Category: News

Iveta Tonoyan writes: “The reason becomes clear…

It is obvious that the campaign against PAP has nothing to do with any legal or judicial process. This is an exclusively political action, the main purpose of which is to create an atmosphere of fear, to limit the activity of the opposition forces, and a clear attempt to destroy the normal election campaign.

Today, the results of sociological polls published by the international “Gallup” organization reveal the real motive of the government’s actions. The 4 opposition political forces have a significant advantage to form a new government.

It is this reality that panicked Nikol Pashinyan and forced him to try to stop the growing support of the opposition by way of another political persecution.

In fact, Andranik Tevanyan and Martun Grigoryan became the victims not of any “accusation”, but of the data of this sociological survey. And these numbers are another proof of Nikol Pashinyan’s nervousness and political imbalance.

Dear compatriots, “Prosperous Armenia” party will never deviate from its adopted political path. We will continue our struggle for a dignified, safe and strong Armenia.

We will continue the quiet, restrained program campaign, the open and sincere dialogue with our people.

We are sure that no matter how much the authorities try to carry out new pressures, provocations and persecutions until the end of the campaign, our people will make their dignified and correct choice on June 7. And with that election, this government will receive a clear political assessment of the people.”

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Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of the Russian State Duma, joined the almost daily critical statements from Moscow to Yerevan. Volodin stated that Nikol Pashinyan is taking advantage of the opportunities provided by Russia, while making unfriendly political decisions towards Russia.

“According to the deputies of the State Duma, Pashinyan conducts an unfriendly policy towards the Russian Federation, cynically using the opportunities provided by our country,” wrote Volodin on the Russian Max channel, asserting that “this is dishonest and, as the example of Ukraine shows, will not lead to anything good.” A high-ranking Russian official insisted that Moscow should make a decision.

“We can no longer remain silent about the processes taking place in Armenia,” Volodin wrote, again mentioning the law passed by the Armenian parliament last year on starting the process of joining the European Union and Armenia’s membership in the International Criminal Court.

Two days ago, a discussion of a special working group on the issue of Armenia was organized in the Russian Security Council, where Secretary Sergey Shoigu made rather harsh statements, calling the steps taken by the Armenian leadership “incompatible with the spirit of allied relations with Russia”, emphasizing Armenia’s European aspirations among them. However, the RA authorities are sure that Moscow will not take drastic actions, it does not have such a toolkit, and the Armenian-Russian cooperation is mutually beneficial, that is, it is also in the interests of the Russian Federation. Nikol Pashinyan announced today.

“I understand that the number of people who want to cause a crisis in RA-Russian relations is quite large, but as I said, we will not argue with Russia, we will not fight. Russia is a superpower that should be treated with respect, and we treat it with respect.”

He emphasized again that they have no desire to leave the EAEU, and only Armenia can raise this issue in the EAEU.

He also said that they treat the interests of the Russian Federation with respect and do not resort to actions against the interests of the Russian Federation. Pashinyan said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is the head of the state, why shouldn’t he come to Armenia? According to him, Zelensky came to Armenia in the same way that the president of Azerbaijan visited Russia during the conflict with Azerbaijan.

The head of “Rosselkhoznadzor” Sergey Dankwert announced on the air of “Vesti” that he is recording problems related to the supply of not only flowers, but also fruits and vegetables from Armenia. “The problem is that we have problems not only with flowers, but also with vegetables and fruits,” Dankwert said. The Russian official noted that inspections in Armenian enterprises will continue for another week.

“We will make a decision based on the results of those inspections,” added the head of the service.

“The ban will remain in force until the inspection of the greenhouses is completed and the results are analyzed. Despite the guarantees given by the Food Safety Inspectorate of Armenia, 135 cases of violations of the established phytosanitary rules were registered among the 96.2 million flowers imported to Russia in the first months of this year. This is 77% of the total number of cases detected in 2025,” he emphasized.

The Armenian side reported yesterday that a group of Russian specialists arrived in Yerevan for phytosanitary inspections.

To remind, “Rosselkhoznadzor” has temporarily limited the import of flower products from Armenia since May 22. Today, during his press conference, Pashinyan also addressed this issue, describing them as work problems that happen many times during the year, and they themselves raise these issues on EAEU platforms.

The sharp tightening of public rhetoric between Moscow and Yerevan, which is expressed by direct warnings from the Russian Federation, indicates that the “status quo” in Armenian-Russian relations has run out.

Russia is no longer ready to tolerate the “geopolitical diversification” of Yerevan, when Armenia tries to get closer to the West politically and institutionally, but at the same time preserve and consume the economic benefits of EAEU. Yerevan is convinced that Moscow does not have sufficient tools, and Moscow seems to consider that Armenia’s dependence on Russia is fatal. However, it is certain that the restrictions on the import of agricultural products and flowers by “Rosselkhoznadzor” are not ordinary work problems, but the first economic blows. The “phytosanitary war” seems to indicate the first stage of Russia’s pressure tools.

If the RA authorities try to continue this policy, they should most likely prepare for Moscow’s gradual but consistent use of economic and energy levers.

Russia could artificially paralyze Armenian exports at the Lars checkpoint, limit lucrative re-export schemes and revise energy tariffs, which would short-term hit Armenia’s economic growth and unleash domestic social discontent, even though Pashinyan insists that agreements are in place and cannot be broken.

Nikol Pashinyan’s assurances that Armenia respects the interests of the Russian Federation and is not going to leave the EAEU seem to be perceived in Moscow as tactical maneuvers, as they do not correspond to de facto political steps.

Volodin’s open reference to the example of Ukraine is a signal that Russia is ready to use tools to break the foreign policy course adopted by Yerevan or to put pressure on the government. Moscow is creating a situation where the continuation and privileges of economic cooperation within the framework of the EAEU will be directly conditioned by political loyalty. Russia is creating a situation where Yerevan’s space to maneuver narrows, and RA enters the stage of economic confrontation.

If the Armenian authorities fail to get tangible guarantees from the West, the Russian opposition threatens to mix the economic and political playing cards.

The model of building one’s own economic success on the Russian market and the political future on European hopes does not seem to be working.

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Following the episodes of Nikol Pashinyan’s campaign related to the army, including the reaction of the leader of the country to the emotional but fair demands of the soldiers, the missing in the war, the parents and relatives of the soldiers who died in the fire in the Azat shelter, why is it that sometimes these people are not given the opportunity to speak, I remembered an anonymous article published in “Haykakan Zhamanak” in October 2010 article-editorialwith the caption “We continue to kill ourselves”.

At the beginning of the article, reference is made to the 20-year-old pastor Manvel Saribekyan, who was kidnapped by Azerbaijan at the same time and killed in Azerbaijani captivity.

“I don’t believe that twenty-year-old Manvel Saribekyan got lost, and the Azerbaijanis arrested the Armenian border violator. I am sure that it was necessary to find a “saboteur”, they violated our border and kidnapped the Armenian youth in order to weave an absurd anti-Armenian myth. Therefore, the guilt of Manvel’s tragic death lies on the shoulders of the RA authorities.

 I understand that with this statement I am attacking the reputation of the most combative army in the region, raising doubts about the reliability of our borders, but I don’t believe it. Maybe I’m wrong. What is that? if the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia makes mistakes every God’s day, I can make mistakes too. Especially since my mistake is unlikely to be fatal for Armenia. And the mistakes of Seyran Ohanyan and his owners not only plunge the country into the abyss, but also cause us to hear at least once a week that an Armenian soldier committed suicide.

According to us, Armenian prisoner Manvel Saribekyan was killed. Or the beasts and monsters tormented him so much that the tortured young man saw no other option but to commit suicide. Both are possible… None of us can boast that falling into the hands of the enemy, we will not see suicide as the only way out. What kind of flaming definitions are being made about Azerbaijanis, how is the catchphrase “Turk remains Turk” making waves again?: How do these same people behave when a monstrous bot from our army is smacking the air? It is known how they behave. they blame those who raised the alarm about the situation in the Armenian army,” writes the anonymous columnist of Nikol Pashinyan’s family newspaper, perhaps himself, and continues.

“If they haven’t completely lost their human face, why don’t this same Seyran Ohanyan and his masters shudder to think that there are such monsters in the army that make a soldier’s life so hellish that he prefers voluntary death?” On native soil, in the environment of his fellow countrymen. Are those who promote suicide hypotheses really so hopelessly stupid, square and soulless that they don’t understand that suicide is something more terrible than murder? If a soldier commits suicide, isn’t it clear that he is in a desperate situation, having to hang the rope around his own neck? Isn’t it terrible? Why is no one punished after that, why the commander? not fired and judged,Why don’t the RA Defense Minister and Chief of Staff resign? Why?

Because Armenians are puppets, aren’t they Turks? Do they kill themselves tenderly or “suicide”?

Because our soldiers are romantic guys, they look at the sky at night and think how endless the world is and how small a creature man is, and feeling their own powerlessness against that mysterious world, they decide to die so that the “global” question marks don’t smack their young brains.

Well, we declared that a Turk remains a Turk, we spilled our beans, and then…? And what name should we give to Armenian Seyran Ohanyan, who after so many tragedies tries to justify even the sadistic officer of the famous video tape – well, he was drunk, they say, he is such a good guy when he is not drunk. What do you say… The tears of their mothers are tears, the tears of the crying mothers of soldiers killed in the army and “suicides” are tears? Why do they protect executioners and murderers with their teeth?

It’s not difficult, isn’t it, to judge the criminals and more or less openly present themselves to the society, to the grieving mothers and say, “I’m sorry, if you can… Those who do not see the innocent blood spilled in their own house and bravely wave their fists at Azerbaijanis from afar, will they be very angry if I say that they are protecting them because they are executioners and murderers? I say get angry. Those who sponsor executioners are more dangerous. By sponsoring them, the leadership of Armenia encourages the executioners – continue in the same spirit, we are the owners.”

Let us first remind here that Manvel Saribekyan (born on February 27, 1990), a resident of Ttujur village of Gegharkunik region, was captured on September 11, 2010. According to the information circulated, the 20-year-old young man had taken several cattle to the pasture, and lost his orientation due to the fog in the “Keghut” camp, ended up on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and was captured by the Azerbaijanis.

On October 5, 2010, the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan and the Military Prosecutor’s Office issued a joint statement that Saribekyan committed suicide at the place of preliminary detention, but before that he was shown on Baku television, and also managed to claim that “the Armenian pastor is a detective who was captured during a sabotage operation.”

A month after the murder, only Azerbaijan decided to hand over Manvel Saribekyan’s body to Armenia in Tavush region. I myself was present, the picture was terrible. The Armenian pastor was subjected to torture, inhuman treatment, physical violence on his body and there were many traces of torture.

ECHR in 2020 too had recorded that Azerbaijan violated Manvel Saribekyan’s right to life. In other words, the European Court of Human Rights decided that in terms of Manvel Saribekyan’s death, there had been a violation of Article 2 of the UN Convention (right to life) and Article 3 of the Convention on Torture (prohibits torture and “inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”).

Let’s go back to the article of “Haykakan Zhamanak” in 2010, where the RA authorities were blamed for the capture of the pastor, where, in fact, suicide cases within the army were equated with what the enemy did, and the behavior of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in 2026. He gets extremely angry when he is blamed for the blood of several thousand boys in the 44-day war, when he himself declared: “we could have prevented the war, as a result we would have had the same situation, of course, without victims”, or he gets excited and upset when the relatives of the boys who were burned to ashes by the fire in the Azat shelter remind them of this, they say to the leadership of the 2nd Army Corps of the RA Armed Forces released, a trial is underway. And shameful things are revealed in the trial. But Prime Minister Pashinyan forgets that he previously demanded the resignation of the Minister of Defense and the head of the General Staff in response to suicide cases.

By the way, after the fire at Azat’s residence, Vilen Gabrielyan, still a member of the CP, said the same thing in his conversation with “CivilNet”. demand 

“If I were in the opposition, I would demand the resignation of the Minister of Defense. But I’m not in the opposition, I’m Suren Papikyan’s teammate. therefore, I support him in solving the problems in the army,” Gabrielyan emphasized, asserting that the RA armed forces need a serious transformation, because the system does not work in line with the existing challenges.

As a matter of fact, Gabrielyan, who submitted an application to become a member of parliament again today, has softened his behavior and mentality.

In the context of the article, let us recall that during one of the briefings this year, journalists asked Pashinyan a question about the facts of the war crimes committed in the sovereign territory of Armenia, the shooting of Armenian prisoners and the torture of women, and raised the issue of the demand to punish the relevant officials and military of Azerbaijan, to which Pashinyan responded that the solution of the issue requires a broader perspective.

“I do not agree that we, you and I, should look each other in the eye and deceive each other, and even more so, deceive our people, because it is a double-edged sword. Those rumors exist now, and no one denies the facts, but we have to understand what we are talking about, and that is the trap from which we cannot get out,” he continued.

Can we remember Pashinyan’s journalistic claim in 2010 that? “The leadership of Armenia encourages executioners”? For Pashinyan, the executioner has always been and remains the former authorities of RA.

You will say that now there is a different geopolitical situation, “peace” has been established, but does the geopolitical situation cancel the question of the authorities’ responsibility in the cases described by journalist Nikol Pashinyan or the anonymous columnist, moreover, it is not about a few thousand victims… Of course not, and at some point, when Pashinyan becomes the opposition, won’t he return to the logic of the above-mentioned articles, even if we are dealing with different geopolitical situations?

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Edgar Elbakyan imagines the future of Armenia very sadly, noting that “now we are in a pre-genocide situation”, but he is convinced that Pashinyan’s attempts to destroy the Armenian national identity and create a “CP identity” have failed. 168 TVof Revue in an interview with the program, talking about the topic of national identity, the identity and differences of the homeland and the state, and the current processes, political scientist Edgar Elbakyan answered the important questions, what is Armenia in general and what is Armenia about?

The political scientist emphasizes that Armenia is a national state.

“I imagine the future of Armenia very sadly, because the issue is not pluralism. You know, we can have a very healthy society where people don’t agree on the tax code or uniforms in schools, but when we argue about what Armenia is, living in a society, and there’s clearly an ideological camp that says, Armenia is the historical and cultural continuation. If we say: let’s forget genocide, let’s forget Karabakh, Tigranashen, land issue, Khorenatsi, Mount Masis, what is left underneath, just our biological reserve? “Armenia is a national state, or at least ideally it should be,” said Edgar Elbakyan.

The political scientist clarifies that Pashinyan’s behavior of measuring the Motherland purely materially, with roads, kindergartens and restaurants, and not with spiritual and national values, in the general picture of the rejection of Artsakh, is very typical of today’s politics, because with the temporary weakening of the role of religions and the church, politics has turned into a kind of religion, but the good news is that we are already gradually entering the next transformation phase, when religion and the church are valued again.

“When he announces that a kindergarten and a school have not been built in Artsakh, and people applaud, don’t be surprised, because he appeals to the self-reliant part of people, to the emotional part of people. It has become their identity. They made this their identity. In fact, I will call this anti-Armenianism, and see how it was built. Identity is built there when you are able to first divide into “us” and “them” and most importantly, you are able to explain to people the reason for their suffering. They try to convince that “you are suffering because of being Armenian”. Of course, they stated that “you are suffering because of Karabakh”.

It was clear that in reality Karabakh is not the issue, but the national struggle, they were just hiding it, that it is a conflict, it is an expenditure of resources, this, that. Now it has already become. “You will not live well if you look at Mount Masis. You will not live well, because Mashtots has not become a QR code. You will not live well, how many Raffi you read, Khorenatsi you read”, and so on. He does not accidentally say that September 19 [of 2023] is the day of Armenia’s independence. This is the most vulgarized form of a liberal approach to identity, when you are “liberated” from yourself, from your identity,” commented the political scientist.

Speaking about the hidden process of handing over territories and the conversations surrounding it, Edgar Elbakyan mentioned.

«I am sure that Tigranashen is the first, or maybe they will start from the so-called Soflu-Barkhudarlu in Tavush marz. It depends on how the elections will be held, if they are held, with what advantage, how ready will people be? I am saying something that is a bit painful for us, but the Turks are just looking at where their enemies are weaker. Kemal, for example, in 1920 in May it was decided whether to attack the Greeks or the Armenians. He saw that the Armenians are weaker, he decided to start with the Armenians…

Now they look at it as a weak military front, or “well, where is the best place to start?”, so they cut Armenia like a cake, but they definitely want to surrender Tigranashen, and if it is surrendered, it will turn into an Azerbaijani military base. it has no other meaning for Azerbaijanis. The Goris-Kapan road will look like a playground in front of it. There will be a military base under Yerevan’s nose. Old people must remember that during the Soviet years, Azerbaijanis wrote Brezhnev’s famous speech in large letters on the hill in front of Tigranashen. “Azerbaijan walks wide”. Another form of psychological violence against Armenians»։

Elbakyan also added. “In general, the founder of our state, the one who says: state, state, do it, the founder of your state is from Karabakh. Aram Manukyan is from Karabakh. Apart from the fact that Aram Manukyan is from Artsakh, the outcome of the battle of Sardarapat was decided by the Karabakh cavalry… If we start dividing into groups like that, the co-founders of this state are the Sassoons and Mshetsi, who cleaned the skirts of Aragats… In other words, how do you stand and say forget it? There are people. Now give and kill the honey beekeeper so that he forgets that they came from Artsap village. Do you want to erase the memory of those people?’

Full interview in the video.

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The guest of 168 TV’s “Zara has a question” program is theologian, producer Tovmas Urarakir Arakelyan.

Below are some of the highlights of Tovmas Arakelyan during the program.

It is Satan’s behavior. when the devil met Christ, he spoke exclusively in scriptural lines, quoted quite famous words from the Old Testament and tried to mislead Christ with the Bible itself, using the Bible itself. In the hands of this group, the Bible is another tool, such a tool as the yellow press, such as their administrative levers, their power structures, like a hammer in their hands. Like that hammer, he can shake the Canon Book of the Armenians, having absolutely no idea about that book, he can shake the Bible.

We will be obedient to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. nothing can break loyalty. The apostle Paul said: neither the sword, nor the sword, nor the persecution, nothing can separate us from our lord and savior Jesus Christ.

See how they defile all the councils of the church in their lives. how they defile the marriage council with their own lives and their behavior. Not getting married and then even not getting married, breaking up and making it public. It is a rejection of marriage. I agree that private life is nobody’s business, but they make it public. Moreover, neither of us make anything public, but every time I take out my bed to air it out, shake it, several CP bloggers fall. They are in different folds of our beds. They are also trying to defile the Council of the Liturgy with disorganized clergy and by shortening, discounting, the Council of Ordination, not accepting ordained clergy, the Catholic ordination.

The only reform that they have done to this church during the last year was to remove traitors from our ranks. Christ says: they came from among us, but they were not of us, and it is obvious that they were not of us.

The struggle was never political for me for a moment, I never had any political interest for a moment, and I don’t have it now. I have no personal or financial interest in that political process. For us, and for me personally, this is a problem of the identity of the Motherland, the values ​​of the church. it is not a political problem, it is not a party problem, and I have always said that we are on the battlefield of the homeland and values, in today’s Sardarapat and Avarayr, and the clergy cannot remain indifferent and uninvolved.

CP clerics claimed months ago that no, this is a political issue, and the church should stay out of political issues. I qualify this as value and homeland, they qualify this as politics and party. Those clerics who said it’s just politics, it’s a party issue, go, stand in the CP campaign in secular clothes (by the way, I have to say, disorganized clergy in secular clothes and with incomprehensible women).

The clergyman, being a citizen, can and must speak his word, and these unconstitutional lines that they have included in their pre-election program show that they have lost, that the reformation movement is a defeated, exhausted, worn out movement. There was the line “Father’s call for rest”. what does it mean, the prime minister will call the Catholicos to rest?

People participated in the “renovation” of the church, who during the construction of St. Anne’s Church “not to offer prayers. pray well, we have just arrived” they stood in front of the church with posters and held a rally.

If you could solve the problem in such a way that we would have “the same situation, but without the victims”, we might not know. If we called you a traitor, you would have said: let them call me a traitor, let me be a traitor, let them hang me, but 5000 boys, 4000 boys, 5 boys, 5 young men should not be sacrificed.

Let those people who come in and out go one day and talk outside in such a state, let them go, one day they will grab Aliyev by the arm, say: I am saying something, stop, listen to what I am saying, say: are you going, stop, they will pull Aliyev by the arm, say: wait a minute, I have not finished speaking, stay where you are, listen to me until the end.

We should all go together as one person, together as one heart, one soul, participate in the elections with prayer and wisdom. The most important question today is this, because tomorrow depends on participation in these elections, and on the participation of each of us. You know, a very small percentage participated in the previous elections, and this is devastating for all of us. Do not be lazy, do not despair.

In all our topics, we must have our political prisoners as a focus, and for me, as an Armenian, as a Christian, the person who entered the front line of this campaign for the sake of my church is very acceptable. Whoever is on the right course, they also persecute him. if today Samvel Karapetyan, Reverend Bagrat, Reverend Mikael Srbazan are political prisoners… I am with them.

Regardless of the fact that I also traveled with them, the indicator for me today is who this regime persecuted, even if it is a stranger, I immediately have respect for that person and I start to look for what good deed he is being persecuted for. And I’m never wrong, you know.

It is a very interesting unit of measurement. And in the same way, when I hear something positive from this regime about an artist, a figure, a positive gesture towards that person, I say: look at what compromises, what dark pages this person has in his biography, that by using it, they made a person a slave.

Details in the video

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168TVof “Trigger” the guest of the program It’s Arthur Khachikyan, Ph.D. in political science at Stanford University:

During the program, the EU-EEU relations, the steps of the Armenian authorities and the statements of the representatives of the Russian authorities, as well as the possible consequences and risks, were discussed.

A special reference was made to the topic of the European Political Community Summit in Armenia and Russia’s response to Vladimir Zelensky’s statements.

Special attention was paid to the upcoming elections in Armenia and the possible developments of the internal political situation in the country. In this context, the position of the EU, the undemocratic actions of the Armenian authorities, as well as the existing risks for the future of the country were discussed.

Hayk Derzyan

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