Author: Markos Nalchajian

Kuwait says it shot down 7 drones

Markos Nalchajian Leave a comment

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Kuwait’s National Guard announced on Wednesday that its task force shot down seven drones at dawn within its areas of responsibility, Arab Times reported citing official spokesperson Brigadier General Dr. Jad’an Fadel.

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.

Published by Armenpress, original at 
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Pashinyan Warns of Renewed Conflict If Karabakh Movement Continues and Calls f

Markos Nalchajian
Caucasus Watch, Germany
Mar 16 2026
16 Mar 2026 | News, Politics, Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh

On March 13, Nikol Pashinyan, the Prime Minister of Armenia, stated during a live broadcast on his Facebook page that the Declaration of Independence is “not a declaration of independence, but a declaration of conflict,” reiterating his earlier remarks.

Pashinyan emphasized that the Civil Contract Party is the only political force advocating that the new Constitution should exclude references to the Declaration of Independence. “With this declaration, we are not creating a state to ensure the well-being and freedom of our citizens, but a state for Nagorno-Karabakh and Western Armenia,” he stated, adding that the political landscape is currently divided between what he described as a “party of peace” and a “party of war.”

He stated that continuing the Karabakh movement would inevitably lead to renewed conflict. “No one can escape this choice: if we continue the Karabakh movement, war awaits us; if not, peace,” Pashinyan emphasized, adding, “Peace will grow stronger every day, the Republic of Armenia will grow stronger every day, and I lead this movement. Whoever agrees, let them follow me.”

Pashinyan also stated that references to the so-called separatist Nagorno-Karabakh, including the use of terms such as “Artsakh,” carry serious implications and ultimately lead to conflict regardless of the context in which they are used. He emphasized that Ktrich Nersisyan, the Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II, has, in his view, assumed leadership of what he described as the “war party,” alongside former leaders Robert Kocharyan, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, and Serzh Sargsyan.

He stressed that Armenian society must make a clear decision on whether to continue the Karabakh movement, stating that this choice should be determined through elections. “The Civil Contract Party is the only political force that clearly states that we must not continue the Karabakh movement,” Pashinyan noted.

https://caucasuswatch.de/en/news/pashinyan-warns-of-renewed-conflict-if-karabakh-movement-continues-and-calls-for-electoral-decision.html

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UN Security Council adopts resolution condemning Iran’s attacks in the Gulf

Markos Nalchajian

Read the article in: ArmenianRussian:

The United Nations Security Council adopted a draft resolution condemning Iran’s attacks on Gulf countries and Jordan, demanding that Tehran immediately halt hostilities, Al Jazeera reported.

Thirteen of the 15 members of the UNSC voted on Wednesday in favor of the resolution sponsored by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and cosponsored by an extraordinary 135 other UN member states.

No countries voted against the draft.

Both China and Russia abstained but notably decided not to use their veto power to block this resolution.

The resolution condemns Iran’s attacks, demands an immediate halt to hostilities, and deplores Tehran’s targeting of infrastructure such as ports and energy facilities in the Gulf region.

After the vote, Iran’s UN Ambassador Amir-Saeid Iravani addressed the Council, expressing his “profound regret” at the adoption of the resolution.

“This is a deeply regrettable day for the Security Council and for the international community. Today’s adoption is a serious setback to the Council’s credibility and leaves a lasting stain on its record,” Al Jazeera quoted Iravani as saying.

“Today’s action represents a blatant misuse of the Security Council mandate,” he said, blasting the United States for its “barbaric war against the Iranian people” and for starting the conflict, including killing Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

“This resolution is a manifest injustice against my country, the main victim of a clear act of aggression. It distorts the realities on the ground and deliberately ignores the root causes of the current crisis,” Iravani said, accusing the US and Israel of being behind the resolution.

Iravani also said more than 1,348 civilians have been killed and more than 17,000 injured since the US and Israel launched their attack on February 28, including the “massacre of 170 schoolgirls in Minab”.

More than 19,000 civilian sites, including residential homes and hospitals, have also been damaged, he added.

Addressing the council, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, said his country abstained from the vote on the draft resolution “because it was extremely unbalanced” and would not fulfil the purpose “of meeting international peace and security”.

“We regret the situation that Middle Eastern countries find themselves in. Moreover, we think it unacceptable to strike civilian infrastructure of Arab states in the Gulf,” Nebenzia said.

China’s ambassador to the UN Zhang Jun told the council that the conflict had “neither legitimacy nor legal basis” and the US and Israel must cease their attacks to prevent further deterioration of the regional situation.

The UNSC also voted, but failed to pass, a draft resolution put forward by Moscow on Wednesday that called on all sides to cease military action in the Middle East.

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 posing 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. 

Published by Armenpress, original at 
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RFE/RL – Armenian Genocide Memorial’s Director ‘Forced’ To Resign After Vance

Markos Nalchajian
  • Susan Badalian
March 10, 2026
Armenia – U.S. Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha are accompanied by Edita Gzoyan (right), director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute in Yerevan, as they visit it on February 10, 2026

Just weeks after showing U.S. Vice President JD Vance around the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute (AGMI) in Yerevan, its director, Edita Gzoyan, has resigned under reported pressure from Armenia’s government.

Vance and his wife Usha visited the memorial at the end of an official trip to the Armenian capital on February 10. After they laid flowers by its eternal fire dedicated to the victims of the 1915 genocide, Gzoyan escorted them to other parts of the complex, including cross-stones placed in memory of Armenians killed in pogroms in Azerbaijan that followed the outbreak of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

According to an AGMI press release, Gzoyan noted “the connection between those events and the Armenian Genocide.” She went on to present Vance with “books about the Armenian Genocide and the Artsakh issue.”

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, who stopped using the Armenian name of Karabakh a few years ago, indicated his dissatisfaction with the organization of Vance’s visit to the memorial when he spoke in the Armenian parliament later in February.

“There happened things that should not have happened, but that’s a topic for another conversation,” he said without elaborating.

Gzoyan tendered her resignation aftewards. According to some media outlets, the Armenian government ordered her to step down because of what she told and showed Vance.

Gzoyan has still not publicly commented on her decision which has upset the 74 other employees of the AGMI. They protested against her exit in a joint letter to Pashinian.

“It was the first time in the history of our museum that all employees, without exception, appealed to a higher authority,” Mihran Minasian, an adviser to the AGMI director, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Tuesday.

“We expected that our director will on the contrary be rewarded for her good work,” said Suren Manukian, who runs one of the AGMI divisions.

Manukian said he and his colleagues were unofficially informed by the Armenian Ministry of Education, Culture and Youth Affairs, which supervises the AGMI, that Gzoyan was told to quit because of failing to ensure proper oversight of a controversial reconstruction of the genocide memorial that began last summer. He dismissed that explanation as “unserious,” arguing that the reconstruction work is directly overseen by the ministry.

Education Minister Zhanna Andreasian has personally inspected it during her regular visits to the site. Gzoyan no longer accompanied her during those inspections after Vance’s visit.

Andreasian’s ministry on Tuesday declined to give a reason for Gzoyan’s resignation, saying that it will only reply to written questions from RFE/RL’s Armenian Service later on. It also noted that the AGMI’s director is appointed by its board of trustees.

The board’s chairman, French-Armenian genocide scholar Raymond Kevorkian, and several members resigned last week. Pashinian promptly replaced them on March 6.

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RFE/RL Armenian Service – 02/14/2024

Markos Nalchajian 
                                        Wednesday, 


Moscow, Baku ‘Discussing Return Of Karabakh Armenians’


Ethnic Armenian flee Karabakh for Armenia sitting in a truck at the Lachin 
checkpoint controlled by Russian peackeepers and Azeri border guards, September 
26, 2023.


Russia said on Wednesday that it is discussing with Azerbaijan the possibility 
of the safe return of Nagorno-Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian population displaced by 
last September’s Azerbaijani military offensive.

Azerbaijan launched the offensive despite a Russian-brokered ceasefire that 
stopped the 2020 Armenian-Azerbaijani war.

Armenia has denounced Russian peacekeepers for their failure to prevent or stop 
the September 19-20 assault that restored Baku’s full control over Karabakh and 
forced the region’s practically entire population to flee to Armenia. President 
Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials have rejected the criticism.

“Moscow and Baku are discussing prospects for the return of the Armenian 
population to Karabakh,” Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry 
spokeswoman, told a news briefing in Moscow.

Zakharova gave no details of those discussions. She stressed the importance of 
“ensuring the rights and security” of Karabakh Armenians willing to return to 
their homeland. Earlier this week, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail 
Galuzin similarly called for “creating conditions” for their repatriation.

“We are ready to provide necessary support to that process, including through 
Russian peacekeeping troops whose presence is of great importance,” Galuzin told 
the official TASS news agency.

A board displaying a Russian state flag and an image of President Vladimir Putin 
in Stepanakert following an Azeri military operation conducted and the mass 
exodus of ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh, October 2, 2023.

Even before their exodus, Karabakh’s leaders and ordinary residents made clear 
that they would not live under Azerbaijani rule. None of the more than 100,000 
Karabakh refugees are known to have expressed a desire to return home in the 
current circumstances.

Last month, Karabakh’s main political factions exiled in Armenia set up a 
political committee to campaign for their “collective repatriation.” The 
committee is headed by Vartan Oskanian, a former Armenian foreign minister

Oskanian said earlier this month that Armenia should seek “international 
guarantees” for the repatriation and raise the matter during peace talks with 
Azerbaijan. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has repeatedly indicated, however, 
that the Karabakh issue is closed for his administration.

Earlier on Wednesday, Russia’s special envoy on the Armenian-Azerbaijani 
conflict, Igor Khovayev, met with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov 
in Baku. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry did not mention the possible 
repatriation of the Karabakh Armenians in its readout of the meeting.

The ministry cited Bayramov as blaming Armenia for Tuesday’s fighting on the 
Armenian-Azerbaijani border which left four Armenian soldiers dead. He accused 
Yerevan of undermining the negotiation process.

Pashinian charged on Tuesday that the ceasefire violation shows that Baku lacks 
the political will to negotiate a peace treaty with Yerevan and is intent on 
heightening tensions along the border.




Armenia Shakes Up Military Top Brass

        • Ruzanna Stepanian

Armenia - General Kamo Kochunts (left), acting army chief of staff, greets 
Defense Minister Suren Papikian, Yerevan, June 28, 2022.


Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has dismissed the first deputy chief of the 
Armenian army’s General Staff, Lieutenant-General Kamo Kochunts, and appointed 
nine other senior officers to the top brass.

Kochunts was replaced by Colonel Artur Yeroyan through a presidential decree 
initiated by Pashinian and made public late on Tuesday. Yeroyan, 46, has headed 
the Armenia’s main military academy until now.

Two other deputy army chiefs of staff were named on Wednesday. The other 
appointed officials include the new heads of three General Staff divisions.

No official explanations were given for these appointments. Gagik Melkonian, a 
pro-government lawmaker and retired army general, said they are part of ongoing 
defense reforms announced by the Armenian government.

“There will be more changes in the General Staff as it’s clear that we are 
buying new military hardware and are going to change our previous mode of 
governance,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.

Melkonian denied any connection between Kochunts’s sacking and the latest 
Azerbaijani ceasefire violation that left four Armenian soldiers dead early on 
Tuesday. He said that the 61-year-old veteran of the first Armenian-Azerbaijani 
war, who had also fought in Afghanistan in Soviet army ranks, was replaced 
because of his age.

The Yerevan newspaper Hraparak, which predicted Kochunts’s dismissal earlier 
this month, claimed on Wednesday that the General Staff chief, 
Lieutenant-General Eduard Asrian, could also lose his job soon.

Asrian’s predecessor, Artak Davtian, and six other generals were sacked in 
February 2022 one year after the top brass issued a statement accusing 
Pashinian’s government of incompetence and misrule and demanding its 
resignation. Asrian was among the signatories of the statement welcomed by the 
Armenian opposition but condemned by Pashinian as a coup attempt.

Pashinian promised a major reform of the military shortly after Armenia’s defeat 
in the 2020 war with Azerbaijan. He has replaced three defense ministers since 
then. The current minister, Suren Papikian, is a leading member of his Civil 
Contract party.

Opposition groups blame Pashinian for the outcome of the six-week war that left 
at least 3,800 Armenian soldiers dead. They also say that his administration is 
doing little to rebuild the armed forces.




Armenian Economy Minister Resigns After Arrests

        • Artak Khulian

Armenia - Economy Minister Vahan Kerobian attends the Armenian goverment's 
question-and-answer session in parliament.


Economy Minister Vahan Kerobian announced his resignation on Wednesday two weeks 
after one of his deputies and several other subordinates were arrested on 
corruption charges strongly denied by him.

Kerobian indicated that he has disagreed with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on 
numerous occasions during his more than three-year tenure.

“When I took up the post of minister on November 20, 2020 there was a high 
probability that I will keep it for a few days or months as regime change [in 
Armenia] was very likely,” he wrote on Facebook. “During this period, due to 
many disagreements, I wanted to leave this job many times but I subordinated 
myself to maximize the value of my service to my country.”

Kerobian shed no light on those disagreements. Nor did he mention the arrests of 
several senior officials from the Ministry of Economy carried out in two 
criminal investigations jointly conducted by Armenia’s Investigative Committee 
and National Security Service (NSS). The officials were moved to house arrest or 
freed in the following days.

One of them allegedly helped other individuals receive 238 million drams 
($590,000) in state agribusiness funding from 20222-2023 in violation of rules 
set by the ministry. Neither this nor the others officials was charged with 
bribery or embezzlement, a fact emphasized by Kerobian during cabinet meeting 
chaired by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian last week.

The minister told Pashinian that investigators have “paralyzed the work of the 
entire state system” because many government officials are now not sure that 
“their honest work will not be punished in the end.”

The ministry grants investigated by the law-enforcement authorities were 
allocated from a state fund that helps private entrepreneurs set up intensive 
fruit orchards. The Armenian government has provided about 100 billion drams 
($248 million) in such funding since 2018. Kerobian defended his ministry’s 
handling of the scheme which the government extended by two more years on 
February 8.

Kerobian announced his resignation as the Investigative Committee said in a 
statement that it is continuing to investigate the alleged abuse of the scheme 
and may identify and indict “dozens of other individuals possibly involved” in 
them.

Kerobian ruled out his resignation in the immediate aftermath of the arrests. He 
told state television afterwards that he will take responsibility if the 
investigators prove their accusations.

Armenia - Ashot Hovanesian inaugurates his Synergy International Systems 
company's branch in Vanadzor, March 11, 2022.

The other criminal case stems from a procurement tender that was organized by 
the Ministry of Economy and invalidated by a court last summer. Ministry 
officials are accused of illegally disqualifying an information technology 
company, Harmonia, to make sure that the tender is won by another, larger firm, 
Synergy International Systems.

The investigators also arrested on January 31 Synergy’s founder Ashot Hovanesian 
and two current and former employees. The latter were set free on Monday. 
Hovanesian’s lawyers on Tuesday condemned his continuing detention as “illegal 
and discriminatory.”

Hovanesian’s arrest earlier drew strong condemnation from Armenia’s Union of 
Advanced Technology Enterprises (UATE). It said that “unfounded” detentions of 
“business representatives and other prominent persons” are turning Armenia into 
a “risky country” for local and foreign tech entrepreneurs.



Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2024 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

Armenian Foreign Minister meets with ICC Assembly of States Parties President

Markos Nalchajian

 10:32, 9 February 2024

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 9, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan on February 8 in The Hague met with Päivi Kaukoranta, the President of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Kaukoranta congratulated Armenia on joining the ICC, the foreign ministry said in a readout.

Mirzoyan and Kaukoranta exchanged ideas around the ongoing and required further steps in the direction of applying the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the ICC, highlighting close partnership with the assembly.

The FM underscored Armenia’s priorities and expectations regarding joining the ICC, which were earlier voiced during the official ceremony dedicated to the membership of Armenia in the ICC and are in line with universal principles of democracy, the rule of law and fight against impunity.

The Armenian government’s representative for international legal affairs, Yeghishe Kirakosyan, also participated in the meeting and presented details about the steps for harmonizing the Armenian legislation with the Rome Statute.

Armenia, Switzerland hold political consultations

Markos Nalchajian

 13:44, 7 February 2024

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 7, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian and Swiss foreign ministries have held political consultations in Yerevan, the Armenian foreign ministry said in a press release.

Armenia was represented by Foreign Ministry Department of Europe Director Samvel Mkrtchyan and Switzerland was represented by Swiss Foreign Ministry Eurasia Division Director Muriel Peneveyre.

“The parties were pleased to note the high level of political dialogue between Armenia and Switzerland and discussed a broad range of issues pertaining to the bilateral relations agenda. Both sides underscored the need for developing the existing cooperation in the economy, high-tech, culture, tourism and other sectors,” the foreign ministry said in a press release.

The effective partnership in international platforms and possibilities for mutual support within this framework were also discussed.

The Armenia-Azerbaijan normalization process was also discussed. Mkrtchyan presented the Armenian government’s Crossroads of Peace project. Views were exchanged on regional and international security issues.

Yerevan City Councillor Zaruhi Postanjyan survives ouster vote

Markos Nalchajian

 15:20, 7 February 2024

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 7, ARMENPRESS. A Civil Contract-led motion to oust Yerevan City Councillor Zaruhi Postanjyan representing the Mother Armenia faction was just one vote short to pass on Wednesday. 

32 councillors voted in favor and 2 against ousting the city legislator. The motion required at least 33 votes to pass.

The Civil Contract faction sought to remove Postanjyan from office citing “unexcused absences” from sessions and votes.

Earlier on Wednesday, National Progress faction councillor Hayk Marutyan and Mother Armenia faction councillors Sona Aghekyan and Narine Hayrapetyan lost their seats in similar motions filed by Civil Contract.  A similar motion seeking to oust Mother Armenia faction councillor Gevorg Stepanyan failed to pass.

Video: Nagorno-Karabakh refugees face difficult exile in Armenia

Markos Nalchajian
France 24
Feb 1 2024
Video
By:Garren JANSEZIAN|Taline OUNDJIAN

Armenia joins the International Criminal Court (ICC) this Thursday, with the hope of being able to use its judicial mechanisms to protect itself against its neighbour Azerbaijan. Yerevan and Baku have waged two wars over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Azerbaijan took control of the Armenian-majority enclave in a lightning offensive last September, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee to Armenia. Now living in poverty, they dream of returning home to Nagorno-Karabakh. Our correspondent Taline Oundjian went to meet some of them.

Watch the report at https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/focus/20240201-nagorno-karabakh-refugees-face-difficult-exile-in-armenia

Azeri constitution should be amended reciprocally, says Armenian Speaker of Parliament

Markos Nalchajian

 14:16,

YEREVAN, JANUARY 31, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan believes that the Armenian Constitution contains clauses that should be revised given all geopolitical changes and developments.

“We must understand in which direction Armenia is moving and what goals it is pursuing, and what’s the meaning of the existence of the Republic of Armenia,” Simonyan said at a press conference when asked whether the authorities consider removing the mention of the Declaration of Independence from the Constitution because it in turn mentions Nagorno-Karabakh. “Is that existence for us to restore the historic [Armenia Major], or is it about September 21, when we gained independence, or is it about the citizen of the Republic of Armenia who must be safe and have a prosperous life,” Simonyan added. The Speaker said that answers must be given to these questions, and that the answers aren’t unequivocal within the public. “Armenia can’t be something amorphous. No one can argue with us about this. The citizens of Armenia cannot not understand or know where their homeland begins and ends. Indeed, the Armenian highlands is my homeland, but I have a state called the Republic of Armenia. We gained independence in 1991 with concrete borders, and this must be clear and reflected in all documents,” Simonyan said.

Asked whether amending the Constitution is Azerbaijan’s demand and has something to do with the peace talks, Simonyan said, “I am urging you, and I insist, that from now on, in all the cases when you will ask such a question to Armenian officials, know that the same issue is raised by Armenia. The Azerbaijani Constitution, the Azerbaijani legal acts also contain provisions that should be reciprocally changed. I say again, any negotiations carried out by Armenia are done [reciprocally] in a mirrored way. Meaning, if there is a remark or offer to make the future peace stronger, this relates both to Azerbaijan and to Armenia.”