California
Courier Online, July 27, 2026
Courier Online, July 27, 2026
1- Not Finding Justice in Yerevan, Armenians
Should Apply to the European Court
By Harut
Sassounian
Sassounian
TheCaliforniaCourier.com
2- UN Experts Question ‘Terror’ Case Against Armenian Archbishop
3- Armenia Ranks 89th in World Happiness Report
4- Tina Demirdjian Named Glendale’s Poet Laureate
5- Armenian authorities will spend £660,000 to defense itself in international lawsuits
6- Aivazovsky’s ‘On the Shores of Yalta’ to Be Auctioned in Moscow
7- Azerbaijan’s Great Return: Refugee Resettlement, Rebuilding, and Destruction of Armenian Cultural Heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh
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1- Not Finding Justice in Yerevan, Armenians
Should Apply to the European Court
By Harut Sassounian
TheCaliforniaCourier.com
While successive Armenian governments have exhibited democratic shortcomings since independence in 1991, the current situation is far worse than at any time before.
Since Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan came to power in 2018, democratic institutions have steadily deteriorated, despite his repeated claims to the contrary. Even more troubling is that the so-called democratic West has totally ignored his abuses because he serves their geopolitical interests rather than Armenia’s.
Today, all governmental institutions are run by one man. The constitutional provision calling for the separation of powers among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches has been severely undermined. As a result, both Armenia’s domestic governance and foreign policy have suffered. Pashinyan entered office with no management experience, yet he proudly proclaims that he makes all decisions on his own without consulting anyone.
The judiciary provides the clearest example of this deterioration. In 2019, Pashinyan and his supporters surrounded a courthouse in Yerevan, preventing a judge from conducting a trial. On June 5, 2019, he made his infamous statement: “Is there a judge in Armenia today who wouldn’t do what the Prime Minister says?”
Pashinyan and his parliamentary majority replaced the members of the Constitutional Court, including the Chief Justice, with judges loyal to the government. He has repeatedly ordered the arrest of political opponents critical of his administration. Hundreds have been detained in recent months in the course of the June 7 elections. Even more alarming, authorities have confiscated the property of several prominent detainees before any trial or judicial determination of guilt. As a result, many Armenians have lost confidence in their country’s judicial system.
Because Armenia is a member of the Council of Europe and falls under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), Armenians whose constitutional rights have been violated have the right to pursue justice before that Court, after exhausting all available domestic legal remedies.
Some Armenians have already done so successfully. The ECHR has awarded compensation to complainants after finding that the Armenian government had violated rights protected under the European Convention on Human Rights.
Ironically, Pashinyan himself appealed to the ECHR in 2010 after he and his newspaper were convicted by an Armenian court in connection with the 2008 post-election unrest. After becoming Prime Minister in 2018, he chose not to withdraw his complaints to the ECHR. This is an unprecedented case in which a sitting head of government sues his own country before an international court.
Moreover, as Prime Minister, Pashinyan prevented the Armenian government’s attorney before the ECHR from defending the country’s position, thereby helping to secure a judgment in his favor in 2022. The ECHR awarded his newspaper 9,000 euros in damages, plus taxes to be paid to him by the Armenian government.
Pashinyan has violated numerous Armenian laws as well as multiple articles of the Constitution over the past eight years. Here is a short list of the Prime Minister’s violations that should be referred to the European Court of Human Rights:
1) The Prime Minister has interfered in the internal affairs of the Armenian Apostolic Church in order to replace the Catholicos, despite the Constitution’s requirement that Church and State remain separate.
2) In 2020, he signed an agreement with Pres. Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Pres. Vladimir Putin of Russia, transferring large portions of Artsakh to Azerbaijan, despite lacking the authority to do so. As Prime Minister of Armenia, his decisions are limited to some issues exclusive to the Republic of Armenia. Therefore, the 2020 agreement he signed is an illegal document and should be considered null and void.
3) Without any jurisdiction, he later recognized the entire Republic of Artsakh as part of Azerbaijan, despite his previous declaration that “Artsakh is Armenia. Period.”
4) He violated numerous provisions of Armenian law, during the June 7, 2026 elections. Nevertheless, his appointees at the Central Election Commission and the Constitutional Court upheld the election results.
5) In July, Parliament enacted an illegal law that prohibits Armenian citizens from voting if they had not lived in Armenia for one year during the preceding two years. This law violates Armenia’s Constitution, which gives all citizens the right to vote regardless of the length of residency in Armenia. This law disenfranchises hundreds of thousands of Armenian citizens who live outside the country for a variety of reasons. Articles 8, 48, and 80 of the Constitution protect the voting rights of all adult citizens without imposing a residency requirement. Furthermore, Article 80 specifically stipulates: “The essence of the provisions on basic rights and freedoms enshrined in this Chapter shall be inviolable.”
It is important to note that legal cases can be filed with the European Court of Human Rights by individuals and organizations living inside or outside Armenia. Applicants do not have to be Armenian citizens — or even Armenian — provided they can demonstrate that they were affected by the violation.
There should be hundreds, if not thousands of cases filed with the ECHR. Because such lawsuits can be expensive, a legal defense fund should be established to cover attorney fees and related expenses. Wealthy Armenians should contribute generously to such a fund.
If justice cannot be obtained in Armenia, it must be pursued wherever the rule of law prevails.
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2– UN Experts Question ‘Terror’ Case Against Armenian Archbishop
Robert Zargarian
Azatutyun.am
UN human rights experts have questioned the credibility of coup charges that were brought against an outspoken Armenian archbishop and his supporters last year amid Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s efforts to depose Catholicos Garegin II.
Archbishop Bagrat Galstanian was arrested along with his 15 supporters in June 2025 on charges of plotting “terrorist acts” in a bid to seize power. They as well as two other individuals went on trial in August, denying the accusations.
Shortly after the arrests, Prosecutor-General Anna Vardapetian claimed that Galstanian and his supporters wanted to assassinate Pashinian and other senior officials. None of the suspects faced corresponding murder charges, however. That did not stop Pashinian and his political allies from branding the suspects as terrorists.
In a report sent to the Armenian government on May 11 and publicized by one of Galstanian’s lawyers on Monday, experts from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) expressed concern at the violation of their presumption of innocence and said their arrests may not have been justified. The experts also cats doubt on the coup charges, arguing that international law defines terrorism as actions designed to kill or seriously injure people.
“We are concerned that the measures taken appear not to be consisted with Armenia’s international human rights law obligations,” they said.
The accusations are essentially based on excerpts from the audio of Galstanian’s wiretapped conversations with his associates which were publicized by investigators following the arrests. Defense lawyers gained full access to the recordings during the subsequent investigation. They accused the authorities of doctoring, distorting or taking the audio out of context to substantiate the “trumped-up” charges and mislead the public.
The government replied to the OHCHR experts last week, defending the arrests and denying any political motives behind the high-profile case.
Armenia’s Court of Appeals moved Archbishop Galstanian to house arrest on June 4. The other defendants were set free or placed under house arrest months ago. One of Galstanian’s lawyers, Tatevik Soghoyan, linked the court order to the OHCRHR criticism which she said took Pashinian’s administration off guard.
One day after Galstanian’s arrest, Pashinian threatened to forcibly remove Garegin from his Echmiadzin headquarters if the supreme head of the Armenian Church continues to ignore his demands to resign. Archbishop Mikael Ajapahian, another vocal critic of the prime minister, was arrested and charged the next day with calling for a violent regime change.
As Pashinian stepped up the pressure on the Catholicos, two other high-ranking clergymen were arrested later in 2025 on different charges also denied by them. They and Ajapahian were moved to house arrest early this year. Ajapahian was set free altogether late last month after the Court of Appeals overturned a two-year prison sentence given to him by a lower court.
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3- Armenia Ranks 89th in World Happiness Report
Hetq.am
Armenia is ranked 89th out of 147 countries in the 2026 World Happiness Report.
Finland is the world’s happiest country for the ninth consecutive year, according to the report published by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford.
The rankings are based on a three-year average (2023–2025) of self-reported life evaluations on a 0 to 10 scale.
Armenia is the leader in the region, ahead of its neighbors Georgia – 91st place, Turkey – 94th, Iran – 97th, and Azerbaijan – 102nd.
The report notes that Armenia is among the ten countries with the highest levels of negative emotions (along with several countries in Africa and the Middle East). Socio-economic challenges, security, and other factors may contribute to it.
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5- Armenian authorities will spend £660,000 to defense itself in international lawsuits
news.am
An additional £660,000 has been allocated to the Office of the Government of Armenia. The corresponding decision was adopted at a Cabinet meeting on July 23.
It is noted that the funds will be spent on paying for legal services to protect the country’s interests in international lawsuits. The justification for the decision does not specify which lawsuits are in question.
6– Aivazovsky’s ‘On the Shores of Yalta’ to Be Auctioned in Moscow
MOSCOW — Works by Hovhannes Aivazovsky, Nicholas Roerich, and several other prominent artists will be offered at an auction in Moscow on July 26, with a combined estimated value of approximately 1 billion rubles.
According to the Moscow Auction House website, collectors will have an opportunity to bid on Aivazovsky’s painting On the Shores of Yalta. The auction will reveal how much bidders are prepared to pay for the work, which has been valued at $420,000.
The painting depicts the seashore, the city, and the outlines of the surrounding mountains, with the Church of St. John Chrysostom standing out against the landscape.
Another major lot is Nicholas Roerich’s The Place of Idols, which is estimated at 18 million rubles. Experts say the pastel work is of museum-level significance.
Other works offered at the auction include Mikhail Nesterov’s Near the Monastery, valued at $200,000; Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin’s Reclining Nude Woman and Model, estimated at 2.2 million rubles; Pyotr Konchalovsky’s Pine Trees in Autumn, valued at 16 million rubles; and Konstantin Makovsky’s Portrait of Raisova, estimated at 7 million rubles.
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7- Azerbaijan’s Great Return: Refugee Resettlement, Rebuilding, and Destruction of Armenian Cultural Heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh
Azerbaijan’s Great Return: Refugee Resettlement, Rebuilding, and Destruction of Armenian Cultural Heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh
By Kristie Moore
Genocide Watch
Introduction
Conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh has been ongoing for decades. Displacement has been a constant facet of this reality. Both Armenians and Azerbaijanis have been cleared from the area on numerous occasions, displaced from their homelands, and forced to rebuild from nothing. This report examines Azerbaijan’s Great Return program and the aftermath of the 2020 War and Azerbaijan’s recent takeover of Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023. Both events prompted the resettlement of Azerbaijani IDPs into regained territories and led to large-scale reconstruction efforts. This reconstruction has been highly controversial both for criticisms of being inefficient, marked by corruption, and indifferent to local needs and requests, and for its destruction of Armenian cultural heritage in the region.
Background
The Great Return is a massive undertaking coordinated by the Government of Azerbaijan. It largely began following the end of the 2020 War when Azerbaijan took over seven districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh (Aghdam, Kalbajar, Lachin, Jabrayil, Fuzuli, Zangilan, and Qubadli) and approximately one-third of the region itself. This included historically significant cities like Shusha, a major cultural and symbolic center in the region. This land was initially lost to Armenia during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, which lasted from 1988-1994. On November 24, 2020, President Ilham Aliyev established the Coordination Headquarters for the Centralized Resolution of Issues in the Liberated Territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The government then approved the Azerbaijan 2030: National Priorities for Socio-Economic Development plan on February 2, 2021. Both initiatives led to the Action Plan of the “I State Program on the Great Return to the territories freed from occupation of the Republic of Azerbaijan.” The government passed this plan on November 16, 2021, which focused on reconstruction, restoration, and sustainable development of the liberated territories. In the implementation of this program, the Azerbaijani government allocated significant financial resources. Following the Second Karabakh War (2020), the government of Azerbaijan allocated 2 billion AZN to reconstruction. The government allocated an additional 1.5 billion AZN in 2021, followed by 2.2 billion AZN in 2022. Investment numbers have grown over time, with an increase expected in the coming years.
The Azerbaijani government divides the Great Return into three phases: 1) rebuilding infrastructure, including damaged electricity and gas lines, 2) building houses and essential facilities like schools, hospitals, clinics, kindergartens, and social service establishments, and finally 3) the relocation of IDPs into the region. Moreover, development is centered around the five pillars of housing, production, social services, agriculture, and sustainable energy. With this plan, the Government of Azerbaijan aims to provide a comfortable life for returning IDPs. However, the program’s objectives are highly ambitious. By the end of 2026, the state plans to clear 280 hectares of territory of mines and build 34,500 apartments and private houses, 197 educational institutions, 8 vocational schools, and 1 specialized education school. This comes in addition to the planned completion of 26 highway projects and the development of employment opportunities in the region. By 2040, the process of returning Azerbaijani IDPs to their native lands is expected to conclude.
The government and contractors have already made considerable progress in the region with hundreds of families being moved back into the region. The Azerbaijani media has applauded and celebrated the return of families to their homes, as evidenced by frequent news articles highlighting the return of refugees and sharing their stories. However, there are significant challenges facing the Government of Azerbaijan. One of the biggest challenges is demining the region. Due to decades of conflict, hundreds of mines remain in the area. They are a significant threat to resettled populations and have rendered considerable amounts of land useless. Mines have already claimed 262 casualties. Another challenge is the lack of local consultation in the redevelopment process. The Azerbaijani Government has not made active attempts to consult with former residents of the region or involve them in the city planning process. Instead, speed is the top priority. Many locals are dissatisfied with the redevelopment effort, citing inefficiency, corruption, and a lack of local consultation. In an interview with RFE/RL, Vasila Mammadova, a former resident of Xocali shared that, “I wasn’t happy with that, and I asked the government to give us back our yard. But they told us that the city was being rebuilt according to the plan of the government, and they could give us a plot of land of a comparable size in any other part of Xocali.” Many IDPs remain reluctant to return to the region. While many older IDPs are optimistic about returning home, many also struggle with the new technologies implemented within these smart cities. Younger generations, who have adapted to city life in Baku, have little motivation to leave and fear the potential for future conflict. These challenges have limited the Great Return program’s success.
The Great Return in Azerbaijani National Consciousness
The Great Return plays a major role in Azerbaijani society and national consciousness. Azerbaijanis have embraced narratives of a lost homeland ever since the First Nagorno-Karabakh War when the country lost considerable territory to Armenia. This war also saw the displacement of 700,000 Azerbaijanis, only further contributing to senses of loss and national trauma. For many Azerbaijanis, this conflict remains associated with memories of suffering, humiliation, and loss. As such, the resettlement of these territories has become synonymous with ideas of the fulfillment of a national dream, restoration of communities separated from their homeland, and sustainable life following liberation. Many Azerbaijanis view it as a symbol of cultural revitalization. The Government of Azerbaijan demonstrates this through celebrations and events across the region. Traditional heritage, music, cuisine, crafts, and festivals are being emphasized and reintegrated into daily life. However, this project also takes on a larger meaning to the Government of Azerbaijan. The Aliyev government hopes that reconstruction efforts in Nagorno-Karabakh will serve as a model of post-conflict resilience for the international community. This is particularly evident in the government’s significant investment into the cities of Aghdam, Zangilan, and Shusha – former cultural centers within the region that continue to hold cultural significance to Azerbaijan. The government has promoted a new slogan, “With great hopes for a new era!” This slogan emphasized Azerbaijan’s progress and its commitment to achieving future goals.
Azerbaijani media has highlighted the return of IDPs in the years following the 2020 War. In an article celebrating the return of 23 families (72 people) to Lachin, one resident named Shafag Farman Gizi Mammadova, stated “I left Lachin when I was 24. I always dreamed of moving to our native land, our village. Even now, I think it’s a dream, and someone will wake me up at any moment. We lived as internally displaced persons in Baku, in the Yasamal district, for 33 years, and today we are returning to our native Lachin. We are grateful to our Supreme Commander-in-Chief and our victorious Army for allowing us to live these days. May God have mercy on our martyrs and grant health to our veterans!” In another article highlighting the return of IDPs to Fuzuli, Elman Suleyman Oglu Guliyev stated, “I was born in a house at 82 Khanlar Street, Fuzuli district. We lived our nomadic life in Baku, in the Khatai district. I remember all my memories of Fuzuli vividly, and they will never leave my mind. Today we are going to reunite with our memories and childhood. I am a pensioner, but I work as a businessman with my son. God willing, we will try to establish our business in Fuzuli as well.” The article also announced the resettlement of an additional 27 families (115 people) to Fuzuli, bringing the city’s total to 527 families (1,969 people). Many interviews with IDPs include statements of gratitude to the “Supreme Commander-in-Chief” and the Azerbaijani military.
In addition to highlighting the return of Azerbaijani families to the region, the media and Government has done significant promotion of various events and initiatives occurring in the regained territories. The government and media also promoted the 2024 elections held in the newly regained territory, which officials described as a major success with strong voter turnout.
Destruction of Armenian Cultural Heritage
The reconstruction of Nagorno-Karabakh has also seen the widespread and intentional destruction of Armenian heritage in the region. This has especially been the case since the end of the 2020 War when Azerbaijan regained portions of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven districts surrounding the region. ACLED reported nearly 80 instances of the destruction of Armenian historical, religious, political, and residential sites have been recorded. This destruction accelerated after the September 2023 military offensive which concluded with Azerbaijan’s complete takeover of the region. This includes the destruction of Saint Sargis Church in Mokhrenes in 2022. This was later followed by the complete destruction of the city.
Researchers documented several instances of cultural heritage destruction in Shusha – a city that holds considerable importance to both Azerbaijan and Armenia. Azerbaijani forces removed the dome of the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral and demolished the Kanach Zham Church in 2021. In 2022, Azerbaijani forces attacked memorials of the First Artsakh War and destroyed Armenian cross stones and cemeteries. In 2023, there were additional reports of destruction of Armenian residential properties in preparation for the resettlement of ethnic Azerbaijanis. Azerbaijani authorities also destroyed an Armenian cemetery in Lachin to make way for road construction. The destruction of Armenian cultural heritage has continued since 2023 and includes the removal of all traces of the Armenian political project, statues of prominent Armenians, and the intentional targeting of religious sites.
The Government of Azerbaijan has ambitious resettlement plans in Nagorno-Karabakh following its complete military takeover in 2023. The Great Return program best illustrates these plans, which serves as a propaganda tool for the Azerbaijani government, legitimizing its rule and helping push new narratives about Azerbaijani ownership of the land. However, it has also given a platform for corruption, complete disregard for local needs, and the destruction of Armenian cultural heritage as a means of historical erasure.
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