian government has never been authorized by the Artsakh people to represent them or treat the territory as a bargaining tool in political negotiations.

In a statement released on Friday, Artsakh parliament speaker Ashot Danielyan criticized comments made by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in recent appearances before the European Parliament and at press briefings, saying they were based on “ignorance and falsehood” about Artsakh and the Karabakh movement.

Danielyan said the remarks had angered thousands of displaced Artsakh Armenians who have not accepted the occupation of Artsakh carried out through crimes against humanity.

“The people of Artsakh have never authorized the current authorities of the Republic of Armenia to speak on their behalf or to treat Artsakh as a bargaining chip,” he said.

Danielyan also defended the historical Karabakh movement, saying attempts to portray it negatively cannot discredit the people’s “heroic struggle for freedom and peace.”

He argued that the authority of any government, including Armenia’s, is limited to its own borders and that making decisions affecting another state’s population violates fundamental principles of international law.

Danielyan questioned the characterization of recent developments as a peace process, asking why Azerbaijani troops remain on 240 square kilometers of Armenian territory and why around 150,000 displaced Armenians from Artsakh have not been able to return to their homes.

He also cited Armenian detainees held in Baku and destruction of Armenian cultural and historical heritage in Artsakh.

Danielyan said presenting a distorted version of the Karabakh movement before European lawmakers, who in recent years adopted resolutions condemning Azerbaijan’s actions and Turkey’s involvement, shows “disrespect toward that institution”.

He further criticized attempts to frame the conflict as merely a territorial dispute, saying that for decades the people of Artsakh pursued self-determination in full accordance with international law and with support from international organizations.

According to Danielyan, changing international attitudes toward the issue in recent years has been influenced not only by geopolitical developments but also by the Armenian government’s approach to Artsakh.

“The inalienable right of the Artsakh people  to self-determination, to return to their homeland, live safely and determine their own fate cannot disappear through lies and distortions,” he said.

Danielyan added that Artsakh’s elected institutions would continue to pursue “all legal means and mechanisms” to restore the violated rights of Artsakh Armenians with support from individuals and groups concerned about the issue.

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Armenia is becoming an increasingly important partner for the European Union,

Hagop Kamalian

Politics15:41, 13 March 2026
Read the article in: العربيةFrançaisՀայերենRussian

Armenia is becoming an increasingly important partner for the European Union in the South Caucasus, Magnus Brunner, European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration, told Armenpress in an exclusive interview during his visit to Armenia.

Commissioner Brunner emphasized that the Armenia-EU partnership is based on shared values, such as democracy, the rule of law, and the goal of building a free and prosperous future.

“Armenia is a very important partner for the European Union, and it is fair to say that our relations have never been closer. In recent years, we have seen strong momentum in political dialogue and reforms. The adoption of the new Strategic Agenda for the EU–Armenia Partnership reflects this progress and sets ambitious priorities to deepen cooperation in many areas. This is also reflected in the fact that the EU has visa-free travel agreements with more than 60 countries, and Armenia is currently the only country with which the EU has an active visa-liberalisation dialogue. This shows the EU’s strong commitment to strengthening our partnership with Armenia,” he said.

The EU Commissioner visited Armenia on March 12 and held talks with PM Nikol Pashinyan and Minister of Internal Affairs Arpine Sargsyan.

Published by Armenpress, original at 
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The forced removal of Edita Gzoyan is worrying. Armenian and foreign genocide scholars

Hagop Kamalian

Armenian and foreign Genocide scholars have sent an open letter, expressing deep concern for Edita Gzoyan, the former director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, for writing a dismissal application under pressure and coercion, rather than by free choice.

Earlier, it became known that the director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, Edita Gzoyan, has written an application for dismissal. There were reports that he did it under duress. A day later, RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan confirmed that Gzoyan wrote the application on his instructions, because during the visit of Vice President J.D. Vance, the United Arab Emirates presented him with a book on the Artsakh issue, while the Prime Minister announced that the Karabakh movement would not continue. According to Pashinyan, Gzoyan’s act was a provocative act.

“Dr. Gzoyan raised the international academic reputation of HCTI, under his leadership, the institute expanded its archival collections, organized important symposia and conferences, as well as created scientific works that significantly advanced genocide studies worldwide. He has been a tireless defender of the Armenian Genocide, which has strengthened global understanding of past injustices and supported the restoration of historical truth. The timing and context of his forced removal is particularly worrying,” the letter of the Genocide experts stated.

They emphasized that Gzoyan presented to US Vice President Vance not only the genocide of 1915, but also the subsequent massacres of Armenians in Sumgait, Kirovabad and Baku, emphasizing the historical continuity of violence against Armenians in the region. He also presented Vice President Vance with scientific works on the Armenian Genocide and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which, according to experts, is an important context for understanding Armenia’s history and contemporary challenges.

“The sequence of events points to a broader and deeply troubling pattern: the silencing of independent academic voices in favor of political convenience. There is every reason to believe that this is more about the management of the museum than about the reorganization of the HCTI, aligning the work with geopolitical priorities, in particular, trying to avoid a frank discussion of the atrocities related to Azerbaijan, against the background of the ongoing settlement process,” the letter states.

They emphasize that the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute is not just a tourist destination. It is a center of historical memory and science, a defense against denial and distortion. This means that the leadership of the institute should be protected from political interference. According to genocide scholars, Gzoyan’s forced departure sends a terrible message to scholars and historians everywhere that serious research and true memory can be replaced by diplomatic convenience. They are sure that the removal of Gzoyan will seriously endanger the future of the institute and undermine its reputation in the international scientific community.

“Such a decision will not only disrupt the current work of the institute, but will also send a worrying signal to leading scholars in the field of genocide studies, deterring them from collaborating with HCTI and weakening global academic partnerships that are important to its mission,” the open letter states.

Genocide experts call on the RA government to refrain from interfering in the management of the institute and to allow Gzoyan to continue his work without political pressure.

The letter was signed by around 3 dozen reputable genocide scholars.
Edita Gzoyan will continue working at the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute. Tashchyan

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Papuashvili: Armenia-EU relations are separate issue; Brussels itself disrupte

Hagop Kamalian
Georgia Today
Mar 12 2026

Speaker of the Georgian Parliament Shalva Papuashvili said that statements by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan regarding Georgia concern Armenia’s relations with the European Union and do not reflect Georgia’s position.

Papuashvili made the remarks during a briefing while commenting on Pashinyan’s speech in the European Parliament.

“Mr. Pashinyan is the Prime Minister of Armenia. He was speaking from the perspective of Armenia’s interests as a representative of his country’s government. We speak about the interests of our own country,” Papuashvili said.

He claimed that the issue raised by the Armenian prime minister relates specifically to relations between Armenia and the European Union.

“This concerns Armenia–EU relations. We have our own relations with the European Union,” he stated.

Papuashvili also claimed that it was the EU that disrupted relations with Georgia.

“The European Union itself, unilaterally and without provocation, hindered Georgia–EU relations. We cannot fix what they have broken,” he said.

The Parliament Speaker added that Pashinyan’s message should be viewed in the context of Armenia’s European integration ambitions and its dialogue with Brussels.

He also noted that the Georgian government has already communicated to Brussels what steps it believes are necessary to restore proper relations between Georgia and the European Union.

“We have already told Brussels what they need to do in order to restore proper relations with Georgia,” Papuashvili said.

The comments came after Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, speaking in the European Parliament a day earlier, stated that one of the biggest obstacles on Armenia’s path toward European integration is the currently frozen dialogue between the European Union and Georgia.

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Pashinyan: New Armenian Constitution should not reference ‘conflict-logic’ Dec

Hagop Kamalian

Politics13:32, 12 March 2026
Read the article in: EspañolفارسیՀայերենქართულიRussian中文

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan reiterated on Thursday that the new proposed Constitution of Armenia, which is currently under development, should not contain a reference to the Declaration of Independence, unlike the current Constitution.

He was asked whether his stance on the matter remains the same.

“I have already addressed this issue, and I do not see any need to change my position. Yes, the new Constitution should not reference the Declaration of Independence. And I will explain why: the Declaration of Independence is structured around a logic of conflict. We cannot proceed with the logic of conflict and expect to build an independent state,” Pashinyan said at a press briefing. 

Minister of Justice Srbuhi Galyan previously said that the text of the proposed Constitution would be made public in March 2026.

The Pashinyan administration first announced the need for a new constitution in 2019.

Published by Armenpress, original at 
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Pashinyan confirms firing genocide memorial head for giving Vance book on Nago

Hagop Kamalian
OC Media
March 12 2026

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has confirmed he ‘instructed’ the director of the Armenian Genocide Memorial to resign after she had given US Vice President JD Vance a book on the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict.

In a press briefing on Thursday, Pashinyan accused Edita Gzoyan, the director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Foundation, of going against his government’s foreign policy by giving Vance the book.

He reiterated that he believed that the Armenian government ‘should not continue’ the Karabakh Movement — a mass national movement which began in the 1980s to call on the Soviet authorities to transfer the majority-Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast from Soviet Azerbaijan to Soviet Armenia.

Pashinyan castigates Karabakh movement and political opponents in emotional parliamentary outburst

‘Giving a foreign guest a book about the Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh] issue, what does that mean?’ Pashinyan asked, further calling the action ‘provocative’ and ‘contradicting’ his government’s foreign policy.

‘In this country, how many people are capable of conducting foreign policy? […] Any state official in Armenia who makes a statement that contradicts the foreign policy pursued by the government should be dismissed from their position. What is there to discuss?’ Pashinyan continued.

He further stated that Armenia is a state, not ‘some kind of amateur club’.

Reports suggesting that Gzoyan was pressured to resign surfaced since early March, with the tabloid Hraparak reporting that the Education Ministry justified the move by claiming that Gzoyan ‘had not properly supervised’ ongoing renovations at the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex.

The outlet at the same time underscored that the supervision of the restoration ‘does not fall within [Gzoyan’s] official responsibilities’.

Instead, media reports suggested that Gzoyan was dismissed after speaking with Vance about the massacres of Armenians in Azerbaijan at the at the onset of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the 1980 in February during his visit to Yerevan and the Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex. She gave Vance the book during his visit to the memorial.

The Armenian Genocide Memorial complex also houses several monuments commemorating the victims of the massacres, which Gzoyan says she had shown Vance to emphasise ‘the connection between what happened and the Armenian Genocide’.

The Armenian authorities remain cautious in their official rhetoric about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as they navigate the ongoing normalisation process with Azerbaijan.

Pashinyan appeared to hint at his displeasure with Gzoyan’s action during an earlier parliamentary session, saying that ‘things have happened that would have been better if they hadn’t happened’.

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CC has published the statistics of domestic violence cases for 2025

Hagop Kamalian

In 2025, RA Investigative Committee examined 2,398 criminal proceedings (2,207 in 2024) regarding cases of domestic violence, of which 630 were transferred from 2024.


During the reporting period, 380 criminal proceedings were sent to court with an indictment against 388 persons (405 criminal proceedings against 416 persons in 2024), 7 more medical coercion proceedings were sent to court with a final act (2024: 4), 972 were terminated (2024: 735), of which 887 were rehabilitative (2024: 663), and 85 on a non-rehabilitating basis (in 2024: 72), 284 were joined (in 2024: 235), 32 criminal proceedings were sent to another body (2024: 28), 93 were counted as procedural and evidentiary actions completed (in 2024: 232), 630 were transferred 2026 (in 2025: 568).


Out of the 375 proceedings sent to the court, 3 were examined for murder, 1 for attempted murder, 1 for infanticide, 4 for causing severe damage to health, 10 for causing moderate damage to health, 39 for causing light damage to health, 1 for kidnapping a person, 4 for illegal deprivation of liberty, 20 for mental influence. 211 for physical abuse, 10 for sexual freedom, 1 for involving a child in committing anti-social acts, 1 for obstructing the meeting between a parent or other close relative and a child, 1 for failing or improperly fulfilling the duty of raising or caring for a child to fulfill, 8 – to avoid paying alimony, 8 – to not fulfill the urgent intervention decision or protective decision, 52 – in connection with the cases of other crimes.


Out of 417 victims sent to the court, 25 were under 12, 16 were 13-14, 11 were 15-18 years old, 365 were over 18 years old.

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“The government uses an outdated thesis, it is absurd, ridiculous. Formerly CP

Hagop Kamalian

March: 10, 2026

It is the second week, during the weekend, the CP members, led by Nikol Pashinyan, go to the villages on a “campaign bus”, during which Nikol Pashinyan does everything to convince people to vote for him. From the store, he helps citizens carry bags full of purchases home, enters the stores, wondering how the trade is going, and often gets angry, why they don’t appreciate the paved asphalt and don’t at least say thank you to them.

Along with all of this, recently the members of the Communist Party of Ukraine have been declaring that if the citizens do not choose them in the upcoming elections, there will be a war. Users mock these statements on the Internet, writing that, for example, “if KP is not elected, the sun will not rise, children will not be born, stars will not appear in the sky,” etc.

Former Deputy of the Supreme Council Mekhak Mkhitaryan the statements of CP and Nikol Pashinyan are also laughable.

“All this is at least an absurd thesis, ridiculous, they are using an old thesis. Remember the cases of Kirants, when the government scared people that “if they don’t agree now and don’t give territories to Azerbaijan, war will start in a week.” But all these theses are meant to scare and mislead people, no one should take them seriously.”– 168.amMekhak Mkhitaryan said in a conversation with

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He remarked: why should there be a war, when now, whatever demands Azerbaijan puts forward, the RA government fulfills them in a hurry. In other words, the problems pursued by Azerbaijan have been solved or are being solved smoothly, so why should it go to war?

“In order to insure itself, the government wants to disorient people, deceive again, keep people in an atmosphere of fear. I think that during these years, people have understood enough things, hardly the overwhelming majority believe in those false theses, which aim to extend and maintain the term of their inglorious power,” our interlocutor added.

The former member of the Central Committee does not consider it likely that the current government has a chance to be re-elected in the upcoming elections, although the CP announces on various occasions that it will form the government again with “50 1” votes after the upcoming elections.

“At this stage, the KP is using one of the components of pre-election propaganda technologies, with the use of which they are trying to disorient the people. In real life, now the government is persuading the people in the villages, until now these people were cut off from the people, they are not well aware of the real opinions of the people.

I can say from my own experience that I communicate a lot with representatives of different classes, and my ideas are different. I see that the overwhelming majority of the people, especially the class that previously voted for the Communist Party, are sorry, they simply do not hide that they will not vote for Nikol Pashinyan. They say, “we will cut off our hands, but we will not vote for the Communist Party”, this is the reality,” stressed Mekhak Mkhitaryan.

He also said that despite all this, the majority of the people are still undecided as to which opposition force they will vote for, but they believe that “Strong Armenia” has a chance.

“I am sure of one thing: the united opposition can gather many more votes than the current government. I communicate with people, I have come to the conviction that this time the people will make an objective choice, not being deceived by the false theses of the authorities, populist approaches, for example, in the form of increasing pensions, or false theses of peace. All these are populist theses on the eve of the elections, which the people understand. They haven’t done anything in 8 years, now they are trying to do it 2 months before the elections, who doesn’t understand this,” emphasized Mekhak Mkhitaryan.

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