March: 11, 2026
Published on March 3, “Baku’s dangerous games and hybrid plans. Tips for Pashinyan before the elections” in the article we wrote on the eve of the Armenian elections, Baku considers possible deadly actions by the “5th Column” in Armenia.
And here on March 10, the Foreign Intelligence Service of Armenia issued a statement regarding the pressures applied to RA citizens in other countries and interference in the upcoming election processes.
“The foreign intelligence service receives intelligence information that acting on behalf of the special services of the given country in another country, various actors are trying to put pressure on Armenians and people who are RA citizens and are engaged in economic activities in the given country, pushing them to carry out actions to support some political forces that have applied for participation in the upcoming parliamentary elections in Armenia, which include, but are not limited to, financial and organizational support actions by the mentioned businessmen to the given political forces”.
The department headed by Kristine Grigoryan does not present facts, does not elaborate on which country it is about, and, apart from the actions mentioned in the announcement, what other steps are taken when it is said that:are not limited to the actions of financial and organizational support by the mentioned businessmen to the given political forces”.
It should be noted that the police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs submitted a report to the Investigative Committee, where the report is in the process of being studied, regarding the information about pressures on RA citizens in other countries and interference in electoral processes.
And this pre-election warning of the Foreign Intelligence Service is not surprising at all, if we take into account the 2025 and 2026 elections. of reports key points in the context of hybrid pressures.
By the way, deviating a little from the topic, let us remind you that during the NA-Government question-and-answer session in the spring of 2024, Nikol Pashinyan stated: “2020 Our allies did not participate in the preparations for the 44-day war. And I know at least 2 CSTO countries that participated in preparations for war against us.”
168.amimmediately had written that Pashinyan meant Russia and Belarus, today Pashinyan remembers these countries mainly in the domestic political dimension, emphasizing the foreign political connections of specific candidates who applied for participation in the National Assembly elections.
And during the period of the above-mentioned statement, the journalists tried to get clarification from the head of the RA Foreign Intelligence Service, Kristine Grigoryan, whether it was a purely political statement or whether there is operational data on CSTO 2 countries. Grigoryan, however, refused to give any comments, saying. “The RA Prime Minister made a statement, and I cannot make any comments.”
Then he added that there are many threats to RA sovereignty, which come from several countries, without giving specific names.
“Reforms are being carried out in the RA security sector to neutralize those dangers. The priorities of our activity determined the directions of the external threats, as well as the important intelligence information for the development of the state, which the service should collect, and they are aimed at neutralizing the external threats of the republic, which come from different countries and different phenomena. And our intelligence and analysis is aimed at ensuring that policy decisions are based on solid informationChristine Grigoryan noted, adding that the external security challenges in all countries have both internal and external actors, and Armenia is no exception.
In this context, let’s add that last year was put into circulation The initiative to make amendments and additions to the Law “On National Security Bodies”, which, in particular, proposed:
– To fix the function of conducting foreign counter-intelligence activities by national security bodies,
– as a basis for implementation of counter-intelligence activities by national security agencies define the need to ensure state security in the bodies of the diplomatic service of the Republic of Armenia in foreign countries,
– to reserve the authority to define the order of cooperation of intelligence and counter-intelligence bodies to the RA Prime Minister,
– establish the authority for national security bodies to obtain access from state and local self-government bodies, organizations to information systems and databases necessary for their activities, including in online format,
– revoked Legislation on intelligence units of the National Security Service.
It is not known in which specific countries and as a result of what the government decided to consider it necessary to ensure state security in the RA diplomatic service bodies in foreign countries. I wonder how solid the intelligence information of Kristine Grigoryan’s “office” is, that acting in another country on behalf of the special services of the given country, according to pre-election logic, various actors are trying to put pressure on Armenians and people who are citizens of the Republic of Armenia and are engaged in economic activities in the given country. Why not, who or where is the source of such information?
And as we wrote in our aforementioned article, does the Foreign Intelligence Service not consider Baku’s pre-election tips dangerous, moreover, is it aware that the representatives of the Azerbaijani “civil society” coming to Armenia cooperated very well and maybe still cooperate with the special services of the Aliyev regime? Or, has RA Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan ever thought that Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who headed Turkey’s National Intelligence Service (MIT) during the 44-day war, is communicating with him as the person who headed the intelligence service?
Let’s return to the topic of elections. Information is circulating from official circles that a large flow of voters is expected from Russia before the elections, that “representatives of one of the political forces have started booking buses and minibuses, the law enforcement officers must stop them.” If an RA citizen, for example, went abroad to work, and returns even to vote, what if there is no coercion, or if it is not “premeditated”? But let’s leave this to time and experts.
Instead, let us recall that in July 2021, after the extraordinary parliamentary elections, Nikol Pashinyan announced that his “Civil Agreement” party received a mandate from the citizens of Armenia in the elections to open an era of peaceful development for Armenia and Artsakh.
At that time 168.amthe had written how is it possible to get a mandate to open an era of peaceful development of Artsakh from the RA citizens, when before the war Pashinyan has repeatedly stated that he does not have the mandate and authority to solve the Nagorno-Karabakh issue from Artsakh, because they do not participate in the RA elections, so he can only represent the Republic of Armenia.
Did the former residents of Kashatagh, Karvachar region, who were deprived of their homes during the war because of Nikol Pashinyan, elect Nikol Pashinyan and give him the right to decide their future again? Maybe some paperwork issues were resolved very quickly?
By the way, such information was circulated, did the RA authorities follow their footsteps, even if they were also in their favor?
It is also necessary to understand to what extent the settling of Artsakh residents in RA is or is not in the interests of the RA authorities.
Elections are about two months away, and many things will come to the surface, and the Foreign Intelligence Service should not forget about the prevention of foreign security threats in today’s conditions, and not limit itself to devoting some part of the report.
By the way, since Baku and Ankara have a special interest in the outcome of the NA elections, shouldn’t we also think about the possibilities of pre-election pressure from there? In other words, there should not be double standards regarding the qualification of foreign interference in RA internal affairs.
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In the USA, they are hinting at military mobilization. youth will flee to Canada or Me
March: 11, 2026
168TVof “Trigger” the guest of the program It’s Arthur Khachikyan, Ph.D. in political science at Stanford University:
During the conversation, the main focus was on the current tension around Iran.
The strategic calculations of Israel and the USA, the possible consequences of their actions, the possible impeachment of Trump and changes in the world order were discussed.
A separate part of the conversation was about the risks of the Kurdish factor and the involvement of Azerbaijan in the conflict.
In addition, the issues of a possible humanitarian corridor between Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan through the territory of Armenia were touched upon, as well as the policy pursued by the Armenian authorities and its possible consequences for the national interests of the country were discussed.
The positioning of Russia and Turkey in the current geopolitical configuration and the impact of the ongoing processes on the regional security of the South Caucasus were also considered.
Hayk Derzyan
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168: Samvel Karapetyan, Sitting at Home Wins You. Why am I Munnat Galis, 6?
March: 11, 2026
“Pressing” in the program Satik Seyranyan the guest Public figure, former Governor of Vayots Dzor, RA Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Minister, former RA Ambassador to Poland Edgar Ghazaryan is։
Today, Nikol Pashinyan announced an unprecedented news for the world and the Armenian people. “I don’t know if people like it or not, but it’s a fact that in the last month my Facebook and Instagram pages together have had 120 million views.”
In fact, according to Pashinyan, the Armenian people sleep and wake up wondering how many people have looked at their Facebook and Instagram pages…
The main theses of the interview with Edgar Ghazaryan are below.
- Gluttony is a characteristic that characterizes a person negatively. All people eat bread, but few people draw, show it. It’s vulgar. Nikol Pashinyan and CP do it for propaganda purposes. It’s clear, isn’t it, that Alain Simonyan’s and Pashinyan’s eating kukuruz and perashki in the treacherous plot has that goal, as if it’s normal, we’re human like you… Alen, if you have the opportunity to close a 350,000 dram bill for a few people on the same day in one of the most expensive restaurants in Armenia, who are you deceiving by eating kukuruz and perashki? They deceive the public as if they are one of them, they are so simple that, for example, if they are thirsty, they can drink water from the stream. while the number of cars serving only Pashinyan is huge… Ramzan Kadyrov has such a convoy. And those people make fun of our society.
- Nikol Pashinyan’s eating an apple in Paris, which was placed to decorate the tables, worries me. I’m worried that the floral decoration of the hall might be eaten too… What is the take-all-you-see? Okay, you eat, you eat, what are you drawing and publishing? On the other side, in Moscow, do you remember, he published a picture of black legs, and then he sits and counts the likes.
- Which country’s leader slaps a map of his country on his fist, and comes back? Imagine if the president of China punches the map of China and comes out. There can be no such thing. What are you doing with that brooch? Why are you getting hurt, or is there no one? Say, you came in 2020, you were handing out a booklet in the form of an Armenian passport, with Armenia and Artsakh on it. Where is it? Or why have you come now that after 6 months half of Armenia will be gone?:
- I have never seen such an absurdity. During the 7 years of his rule, there have been 7 wars, he says: I came to bring peace… It was peaceful before them, only the April war happened, in which he participated in May, digging a hole… The May participants of the April war. I say, will it be possible to go with the same squad, sit in that hole, take shelter…
- The Criminal Code says that if you side with the enemy while performing your official duties, it is called high treason.
- Once in a while Pashinyan forgets that he has a microphone on him, starts fighting with people, throws his head, goes to bed… At that moment, when I see the bodyguard, I feel guilty. It’s a dog day. I’m about to say: do something, I’ll get out of this:
- Or, a munnat comes to Maralik and tells people: I gave 600 million money. did you give it out of your father’s pocket? You have made a debt, you have given it, you have added debts to the shoulders of the people, who are you going to blame… But when did you promise us that you will add debt to us? Can you make a list of the kindergartens and schools that you handed over to Aliyev, along with our 6 billion dollar weapons… The buildings built with the help of Hayastan All-Armenian Fund donors that you handed over to Azerbaijan, why don’t you say about them? By the way, the biggest donor of the Fund was Samvel Karapetyan. There was no school in Europe like Shushi’s number one school. He says: I am building houses. Have you counted how many furnished houses you handed over to the enemy?:
- Did you say Sashik was doing 50/50, did you bring something back? Parking cities, you said, is Sashikin’s, but even your KP Gaishnik MP Armen Khachatryan said it has nothing to do with him.
- If you look at their declarations, most of them bought a house in 2023. In other words, the people of Artsakh were deprived of their houses, they started buying houses in new buildings. Perhaps there is no such CP who does not have a house in a new building: They are civil servants, they write money for themselves, they live the life of a businessman. There is no such thing in the world, it cannot be. When a person chooses the path of being a civil servant, he should understand that he should not take advantage of many material goods. Alen Simonyan, is the money low? Go, start the “Sicily” mafia club. Who do you care about or your salary? The money is low.:
- 15-16 banking entities are already dollar billionaires, and the former chairman of the Central Bank is Nikol Pashinyan’s special ambassador. Go ahead, lower the bank interest rates, you promised people that in 2018…
- Armenia is the only country where the Human Rights Defender becomes the head of the power structure, and the head of the power structure is the HRD. Only the Deputy Prosecutor General in Armenia could become the HRD. By the way, Kristinne Grigoryan, the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, was elected as MP after Arman Tatoyan, served for 11 months, got a good job offer and left the post of MP… 3 days after the catastrophic fire at the military accommodation in Azat village.:
- Yesterday, Minister of Internal Affairs Arpine Sargsyan, Chief of Police Kamo Tsutsulyan were hosted at the American Embassy and were awarded with certificates of appreciation. Now imagine if the same people went to the Embassy of Belarus and received the same letters of thanks, what would happen? Our Minister of Justice Srbuhi Galyan was hosted by the US State Department with the funding of the US government immediately after his appointment. An official of Armenia goes on a business trip at the expense of another state. The Americans gave the money, bought the ticket, took it away, kept it as a reward for the time they worked as a deputy prosecutor.
- Daniel Ioannisyan’s organization is financed from outside sources. What they are talking about foreign funding, does it refer to him, Arman Babajanyan? Daniel Ioannisyan, are there any RA citizens among the donors of your organization? Or that you are holding a meeting, you are an organization, right? Can you show us a general photo, let’s see how many people you are, you barely use drones to photograph the rallies of Edgar Ghazaryan and others…
- Samvel Karapetyan, sitting at home, defeats Nikol, sees that there is no money, instructs Kristinne Grigoryan to write, and it is even more uncertain that there are reliable reports that foreign-funded forces are preparing to bring people to Armenia to vote. When I read that statement, it was so bad that I didn’t think that Samvel Karapetyan was being financed from Russia, but I thought that KP was being financed from Azerbaijan.:
- It is the constitutional right of any person to come and participate in elections in Armenia, if he is a citizen of Armenia. In other words, in Kristinne Grigoryan’s opinion, does the RA citizen have no rights? This is a dishonest method, they try to neutralize the main competitor in this way. If you are worried that an Armenian by nationality, a citizen of Armenia is coming to Armenia, why, as the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, are you not worried that Azerbaijanis by nationality are coming to Armenia, making videos, and calling the localities of Armenia with Azerbaijani names?…
- Or the organization of Areg Kochinyan, which has already brought 2 groups of Azerbaijanis to Armenia, doesn’t Kristinne Grigoryan care about where it is financed, who are they? As it turns out, it is a concern. How is it that all the supporters of bringing Azerbaijanis to Armenia are financed by the West? They named it the political society of Azerbaijan… There may be a Caucasian mouflo in Azerbaijan, but there is no political society and there cannot be.
- Since nothing is normal for them, personal relationships are not normal either. That’s why I don’t know what lies beneath their divorce. My version is that Nicole was afraid of Anna. He was the only person with whom Nikol Pashinyan communicated without a bodyguard. Or there are many empty private houses in the government summer houses, the mother of her children said, let her go and live somewhere.
- I want to remind you that the best time to abandon Nikol Pashinyan without elections is now. 29 deputies of the CP from the current composition will not be in the other NA. And for the impeachment to be successful, 21 CP votes are missing. Every CP member knows what will happen to him if he is not a member of parliament. Each of them should understand that he has 3 months left to get rid of Nikol Pashinyan, because, for example, if I understand that Hayk Sargsyan is going to be arrested, he definitely understands it. I believe that the announcement of the RPA Executive Body about the impeachment agenda should be the main issue of the political agenda.:
- If we get to the elections, in order to succeed, there must be consolidation, two large opposition blocs must be formed, so that, for example, on June 6, if they cancel “Strong Armenia” from participating in the elections, it will not be a surprise. Samvel Karapetyan’s rating, in addition to his personality, unprecedented success in his field, and his activities, is also determined by his oppositional position.
Details in the video.
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RFE/RL – Turkish Airlines Starts Flights To Armenia
Turkey’s flagship carrier, Turkish Airlines, launched first-ever regular flights to Armenia on Wednesday in a move seen as another step towards the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations.
Its inaugural flight from Istanbul to Yerevan was followed by an official welcoming ceremony at the Zvartnots international airport attended by a deputy head of the Armenian government’s Civil Aviation Committee, Stepan Payaslian.
Flights between the two cities were until now carried out by other, smaller Turkish carriers. Turkish Airlines will fly to the Armenian capital on a daily basis.
The company announced plans to launch an Istanbul-Yerevan flight service in October shortly after a senior Turkish diplomat, Serdar Kilic, visited Armenia for talks with his Armenian opposite number, Ruben Rubinian. The two men pledged to speed up the implementation of agreements reached by them in 2022.
One of those agreements calls for the opening of the Turkish-Armenian border for Armenian and Turkish diplomatic passport holders as well as citizens of third countries. Ankara is reportedly planning to do that ahead of Armenia’s parliamentary elections slated for June.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan mentioned the elections and praised Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in that context earlier this year. Armenian opposition leaders responded by accusing Ankara of meddling in Armenia’s internal affairs. Pashinian’s political allies insisted that Fidan did not endorse the Armenian leader.
Even before Fidan’s statement, Pashinian’s political opponents claimed that Turkey and Azerbaijan will go to great lengths to help his Civil Contract party win the polls. They have for years said that Pashinian is making unilateral concessions to the two Turkic allies in hopes of clinging to power. The premier’s political team denies this.
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Tsarukian Acquitted In ‘Political’ Trial
March 11, 2026
Gagik Tsarukian, a wealthy businessman leading a major Armenian opposition group, was acquitted on Wednesday of what he sees as politically motivated charges brought against him nearly six years ago.
Tsarukian was charged with vote buying and held in detention for a month shortly after demanding Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s resignation in 2020. Law-enforcement authorities claimed that he had tried to buy votes for his Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) ahead of parliamentary elections held in 2017. He strongly denied the accusations before and during his subsequent trial.
A court in Yerevan acquitted Tsarukian but found one of his longtime collaborators, Sedrak Arustamian, guilty of vote buying at the end of the long trial. One of the defense lawyers, Yerem Sargsian, said he is “pleasantly surprised” by Tsarukian’s acquittal despite what he described as prosecutors’ failure to come up with any evidence in support of the charges.
The ruling came less than three months before Armenia’s parliamentary elections in which a new bloc which is being set up by Tsarukian is expected to be one of the main opposition contenders. In recent weeks, senior representatives of Pashinian’s Civil Contract party have signaled concerns that the bloc as well as two other opposition groups led by former President Robert Kocharian and billionaire Samvel Karapetian may collectively win a majority in the new parliament. They have said that the Armenian authorities “will not allow” such an outcome.
In what Tsarukian’s political allies see as a related development, law-enforcement officers raided the 69-year-old tycoon’s private compound outside Yerevan on February 19 as part of a criminal investigation in which he had been questioned as a witness years ago. Tsarukian seems undaunted by the possibility of another criminal case against him.
He was already indicted in December 2025 for selling his bottling plant in Bulgaria for 23 million euros ($26.7 million) despite an Armenian court’s decision to freeze his assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Prosecutors moved to confiscate them in late 2023, invoking a controversial law that allows the state to seize money, property and companies deemed to have been acquired illegally. The court issued the injunction at the time pending a ruling on the case.
Tsarukian’s BHK had the second largest group in Armenia’s former parliament. But it failed to win any parliament seats in the last general elections held in June 2021. The tycoon kept a low profile in the following years.
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RFE/RL – Pashinian Slams Armenian Church, Opposition In EU Parliament Speech
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian accused the Armenian Apostolic Church and his political opponents of seeking to reignite Armenia’s conflict with Azerbaijan when he addressed the European Parliament on Wednesday.
Pashinian defended his administration’s crackdown on the church’s top clergy that led to the arrests of three archbishops and one bishop facing criminal charges rejected by them as politically motivated. He insisted that neither they nor opposition figures and supporters also prosecuted last year are political prisoners.
“The reality is that some clergymen, who have cynically violated all the rules of spiritual morality, thus making themselves vulnerable to foreign special services … have assumed the leadership of the war party in the Republic of Armenia, gathering around them Armenia’s former leaders, some forces associated with them and some Russia-based and pro-Belarusian oligarchs, and are trying to sacrifice Armenia’s independence to the interests of third countries,” he said.
“We will not allow a new conflict, a new war, we will not allow the consciousness, peace and independence gained at the cost of thousands of victims to be sacrificed for anti-Christian purposes,” he added in a 25-minute speech delivered in Strasbourg.
Pashinian went on to mention the Armenian parliamentary elections scheduled for June 7, saying that they should make peace with Azerbaijan “irreversible.”
In recent weeks, senior members of Pashinian’s Civil Contract party have signaled concerns that three opposition groups led by former President Robert Kocharian, Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetian and another wealthy businessman, Gagik Tsarukian, may collectively win a majority in the next Armenian parliament and form a coalition government. They have said that the Armenian authorities “will not allow” such an outcome, raising more opposition fears of vote rigging or other foul play.
Opposition leaders maintain that agreements with Azerbaijan regularly touted by Pashinian will not lead to real peace between the two nations because they are based on unilateral Armenian concessions to Baku. They say that Pashinian’s appeasement policy will only encourage Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to make more demands on Armenia.
Pashinian launched his controversial campaign to depose Catholicos Garegin II shortly after the supreme head of the Armenian Church accused Azerbaijan of committing ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh and illegally occupying Armenian border areas during an international conference in Switzerland last May. The four senior clergymen were jailed in the following months. Three of them have been moved to house arrest in recent weeks.
Earlier this year, law-enforcement authorities also indicted Garegin himself as well as six other archbishops and bishops. They were banned from leaving the country to attend an emergency episcopal conference held in Austria last month. The 25 participants of the conference voiced support for the Catholicos and condemned the crackdown on the church in a joint statement.
Critics maintain that Pashinian’s drive to oust Garegin violates Armenia’s constitution and laws guaranteeing the autonomy of the ancient church and its separation from the state. Two Western religious rights groups echoed these claims earlier in February. One of them, the Vienna-based the Forum for Religious Freedom Europe, spoke of “grave threats to freedom of religion or belief” in Armenia.
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Dismantling of Armenia’s Genocide Museum-Institute and the Tragedy of Remaini
AGMI Director Edita Gzoyan with Vice-President JD Vance and the Second Lady, Usha Vance on Feb. 10
BY GEVORG VARDANYAN
Gevorg Vardanyan
Recently Armenia’s Education Minister Zhanna Andreasyan dismissed Dr. Edita Gzoyan from her position as Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute. This strange decision has confused and bewildered Armenia’s academic community. It appears arbitrary, ignoring and trampling over the opinion of the AGMI staff, who had collectively opposed it. Moreover, the scholar members of the Board of Trustees firmly stood against it. In protest, the chairman of the board, prominent French Armenian historian Raymond Kevorkian resigned, followed by board members Harutyun Marutyan, Hranush Kharatyan, and Stephan Astourian.
The young and ambitious scholar Edita Gzoyan had been elected to the position two years ago. Earning a doctorate in International Relations from Yerevan State University, a master’s in law from the American University of Armenia, and training in numerous professional courses at prestigious Western universities, the new director had implemented noticeable reforms in the museum’s scientific and administrative management.
The scientific achievements were revolutionary. Not only in terms of productivity per researcher, but also in terms of quality. The AGMI became unmatched. For the first time in the history of the Republic of Armenia, a scientific institution began systematically producing results that met elite Western standards.
Additionally, nearly a year ago the official website of the Ministry of Education proudly announced that the museum’s journal, “International Journal of Armenian Genocide Studies”, had been included in the Scopus database, becoming the first historical/social science journal from Armenia to do so. Research into the many details of genocide, studies on the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, professionalization of museology were among a few of the numerous unprecedented achievements. Many history departments at Western universities would dream of such productivity.
This would not have been possible without Gzoyan’s exceptional managerial abilities. Strategic planning and proactive leadership were accompanied by an attitude that respected academic freedom and political pluralism. From hosting official delegations at a high level to working with schoolchildren from the provinces, everything was done with dedication and care. Sensing the spirit of teamwork was easy and all were appreciated and valued for their abilities.
After listing all this, the simple question arises: why was the director dismissed? Common sense seeks rational answers, in vain. Answers circulating in the media are frightening, yet more frightening is their validity.
According to these accounts, the dismissal is connected to the visit of U.S. Vice President J. D. Vance. While presenting the memorial complex, the director dared to speak about massacres and violence against Armenians committed by the Azerbaijani authorities, showed the khachkars commemorating them, and also presented Vance with a book describing these events. Gzoyan’s action was allegedly not forgiven by Armenia’s leadership and the Minister of Education. Gzoyan has long had a scholarly interest in the Artsakh issue and has continuously published astute articles in leading international journals. Her article on the massacres of Armenians in Azerbaijan was recently published in the International Criminal Law Review, the most influential legal analysis of the topic to date.
Many believe that for the Minister of Education, this could have been a convenient opportunity to get rid of Gzoyan, as before the elections, she was trying to shift responsibility for the “sloppily” renovated Tsitsernakaberd memorial complex away from the ministry and herself and onto the museum’s director.
This article is not simply the story of Gzoyan, a dignified patriotic Armenian scholar. Nor is it merely another example of failure by Armenia’s leadership and Minister Zhanna Andreasyan. This story is also about the abandonment of one’s rights and homeland, about the assassination of academic independence in Armenia, and about the vulnerable nature of scientific and cultural institutions. It proves that whether one is a director or an ordinary researcher, one is vulnerable. There is no effective protection from the whimsy of superiors.
I write this as a professional whose biography was significantly shaped by the museum, where I worked from 2008 to 2018. In 2017–2018, serving as director, the museum’s legal status changed from a state non-commercial organization to a foundation. At the time, there was hope this change would increase academic freedom. But those were illusions, and the shackle on freedom only further tightened.
In 2018, I left to teach and write my doctoral dissertation at the University of North Carolina. When I returned in 2024, the newly elected director, Gzoyan, warmly welcomed me into the museum. At first, it was difficult to trust one another, but gradually we became a powerful team and overcoming challenges, achieved successes in a short time. That was no coincidence, as our visions, values, and commitment to principles were near identical. For a moment, I believed we were unstoppable…
About two months ago, I moved to UCLA. Learning about what happened here and looking with a kind of envy at the academic environment, I once again reflect not only on the AGMI but also on the broader crisis of social sciences in Armenia. I remember my conversations and discussions with Gzoyan. She had an unshakable belief that something could be changed in Armenia—that it was possible to create a Western-quality scientific environment—and with her optimism, she inspired the entire museum.
History shows that in Armenia, bright minds like Gzoyan are usually pushed out and marginalized, and in many cases, they emigrate. Our tragedy is not that we are in a swamp; our tragedy is that we feel comfortable in it.
If Armenia wants to have a scientific environment that meets international standards, the priority should not only be to encourage productivity but also to create institutional protection. Intellectuals with their own opinions must be protected from the encroachments of power. Without that, academic successes will remain temporary, while systemic problems will persist.
If we don’t change, we will bring about our own destruction.
Gevorg Vardanyan is a PhD from the University of North Carolina and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
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Asbarez: From Sumgait to Artsakh: The Unbroken Struggle for Armenian Survival
Tereza Yerimyan delivers address at DC protest marking Sumgait Pogroms
EDITOR’S NOTE: ANCA Government Affairs Director Tereza Yerimyan delivered these remarks at the AYF DC Ani Chapter protest marking the Sumgait-Baku pogroms, held at the Azerbaijani Embassy in Washington, DC, on February 28.
Today we gather in remembrance — and to recommit.
We remember the community in Sumgait, persecuted for being Armenian in February 1988 — when Armenians were hunted in their homes while authorities looked away. We remember Kirovabad, where Armenians were driven out by violence and terror. We remember Baku, January 1990 — a community that helped build that city, erased in presence and in footprint. And we remember Maragha, April 1992 — civilians murdered, a village destroyed, families shattered.
These were not isolated outbursts. They were not spontaneous riots. They were part of a systemic and systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing — the revival of a familiar method: dehumanize, terrorize, expel.
For Armenians, that method is not new.
In 1915, Turkey sought to solve what it called the “Armenian question” by eliminating Armenians from their ancestral lands — through massacre, deportation, starvation, and exile – blatant genocide.
In 1988, that same logic resurfaced in Sumgait. Armenians were again targeted not for what they had done, but for who they were. Again, mobs were incited. Again, authorities stood aside. Again, the goal was clear: make Armenian life impossible.
The pogroms of 1988–1992 were not an aberration of Soviet collapse. They were the reappearance of genocidal intent — testing whether Armenians could once again be removed with impunity.
However, the pogroms, much like the Armenian Genocide, did not shatter our people. They ignited them.
Our fathers and mothers, aunts and uncles, in Artsakh saw what was happening in Sumgait and understood that living under a dictatorial government like Aliyev senior’s regime fueled by anti-Armenian hatred meant eventual annihilation.
And so, on February 13, 1988, the Artsakh Liberation Movement was born.
A movement grounded in democratic will.
Calling for union with Armenia.
Calling for independence to ensure survival.
It was driven by the valor of thousands who fought not for conquest, but for existence — for the right to live freely on their ancestral land, to worship openly as the first Christian nation, and to pass their identity to their children.
No one spared sacrifice.
EVERYONE believed in the fight for independence.
And they won.
Many here know this history.
But it warrants repeating — because genocide does not always arrive at once. It advances in stages. It tests the silence of the world.
And when our people faced destruction, death, and deportation, they did not cower. They did not bend. They did not break.
They fought.
They defended their homeland — and their VERY existence.
And yet the pattern did not end.
What began in 1915 continued in 1988.
What began in 1988 reached its next chapter in 2023.
The Aliyev Jr. regime, behind me, completed what pogroms began: the removal of an entire Armenian population from Artsakh.
Months of blockade.
Hunger used as a weapon.
Medical supplies denied.
Children rationing bread.
Then military assault.
Then forced exodus under threat.
When 150,000 Armenians are emptied from their ancestral homeland because their presence is deemed unacceptable — that is not merely a military outcome.
It is a chapter of genocide.
Genocide is not only mass killing. It is the intentional destruction of a people’s ability to exist in their homeland — through starvation, terror, forced displacement, and cultural erasure.
And we have seen this before.
The world said “never again” in 1915.
It looked away in 1988.
And in 2023, it watched.
This is what happens when the international community treats evil lightly — when it mistakes appeasement for “peace.”
And yet – the valor and courage of our brothers and sisters in Artsakh did not cease to exist, despite what Azerbaijan desired. After the war in 2020 Davit Babyan, foreign minister and advisor to the president of Artsakh flew to DC and met with every single politician – raising the alarm and providing eyewitness testimony to the war crimes Azerbaijan committed. Arguing that impunity would lead to further destruction.
On the last days of the genocidal exodus, Davit Ishkhanyan, President of the Artsakh National Assembly and a leader of the ARF, secured transport for every Artsakh Armenian that needed help. And he not only made sure human life was saved but he rescued as much cultural heritage he could, sending paintings, taraz, and Khatchkars along with the caravans.
Ruben Vardanyan — who came to Artsakh with a vision for its flourishing future, who from his jail cell and sham trails fearlessly continues to proclaim that Artsakh was, is, and will be again.
All these brave men and more are today imprisoned for life in Azerbaijan – they are prisoners of war for their belief and actions to stand courageously against the aggressor.
They did not bend, they did not break, and their survival is their resistance movement.
As Armenian Americans, we must understand this: indifference, ignorance, and fear are the three allies of injustice. If we do nothing, aggression grows. If we do not learn, we cannot act. If we are afraid to speak, the persecutor wins without resistance.
We are not generations removed from our ancestors who survived genocide. We are living their truth in this moment. I am the granddaughter of genocide survivors, the niece of Baku pogrom survivors, and the wife of an Artsakh refugee who fought for his homeland and would do it again in a heartbeat.
We are today the frontline to the survival of our nation.
Armenian Americans have power, not just sentimental power, but civic power. We vote. We advocate. We educate. We organize. We build coalitions. We demand that American leadership be measured not by speeches, but by deeds.
So let us speak honestly about what we are witnessing — not only in Artsakh, not only in Azerbaijan or Turkey, not only in Syria and Jerusalem — but in the mounting pressures within Armenia itself. When faith is targeted, when the Armenian Apostolic Church is attacked, when journalists and political opposition are silenced, the message is unmistakable: control the conscience, and you control the nation.
Turkey and Azerbaijan are not only pressuring Armenia from the outside; they seek to shape its future from within – imposing demands, rewriting priorities, unlawfully dictating the constitution and history of our nation, presenting submission as “peace.”
But a peace built on the erasure of a people and the demise of Armenian statehood is not peace.
It is surrender disguised as diplomacy.
To my fellow Armenian Americans: we must never become complicit —
Not through silence.
Not through exhaustion.
Not through the temptation to move on because it’s too painful.
Complicity is what allows genocidal policies to mature from rhetoric into reality.
So today we recommit ourselves: to speak for the victims of Sumgait, Kirovabad, Baku, and Maragha — and for the displaced Armenians of Artsakh.
We recommit to demanding:
• The unconditional release of Armenian POWs and civilian hostages held in Baku.
• The safe and dignified right of return for the Armenians of Artsakh with their fundamental rights intact.
• The protection of Armenian cultural and religious heritage — because destroying churches and cemeteries is not collateral damage; it is an attempt to erase evidence that we were ever there.
• Real accountability — because impunity is the oxygen of genocide.
Let our message be unshakeable:
The Armenian Genocide did not end in 1915.
It evolved.
It resurfaced.
And in 2023, it revealed itself again.
But so too did Armenian resistance.
We are not here to transfer ashes.
We are here to transfer fire.
May the memory of our martyrs strengthen our courage.
May the pain of our people sharpen our clarity.
And may our unity turn remembrance into action — until justice is secured and Armenian survival is never again treated as negotiable. And until the future of the Armenian nation is secured.
Tereza Yerimyan is the Government Affairs Director at the Armenian National Committee of America, where she leads federal advocacy efforts advancing Armenian American policy priorities. A dedicated community advocate, she works to promote human rights, strengthen U.S.–Armenia relations, and mobilize civic engagement on issues impacting the Armenian people. Yerimyan earned her MBA from Georgetown University and her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from UCLA.
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168: Debt “reconstruction”. How does the Ministry of Finance hide 1?
March: 11, 2026
The authorities have decided to make another eye-opening before the elections, this time in connection with debts. They changed the form of presentation of the state debt in order to hide the real amount of debts.
The huge debts that today’s rulers of Armenia have accumulated in these years have become a real headache for them. No matter how they try to justify it, it doesn’t work, so they decided to subject the debts to “reconstruction” so that they appear less.
According to the data published by the Ministry of Finance in January, as of December 31 of last year, the government’s debt amounted to 14 billion 40 million dollars. According to the same data published by the Ministry of Finance in February, the government’s debt of 14 billion 40 million dollars recorded as of December 31 of last year has become 13 billion 897 million dollars.
By a “miracle”, as of literally the same day, the debt decreased by 143 million dollars.
What happened to so much debt, there is no explanation, no clarification.
At first glance, it seems that the exchange rate of the calculation has been changed. But no, the exchange rate remained the same. Credit guarantees were taken and deducted from the government’s debt. Previously, they were included in the government debt, now they are not.
They decided to present the government’s debt without guarantees.
Although it is not the case that guarantees are very different from government debts.
If the loans provided by the government’s guarantee are not returned tomorrow, the government itself is obliged to return them.
So, the guarantees are the same debts that depend on the government. But now they do not appear in the government’s debts. That is why the debt of the government, in the indicators published in January and February, as of the same day, decreased by 143 million dollars.
At the end of last year, the guarantees provided by the government amounted to 207 million dollars, of which 136 million dollars were included as internal guarantees of the government, 71 million dollars were included as external guarantees, in the debts of the Central Bank. Now the internal guarantees provided by the government have been removed from the government’s debt indicators, although they have not been repaid, on the contrary, they have increased.
Credit guarantees provided by the government at the beginning of this year reached almost 222 million dollars. The largest guarantee was provided to “Lydian Armenia”. As of February 1, it was 123 million dollars.
Previously, these amounts provided in the form of internal guarantees were not included in the government’s debts. As a result, the debt of the government increased from 14 billion 40 million dollars to 13 billion 897 million dollars.
At first glance, the index at the end of the previous year has decreased, but nothing has actually changed in the amount of the debt. On the contrary, the debt of the government continued to increase at the same high rate this year.
In January alone, the government’s debt increased by almost 212 million dollars.
This happened mainly at the expense of increasing foreign debts.
The foreign debt of the government increased from 6 billion 539 million dollars at the end of last year to 6 billion 741 million dollars as of the end of January this year.
It increased by almost 202 million dollars in one month. The domestic debt increased by 10 million.
As a result, the government’s debt as of January 31 amounted to 14 billion 109 million dollars, but without guarantees. Including the guarantees, or according to the previous calculation methodology, it would amount to 14 billion 260 million dollars, 220 million more than it was at the end of last year.
To imagine how the government debt has changed in the last year, let’s note that in 2025 on January 31, the debt of the government was around 12 billion 386 million dollars.
It increased by 1 billion 874 million dollars in one year.
Now, have you imagined at what rate the government is increasing the debts? That is why he does such manipulations with debts.
He decided not only to remove the provided internal credit guarantees from his own debts, but also to “hide” the public debt indicator, which, as is known, includes the debts of the government and the Central Bank. Of course, you cannot compare the debts of the Central Bank with the debts of the government, but they also reach several hundred million dollars. According to the latest published data, the Central Bank’s debts amount to 490 million dollars. At the beginning of the year, they even decreased a little, in contrast to the government’s debts.
By combining the debts of the government and the Central Bank, the guarantees provided by the government, it will turn out that the state debt of Armenia has reached 14.8 billion dollars. A little more and we will pass 15 billion.
However, when the CP members sat in the government seats, the state debt was only 6.7 billion. It increased by 8 billion dollars.
The debt of the government was 6.1 billion, they increased it to 14.2 billion.
They are proud of other increases, but they do not talk about the increase in the debt, the maintenance of which has become an extremely heavy burden on the state and the budget. 11 percent of the budget revenues, almost 14 percent of the tax revenues go to servicing only the interest on the government’s debt. The reason is that they not only increased the debt more than twice, but also significantly worsened the quality of the debt. And now, with such tricks, they are trying to hide the true picture of the debt.
HAKOB KOCHARYAN
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CP members who consider journalists “killers” want to silence them by law
March: 11, 2026
Arman Tatoyan writes: “The CP members, who consider journalists to be “killers”, want to silence their unfavorable coverage by law.
Can you imagine if they say you don’t have the right to cover other approaches based on facts besides the official news on security topics?
The basis for this approach was my findings that the Azerbaijani side made military advances and fortifications in our territory in Vardenis and Jermuk.
A free press, critical journalism, and accountable government strengthen the state, not weaken it. Democracy and security are not opposites, but complement each other. Not either, but both, and. and security and democracy.
And when the government starts to fear journalists and tries to silence them by law, it means that it is actually afraid of its own people.
This is what Nikol Pashinyan is trying to do. to bring Azerbaijani order and engage only in false propaganda.
In a democratic state, independent mass media are the fourth branch of government, which ensure public control over the government. Where they try to silence journalists, democracy ends.
Journalists in Armenia will not remain silent, no matter how much the government tries to intimidate them with new unconstitutional laws.
I will always be by their side, regardless of my position.”
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