After the June 2021 parliamentary elections, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract (CC) political party made dozens of promises to achieve within five years, such as defending Artsakh and the rights of its people, etc. However, those promises were either unfulfilled or contradicted by subsequent government actions.
The leaders of CC appointed themselves to top government positions despite lacking qualifications, and enriched themselves through exclusive state contracts, high salaries, and millions of dollars in undeserved bonuses. The same party is now trying to fool the public again for a second time.
On April 3, 2026, CC released its campaign plan for the parliamentary elections of June 7, 2026, and listed 100 key actions to be accomplished between 2026 and 2031.
I will present two of these promised actions:
Point 10, titled “Value-based society,” outlines the Civil Contract’s plans “to reform” the Armenian Apostolic Church. The CC claims that “the activities of the de facto leadership of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church [poses] a problem of spiritual security, since it has created an opportunity for external forces to try to turn the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church into a base for a hybrid struggle against the independence and sovereignty of the Republic of Armenia.” This baseless statement is intended to deflect similar accusations against Pashinyan. If any citizen, layman or clergyman, is a foreign agent, the government has an obligation to arrest and charge that person. This is a defamatory claim, similar to those made against Pashinyan.
Point 10 goes on to detail specific steps that violate the Armenian constitution’s principle of separation of Church and State. Below is CC’s plan:
“a) Removal of the de facto head of the Armenian Apostolic Church (retirement)”;
“b) Election of the Catholicosate Vicar in accordance with established procedure”;
“c) Adoption of the Statute of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church. The Statute should establish mechanisms for maintaining the established principles, financial transparency, and good conduct of the clergy”;
“d) Election of the Catholicos of All Armenians in accordance with established procedure”.
Political parties have no right to decide any of the above four steps. The constitution forbids the government from meddling in the internal affairs of the Church, which has long-established procedures. The government can barely run the country; yet it seeks to manage the Church as well.
Furthermore, CC seeks to offer the clergy personal benefits. Point 10 states: “The Parliamentary majority formed by the Civil Contract party and the government will undertake the inclusion of clergy in the state system of social guarantees.” I am not opposed to the clergy receiving benefits such as health insurance and social security, like all other Armenian citizens; however, it is problematic to link these benefits with the government’s interference with the Church’s hierarchy.
Strangely, Point 10 reiterates that “religious organizations are separate from the state,” yet the government has repeatedly violated the constitution and many other laws, while lecturing society about “removing the Church from politics.” CC leaders act as if they are the only ones who have the right to violate the constitution with impunity.
The Holy See of Etchmiadzin issued a statement condemning CC’s illegal plans to “reform the Armenian Church.” The Holy See stated: This “is a clear violation of the constitutional order, the Church’s right of self-government, as well as the international fundamental principles of freedom of conscience and religion.”
We now turn to Point 100 which states: “Organize a conference for pro-state Diaspora organizations to adopt a concept of Armenia-Diaspora cooperation in peacetime, and to form mechanisms for its implementation.”
This is the Pashinyan government’s latest attempt to divide and weaken existing Armenia-Diaspora relationships, in addition to many other steps by the Pashinyan regime that harm the interests of all Armenians.
Here are some of the other steps that Pashinyan and his incompetent appointee, Zareh Sinanyan, the so-called “High Commissioner of Diaspora Affairs for Armenia,” have undertaken against the Diaspora.
Instead of utilizing the Diaspora as a valuable asset, the Armenian government is undermining its relationship with seven million Diaspora Armenians.
Pashinyan began his rule eight years ago by shutting down the Diaspora Ministry — the main the bridge between Armenia and the Diaspora.
He has repeatedly antagonized the Diaspora publicly. At a 2024 government conference in Yerevan for hundreds of Diaspora Armenians who had come to Yerevan from around the world, Pashinyan rudely said: “We don’t need your help. Armenia can take care of its own needs.”
In 2025, during his visit to Turkey, Pashinyan told a group of Istanbul Armenians: “Don’t rely on me. The Prime Minister is not responsible for Armenians around the world. The Diaspora must solve its own problems in its communities.”
We should also add Pashinyan’s blacklist of Diaspora Armenians who are banned from entering Armenia simply because they said something he did not like.
By Bruce Janigian,
International lawyer, diplomat and author
Immediately following the Iran ceasefire agreement of 7-8 April 2026, Israel stepped up its massive bombing campaign in Beirut. In addition to millions of Lebanese being displaced, Lebanese Christians continued to be killed in indiscriminate bombings that have been described as “a new massacre”.
For years, Christian Palestinians have continued to have their lands expropriated and faced torture or murder along with their Muslim cousins. Syria’s Assad was long considered to be a protector of his Christian communities, as was even Saddam in Iraq, whose well known foreign minister, Tarak Aziz, was a Chaldean Christian.
Few today seem to understand that the beating heart of Christendom was located in the Middle East and that the US-Israeli partnership has contributed massively to its extinction. This partnership continues to do so today, since Iran safeguards its Christian communities and has proven a valuable friend to its tiny neighboring Armenia, the first Christian nation in the world. That small nation has endured millennia of trials to its faithful and is once again threatened by Turkic neighbors with a history of brutal massacres. These are, of course, Turkey, but also Israel’s friend, Azerbaijan. The latter was supported in recently dismembering the ancient lands of Armenia and now threatens further disruptions by linking itself with Turkey in a corridor through Armenia, separating it from Iran, in a project fully supported by the US.
Understanding the history of this region should precede going into wars that devastate its populations. When US president Woodrow Wilson wanted to weigh in on what should become of the then collapsing Ottoman Empire, he commissioned an investigation to travel to the region, the Harbord Commission. They were to determine what nation states should emerge based on historical and demographic analysis. The conclusion presented by General Harbord was three nationalities long submerged under the Ottoman yoke that were deserving of their own independent nations: the Palestinians, Kurds, and Armenians. (Of course Iran, with its diverse minorities, was never part of the Ottoman Empire and did not participate in the World War.)
So how does one connect up the history which seems so misunderstood today in the US. I suggest two books, From the Holy Mountain by William Dalrymple and Persona Non Grata by Avery Mann.
The Evangelical Christian leadership in the USA seems wholly ignorant of the debt all “modern” Christians owe to those who established the religion and kept it alive under the greatest adversity the world could muster against them. Those still carrying on deserve protection.
(c) Bruce Janigian
- Ruzanna Stepanian
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian threatened to turn Samvel Karapetian into a “tramp” on Wednesday in an intensifying war of words with the indicted billionaire emerging as his main election challenger.
Karapetian’s political team cried foul on Tuesday as the ruling Civil Contract party hastily pushed through the Armenian parliament legal amendments banning the tycoon from giving his name to his opposition alliance that will run in the June 7 parliamentary elections. The alliance was unveiled and named Strong Armenia With Samvel Karapetian just a week ago.
Critics said the amendments highlighted Pashinian’s fears that Civil Contract will be collectively defeated by Karapetian’s bloc and other major opposition groups. Karapetian’s nephew and right-hand man Narek aired later on Tuesday a short video message mockingly urging Pashinian not to be afraid of the tycoon.
“He won’t do anything bad to you,” said Narek Karapetian. “When he comes out [of house arrest,] he has a couple of things to tell you.”
“How can I not be afraid?” Pashinian responded tartly the next morning. “I’m afraid that by the end of the year you’ll go from being a billionaire to a tramp.”
“This is what happens when a tramp by soul becomes prime minister,” shot back Narek Karapetian.
The tycoon challenged the seizure of the Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA) operator in an international arbitration body, seeking $500 million in damages. Despite the legal action, Pashinian’s government is expected to formally nationalize ENA soon.
Karapetian was initially charged with calling for a violent regime change. Investigators also filed tax evasion, fraud and money laundering charges against him following his subsequent decision to challenge Pashinian’s party in the 2026 elections. The tycoon, who was moved to house arrest in late December, rejects all the accusations as politically motivated.
Pashinian pledged to “finally shut down your money laundering system” late on Tuesday when he responded to Karapetian’s scathing statement about his April 1 visit to Moscow marked by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s stern warnings to the Armenian premier.
Putin specifically warned Armenian authorities against barring what he called pro-Russian opposition groups or politicians from running in Armenia’s upcoming parliamentary elections. He clearly singled out Karapetian. The latter claimed that Pashinian “disgraced himself in Moscow” and set the stage for a devastating “economic war” with Russia.
On 10 April, 19 representatives of Armenian civil society arrived in Azerbaijan. Together with 20 Azerbaijanis, they will take part in a bilateral round table on 10–12 April, organised as part of the “Bridge of Peace” initiative.This is the fourth meeting between civil society representatives from the two countries. Armenians have travelled to Azerbaijan for the second time.
Unlike the visit organized in November 2025, they arrived by land this time, not by air. They crossed the demarcated Tavush–Kazakh section of the border and completed border and passport control procedures there.
Azerbaijanis travelled to Armenia via the same route in February this year. Observers described it as a “symbolic step”.
The initiative’s work on the Armenian side is coordinated by the analytical center Armenian Council. Its president, Areg Kochinyan, has repeatedly said that meetings held in Armenia and Azerbaijan should be seen as “attempts to lift the iron curtain”.
Armenians involved in the “Bridge of Peace” project view the initiative as an additional platform for direct dialogue.
They believe regular contacts can make a significant contribution to building mutual trust, expanding professional cooperation and gradually normalizing Armenian-Azerbaijani relations.
Below is the information available so far.
What is known about the meeting’s agenda?
According to Armenian Council, dialogue between civil society representatives from Armenia and Azerbaijan follows the peace agenda adopted at the Washington summit on 8 August 2025.
The center says the two-day round tables will cover the following issues:
- the current state of the peace process,
- actions carried out by participants of the “Bridge of Peace” initiative in their countries and their results,
- the situation in the region.
“Separate sessions will focus on efforts to promote peace within societies and to increase trust at the next stages of the peace process,” the centre said.
The analytical center also stressed that the “Bridge of Peace” initiative continues to foster dialogue and direct interaction between civil society representatives from the two countries.
Context
The first meeting between civil society representatives from Armenia and Azerbaijan took place on 21–22 October 2025 in Yerevan.
A month later, on 21–22 November, Armenians travelled to Baku. At that time, Armenia’s government allocated about 17.5 million drams (around $20,000) to organize charter flights between Yerevan and Baku.
After the second meeting, the sides agreed to continue working contacts and mutual visits. The initiative then received the name “Bridge of Peace”.
Initially, five from each country took part in the initiative. In 2026, organizers expanded the number of participants.
On 13–14 February 2026, 20 from the Armenian side and 19 from the Azerbaijani side took part in the third conference of the “Bridge of Peace” initiative. The event took place in the town of Tsaghkadzor in Armenia’s Kotayk region.
From that point, Naira Martikyan, editor and head of JAMnews’ Armenian office, also joined the initiative. She is currently in Azerbaijan as well.
The agenda for civil society representatives from the two countries covers a wide range of issues related to the current stage and development of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. These include the signing of a peace agreement and the opening of communications.
As part of the initiative, the participants also hold meetings with senior officials.
During the trip to Baku in autumn 2025, Armenians met Hikmet Hajiyev, head of the foreign policy department of Azerbaijan’s presidential administration.
Azerbaijanis, during their visit to Armenia, met Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanyan and Secretary of the Security Council Armen Grigoryan.
The Diaspora National Mobilization Conference took place from April 11 to 12, in Paris, bringing together more than 150 distinguished intellectuals, political leaders, and public and community figures from Armenia, Artsakh, and 26 countries across the Diaspora. The conference provided a comprehensive assessment of Armenia–Diaspora relations amid ongoing national challenges and evolving geopolitical realities, highlighting the urgent need for coordinated mobilization around a unified pan-Armenian agenda.
At the opening session of the conference, welcoming remarks were delivered by His Holiness Karekin II and His Holiness Aram I, as well as by the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh and Acting President of the Republic of Artsakh, Ashot Danielyan. Best wishes for the success of the conference were also conveyed by ARF Bureau Representative Armen Rustamyan.
Following discussions on the four-point agenda, the conference adopted relevant decisions, outlined key priorities, and identified the steps to be undertaken in that direction.
A. THE STRATEGIC ROLE OF THE DIASPORA AND THE POLITICAL AGENDA
The role of the Diaspora in addressing the challenges facing the Armenian people holds strategic importance. Today, as Armenian statehood faces serious security threats and the foundations of national identity are being targeted, a pan-Armenian mobilization around national agendas has become imperative. The national and state interests and goals of Armenia, Artsakh, and the Armenian people are inseparable.
At the current stage, the key priorities of the Diaspora’s political agenda are:
Strengthening Armenian statehood. Developing and implementing a comprehensive strategic program aimed at reinforcing the Republic of Armenia’s strength and security.
Recognition and reparation of the Armenian Genocide. Despite the policies pursued by the current authorities of Armenia, the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide and the pursuit of reparations remain imperative.
The Artsakh issue. The issue of Artsakh remains on the agenda and includes the following practical steps:
- Pursuing the immediate release of prisoners of war
- Protecting the rights of the people of Artsakh and internationalizing the right to collective return
- Safeguarding the Armenian cultural heritage of occupied Artsakh
- Providing full support to the functioning of Artsakh’s state institutions
- Working to protect the civil rights and address the socio-economic challenges of forcibly displaced Armenians from Artsakh currently residing in Armenia
B. THE ROLE OF NATIONAL VALUES AND THE ARMENIAN CHURCH IN PRESERVING ARMENIAN IDENTITY IN THE DIASPORA
Armenian identity is rooted in Armenian history, the Armenian Church, language, culture, and national values, which constitute the fundamental pillars of the Diaspora’s existence. In the current critical circumstances, the Armenian Church, as in the past, continues to serve not only as a spiritual anchor but also as a cornerstone of the Armenian people’s national and spiritual identity.
Condemning the campaign unleashed by the authorities of the Republic of Armenia against Armenian values and the Armenian Apostolic Church, it is necessary to take into account the following priorities:
- Resistance. Any step or action directed against national identity must be met with organized and unified resistance.
- Unity. Prevent division and establish strong unity around the Church.
- Education and upbringing. Strengthen and expand the educational, cultural, and spiritual systems of the Diaspora to ensure the preservation and transmission of Armenian identity to larger numbers of future generations. Foster in the younger generation a sense of awareness of national collective interests and the will to uphold and take ownership of them.
C. KEY ISSUES AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS OF ARMENIA–DIASPORA RELATIONS
The national value system is the primary source of strength for the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian nation as a whole. It must serve as the indispensable foundation for shaping Armenia–Diaspora relations and the pan-Armenian agenda. Following the 44-day war, as well as the most recent war in Artsakh and the subsequent ethnic cleansing, the policies pursued by the Armenian authorities have led to deep disappointment and disillusionment among the Diaspora, giving rise to concerning tendencies of internal detachment from the homeland.
The policy of the current Armenian authorities—marked by the neglect, division, and disregard of the organized Diaspora and its support for the homeland—is strongly condemnable. Equally concerning is the inaction of the Armenian authorities toward Armenian communities in the Middle East facing existential threats.
Accordingly, the priorities of Armenia–Diaspora relations are:
Strategic Armenia–Diaspora cooperation: Restore and elevate institutional ties with the Diaspora to a new qualitative level.
Effective mechanisms for utilizing pan-Armenian capacity and networks: Ensure the broad participation of Diaspora professionals across various state projects and sectors, with the prospect of assuming responsibilities.
Formation of a unified Armenia–Diaspora framework: Develop and implement a unified policy across political, diplomatic, economic, scientific, military-industrial, informational, and educational-cultural spheres. In this context, the Diaspora’s professional potential plays a significant role in the application of Armenian soft power.
Western Armenian is endangered: The protection and development of Western Armenian requires an active role not only from the Diaspora but also from the Republic of Armenia.
Enhancing the role of the Diaspora: Initiate professional discussions on the possible models of Diaspora participation in the governance of the Republic of Armenia and in advancing pan-Armenian issues, with the aim of achieving national consensus and legal solutions within Armenia’s political system.
D. DIASPORA MOBILIZATION AND REVITALIZATION FOR PAN-ARMENIAN GOALS
The need for unity, strengthening, and reorganization of the Diaspora around pan-Armenian agendas is indisputable.
It is imperative to consolidate the Diaspora around national goals, modernize Diaspora structures and overall modes of operation, foster direct cooperation between communities, and consistently strengthen collective capacity. In this process of reorganization, the full engagement of youth is especially vital.
Diaspora mobilization must be carried out around strategic programs, taking into account the following priorities:
- Strengthening the global Armenian nation and the Republic of Armenia as two components of one nation
- Supporting the process of building a strong national state
- Advancing the Armenian Cause and pan-Armenian objectives
In light of the above conclusions and outlined priorities, the Diaspora National Mobilization Conference emphasizes that, in today’s complex geopolitical environment, the vitality and strength of the Diaspora are inseparably linked to the homeland.
Our unity must be anchored in enduring national values and a vision of strengthening statehood as a shared agenda. The national and state interests and goals of Armenia, Artsakh, and the Armenian people are inseparable.
We reject the divisive and alienating approaches adopted by the current authorities of the Republic of Armenia.
Instead, we call for the establishment of healthy, coordinated, and balanced relations, which are the only guarantee for strengthening the Armenian nation and preserving Armenian statehood.
With a strong sense of national responsibility, our collective potential must serve exclusively pan-Armenian goals, ensuring a secure and guaranteed future for the Armenian people.
To this end, we emphasize the importance of the participation of all citizens of the Republic of Armenia—regardless of their place of residence—in National Assembly elections. We call on all citizens of the Republic of Armenia, including those abroad, to travel to Armenia by their own means and take part in the elections.
It is necessary to change the current authorities’ anti-national course and establish a national state-oriented path of development.
On August 8, 2025, President Donald Trump hosted Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at the White House, where the two foreign leaders signed a peace agreement. The White House released a statement that the agreement, initiated under the Biden administration, is “a landmark achievement for international diplomacy that only President Trump could deliver.”
On January 13, 2026, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan returned to Washington to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss implementation of the agreed corridor across southern Armenia, which Trump insisted be named the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP).
Azerbaijan and Turkey could enjoy trade and transit across Armenia if they established diplomatic relations and ended their blockade.
If sincerity is the basis of peace, then the chances for a lasting solution are tiny. None of the partners professing to seek peace is sincere. Trump seeks a Nobel Prize and his name on signs. Rubio will play the loyal yes-man to keep his job, regardless of where his moral compass might point. The deeply unpopular Pashinyan—who increasingly seems like the Armenian version of former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili—rushes concessions to position himself as the only candidate in forthcoming elections who can deliver peace, no matter that under his watch, Armenia fought two wars and lost both badly. Aliyev, meanwhile, hopes to use the corridor to bifurcate Armenia’s Syunik province. Azerbaijan’s hostage-taking and kangaroo courts appear designed to humiliate Armenians and undermine peace more than achieve it.
The basic problem with the TRIPP is that it serves no economic purpose. Azerbaijan and Turkey could enjoy trade and transit across Armenia if they established diplomatic relations and ended their blockade. That is a decision that only Ankara can make, as Turkey calls the broader strategic shots for Azerbaijan.
Indeed, while Azerbaijan and Turkey argue they need a corridor to enable trade, they play Trump and Rubio for fools. The entire time that Aliyev whined about Armenia’s blockaded border being an impediment to trade, Azerbaijan directed its trade through Iran, a country whose trade relations with Azerbaijan exceed Armenia’s. Indeed, in 2022, Azerbaijan and Iran signed an agreement for a new transit corridor through Iran.
While Aliyev struts at the White House, local dynamics that have nothing to do with the United States or even Armenia shape his actions. Just as Azerbaijan used military force to end Nagorno-Karabakh’s constitutional autonomy, so, too, did Aliyev last month do the same thing with the landlocked exclave of Nakhchivan, which also had been an autonomous republic. Aliyev will now rule Nakhchivan through an appointed representative, ending any semblance of local rule and continuing Aliyev’s transformation of Azerbaijan into the Eritrea or North Korea of the Caucasus.
Aliyev’s powerplay over Nakhchivan suggests dark clouds on the horizon, both for Azerbaijan and potentially for the region. Aliyev is the scion of a family dynasty founded by his father Heydar, a former KGB agent and Central Committee Member of the Soviet Union, but one whose son is rumored to be autistic and two daughters hampered by their own personal and social problems, so managing a future transition will be difficult.
What is looming in Azerbaijan is a three-way mafia war, the outcome of which will determine the fate of the Aliyev dynasty.
While Aliyev was born in Baku at a time when Heydar was the local KGB chief, the Aliyev family roots itself in Nakhchivan, where Heydar himself was born. Over years of Aliyev’s rule, Vasif Talibov, chairman of the Supreme Assembly of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic from 1995 until 2022, consolidated local control and transformed Nakhchivan into his own mafia fiefdom. A desire to kneecap competition best explains Aliyev’s decision to impose direct rule over Nakhchivan. It is the Azerbaijani equivalent of the New York Genovese crime family’s infiltration into the Patriarca family’s territory in Massachusetts. At the same time, tension grows between the powerful Pashayev family and Aliyev himself. His marriage was supposed to bring unity between the families but instead brought de facto divorce.
What is looming in Azerbaijan is a three-way mafia war, the outcome of which will determine the fate of the Aliyev dynasty. If the Aliyevs lose out, Ilham is likely to launch a new skirmish, if not war, against Armenia to restore an image of strength or use emergency provisions to imprison economic competitors or political threats.
Panarmenian
A court has ruled to cancel the restrictive measure imposed on Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II, upholding the defense’s complaint.
This was announced on Facebook by lawyer Ara Zohrabyan, who noted that the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction of First Instance had granted the appeal filed by the defense, ruling that the preventive measure applied to the Catholicos must be revoked.
“As you know, the Investigative Committee of Armenia (investigator Ara Avagyan) had issued a decision applying a ban on leaving the country as a preventive measure against the Catholicos of All Armenians.
Due to that restriction, as well as the investigator’s refusal to grant permission for a temporary trip to Georgia, the Catholicos of All Armenians was unable to attend the funeral service of Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II.
The investigator’s decision was appealed to a superior prosecutor. The Prosecutor General’s Office of Armenia (prosecutor Khachatur Galstyan) decided to reject the complaint. Following the prosecutor’s refusal, an appeal was submitted to the court.
Today, on April 10, 2026, the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction of First Instance (Judge Ani Danielyan) ruled to grant the defense’s complaint. Based on the court’s decision, the preventive measure applied to the Catholicos of All Armenians is subject to removal,” he wrote.
On February 14, the Investigative Committee had decided to impose a ban on leaving the country as a preventive measure against the Catholicos of All Armenians.
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