March: 13, 2026
While the Iran-USA-Israel war continues in the Middle East, amid rumors that the war is not going according to the American plan, the US president continues to make victorious statements. During the last hours, he announced that since the Second World War, no country has been hit as hard as Iran is now.
“We have destroyed most of their missiles, we have destroyed many drones, we have destroyed many objects producing missiles and drones. We are hitting them with a force that no country has felt since World War II,” he said in an interview on the Fox News channel.
He also wrote on his page of the Truth Social social network that new attacks will be carried out against the leadership of Iran in the near future.
“Look what’s going to happen today to those crazy bastards,” Trump wrote, vowing to continue the destruction of those he called responsible for the deaths of innocent people around the world for decades.
The American leader also spoke harshly to the press, accusing the media of defeatist sentiments.
According to him, if you read the New York Times, you might mistakenly think that the US is not winning, when in fact Iran’s navy is destroyed, aviation has ceased to exist, missiles and drones are subject to widespread destruction, and “leaders have been wiped off the face of the earth.”
It is noteworthy that despite the ongoing attacks against various Iranian settlements, tens of thousands of people in many cities and villages of Iran today took to the streets to celebrate Al-Quds Day, which is celebrated on the last Friday of Ramadan, when people in Iran and other countries take to the streets as a sign of solidarity and unity in the fight against the Jewish state.
Today’s march was attended by the President of the Republic of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian, the Minister of Internal Affairs Seyed Abbas Araghchi, as well as the Secretary of the National Security Council of Iran, Ali Larijani. He walked freely through the streets and answered the questions of journalists. He said that Israel’s attacks prove its helplessness, and Trump does not understand that the people of Iran are mature, strong and determined. According to him, the greater the pressure, the stronger the will of the people. Earlier, Larijani recorded that Trump said that he expected a quick victory.
“Although starting a war is easy, it cannot be won with a few posts. We will not surrender until you repent for this miscalculation,” he wrote.
168.amin a conversation with ռուս ռազմական վերլուծաբան Ալեքսանդր Խրամչիխինն said that it is definitely not in the interests of the US to prolong this war, because it is difficult for the US to wage war in this region against a state like Iran.
According to him, the analysts noted earlier that Iran is not Iraq or Venezuela and that a crushing and quick war against Iran is not possible.
According to Alexander Khramchikhin, since the initial plan – a quick war, the option of eliminating the supreme leader of Iran and solving the issue in this way – did not work, and now the future plan is not mentioned.
“Iran’s plan is to confront, the Iranian side clearly declares that, Iran’s position, in my opinion, is hardening parallel to the military operations. And there are conflicting statements from the USA, one says that they have won, another says that the war will end soon, and they also say that new powerful rocket attacks are expected… and the reason for this is that the initial calculation that removing a few key officials would solve the issue did not work, as the system continued to resist. Time will show how effective it is, but the US and Israel are still unable to solve the problem before them.
Another issue is that Trump wants to declare victory, there is almost no possibility of negotiation or retreat between the parties, this also complicates the situation, as well as the fact that Iran declares that it will not negotiate, and there are also some preconditions,” Khramchikhin said.
According to him, the statements that the USA has eliminated all of Iran’s missile potential are not reliable, otherwise Iran would not have resisted, and the situation on the battlefield would have changed.
As for the South Caucasus, according to Alexander Khramchikhin, the South Caucasus countries, following the situation, should draw conclusions from the policies of the USA and Iran for their future foreign policy.
According to him, there is one scenario when the USA achieves its goals by defeating Iran, another scenario is when Iran resists, reaching the point where the USA announces the cessation of military operations.
“Being in the neighborhood of this war, it is impossible not to take all this into account. Iran is an important player in the South Caucasus, this war will naturally change the political perceptions of Iran and the USA, including in the South Caucasus. And I think that the careful positioning of Turkey and Azerbaijan is important, taking into account the nature of the relations between Turkey and the USA,” said Alexander Khramchikhin.
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168: Israel can nuke Iran, Iran can nuke Israel
March: 13, 2026
Armenia can get involved in the war against Iran only if Azerbaijan gets involved. if Azerbaijan got involved in military operations against Iran, Armenia cannot avoid that conflict. Expressed this opinion 168TVof Revue on the air of the program Hayk Nahapetyan, colonel of the RA Armed Forces Reserve, expert on military and security issuesanalyzing the course of Israel-US-Iran war operations and the dangers for Armenia.
“Armenia is not a subject. Nobody asks our opinion. Unfortunately, it is. The danger is that our territory will become a theater of military operations. If, however, the geography of this war increases, and Azerbaijan is theoretically involved in that geography, Armenia will certainly appear in that geography as well. Do not doubt. Only in that case, otherwise, bombs will not fall here, as they say. If Azerbaijan got involved in that conflict in one way or another, Armenia cannot avoid that conflict,” commented Hayk Nahapetyan.
And the colonel sees a real possibility and prospect of Azerbaijan joining the military operations of the Israeli-American coalition against Iran, taking into account Aliyev’s long-term plans and close relations with Israel.
The military expert is convinced that the March 5 incident with anti-aircraft strikes in Nakhichevan was an Azeri provocation, organized by Aliyev in order to create an occasion for war against Iran, but then the Baku dictator “dropped the bullet”, as the Central Headquarters of the Iranian Armed Forces officially spoke on March 7 about the Israeli presence in the territories under the control of Azerbaijan, calling on neighboring Azerbaijan, as a Muslim country, to withdraw the Zionist forces from its territory. and not to endanger their own people and the security of Iran.
“I think he was warned, and Aliyev’s ears were stretched by Erdogan on the phone, saying, ‘Keep calm, this is not your fight.’ I suppose. There are two impulses on Aliyev: the statement of the Iranian headquarters and Erdogan, who is a more heavyweight player,” the military expert believes.
According to Hayk Nahapetyan, “if necessary, Mehriban and Ilham have a tea party in the bunker in the evening, an Iranian drone will come, enter the room through the window, land at Ilham’s feet and explode at his feet.”
The expert believes that Iran will attack the Israeli facilities located in the occupied Artsakh territory or in Nakhichevan, if it feels a physical threat from that side, and if the air force and missiles work from that direction.
In this context, the military expert emphasizes that the change in the status of Nakhijevan by the central authorities of Azerbaijan, from the preamble to the constitution of the Autonomous Republic of Nakhijevan in 1921. The removal of references to the Moscow and Kars treaties is also related to these events.
“Azerbaijan is trying to annex that territory, which it does not have the right to, because according to the agreement, two states (Russia and Turkey) guarantee any change in the status of Nakhichevan. Now Ilham’s ambition, as they say, reaches the stars, he says: “I want to do it.” It violates the order of the law, it violates the contract. Tomorrow, Russia or Turkey will stretch their ears and say. “What have you done?” Who left it to you to make a unilateral decision to change the status of that autonomy?” When the United States leaves here, then the leaders of Iran and Russia will call Aliyev and say: “Boy, why were you making decisions on your own, changing your status?” By what law is that, “with panyatk”? Well, now we will cut off your old man’s ear with a panyatk, and there are still some things left to do.
And in general, the military expert considers the worst scenario of the Iranian-Israeli-American war, which has been going on for almost two weeks now, to turn into a nuclear or atomic war.
“The calculation of the United States, which is a military superpower, was illogical, according to which if the elite of Iran is beheaded on the first day, then Iran surrenders. Don’t you think it’s illogical? In fact, Iran did not surrender, and the United States and Israel found themselves in a difficult situation. Now it either turns out that the “second coming of the savior” or “Armageddon” was a bluff, if they are convinced, they take a step back, if they are not convinced, then they will go to the end, and the end is nuclear war, that is, the use of nuclear weapons.
If Israel fires, in principle the State of Israel may no longer exist because Iran has hypersonic missiles that can hit Israel’s two power plants, two large chemical plants, a nuclear reactor in the desert, and nuclear storage facilities that Iran can also hit.
If the United States launched a nuclear strike, I don’t know how long Iran’s arms are. If America hits, I don’t know what will happen to the planet Earth. Of course, it is unlikely that the United States will take this extreme step, but I do not rule out Israel’s option.”
According to Nahapetyan, the United States and Israel actually lost the war, and now a “resource war” is going on.
“This fight will stop. It’s an illogical fight,” adds the military expert.
Full interview in the video.
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RFE/RL – Supporters Rally To Demand Release Of Armenian Tycoon
- Shoghik Galstian
Riot police made several arrests on Friday as hundreds of supporters of billionaire and emerging opposition leader Samvel Karapetian demonstrated outside a court in Yerevan to demand his release from house arrest ahead of Armenia’s upcoming parliamentary elections.
The demonstration organized by Karapetian’s Strong Armenia party took place during a court hearing on investigators’ demand to extend the house arrest by another month. Some demonstrators jostled with security forces at one point.
According to the Armenian Interior Ministry, three of them were detained on the spot for ignoring police orders. One of Karapetian’s lawyers, Armen Feroyan, put the number of detainees at around 20.
The court announced no decision as of 10 p.m. local time. Another Karapetian lawyer, Aram Vartevanian, said the Russian-Armenian tycoon should be set free not only because the charges brought against him are baseless but also to ensure the integrity of unfolding “political processes” in the country.
Vartevanian seemed to allude to the June 7 elections. Strong Armenia is expected to be one of the ruling Civil Contract party’s main election challengers.
Karapetian was arrested last June hours after condemning Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s attempts to depose the top clergy of the Armenian Apostolic Church and vowing to defend it “in our way.” The statement provoked a series of furious social media posts by Pashinian. The latter pledged to “deactivate” the tycoon believed to be the world’s richest Armenian.
Law-enforcement authorities claim that Karapetian called for a violent overthrow of the government. They also charged him with tax evasion, fraud and money laundering in July after he decided to challenge Pashinian’s party in the 2026 elections.
The 60-year-old rejects all accusations politically motivated. He was moved to house arrest in late December.
Under the Armenian constitution, Karapetian cannot become prime minister because of his dual Russian citizenship. His party has made clear that it will try to remove this constitutional hurdle if it wins the elections.
Karapetian’s brother Karen was among the protesters rallying outside the court building. He said that any decision by the judge “will not change our behavior.”
“Whether we are in jail or stand in a bread line, we will keep fighting,” Karen Karapetian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
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Armenian Church Rejects Pashinian’s Latest Attacks
The Armenian Apostolic Church on Friday rejected Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s new accusations voiced in the European Parliament amid his continuing attempts to depose its supreme head, Catholicos Garegin II.
Addressing the European Union’s legislative body on Wednesday, Pashinian claimed that the church’s top clergy is leading a “party of war” that comprises Armenia’s main opposition groups and is keen to reignite the conflict with Azerbaijan. He accused it of collaborating with “foreign special services” not named by him.
The church’s Supreme Spiritual Council dismissed the allegations as “fabricated” and “unacceptable” at the end of a four-day session held in Echmiadzin. In a statement, it said they are aimed justifying the Armenian authorities’ “illegal actions against the Church” and “further repressions” planned by them.
Pashinian began pressuring Garegin to resign last June shortly after the Catholicos accused Azerbaijan of committing ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh and illegally occupying Armenian border areas during an international conference in Switzerland. Three archbishops and one bishop were arrested in the following months on different charges strongly denied by them. 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 clergymen. They were banned from leaving the country to attend an emergency episcopal conference held in Austria last month.
Pashinian defended the crackdown in his speech at the European Parliament. His domestic critics say it violates Armenia’s constitution and laws guaranteeing the ancient church’s separation from the state.
Pashinian has used different lines of attack on the church during his nearly yearlong campaign. He said until December that Garegin and other top clerics at odds with him must go because they had secret sex affairs in breach of their vows of celibacy. He then began accusing them of spying for a foreign country, presumably Russia.
Last month, Pashinian turned on eight prominent members of the Armenian communities in the United States and Europe who condemned his “attacks” on the church. He claimed that they want to remove the seat of the Catholicos from Armenia and seize church treasures kept in Echmiadzin.
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International Scholars Decry Firing Of Armenian Genocide Museum Head
- Susan Badalian
Twenty-five scholars based in the United States and Europe have deplored the resignation of the director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute (AGMI) in Yerevan ordered by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
Pashinian admitted on Thursday forcing Edita Gzoyan to step down because of what she told and gave U.S. President JD Vance during his February 10 visit to the genocide memorial in Armenia’s capital, which is part of the AGMI. Gzoyan presented Vance with books about the 1915 genocide in Ottoman Turkey and the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.
“Dr. Gzoyan’s forced exit sends a chilling message to academics and historians everywhere: that rigorous inquiry and truthful remembrance can be displaced for diplomatic comfort,” read a joint statement issued by the genocide scholars later on Thursday.
“We firmly demand that Dr. Gzoyan be reinstated immediately and allowed to continue the outstanding work she has been leading,” it said.
The signatories, most of them ethnic Armenian scholars teaching at U.S. and European universities, warned that failure to do so would “seriously jeopardize the Institute’s future and undermine its standing within the international scholarly community.” They described Gzoyan as “one of the most outstanding and dedicated directors in the history of the Institute.”
“She has been a tireless advocate for rigorous historical research on the Armenian Genocide and related atrocities against Armenians — work that has strengthened global understanding of past injustices and supported the cause of historical truth,” added the statement.
Pashinian said he was right to effectively fire Gzoyan because the AGMI director’s “provocative action” ran counter to his policy towards Azerbaijan and Turkey. Armenian opposition leaders as well as many public figures rejected that explanation, saying that the prime minister is openly violating academic freedom in the country. The international scholars likewise saw a “silencing of independent academic voices in favor of political convenience.”
“There is every reason to believe that this is less about museum administration and more about repositioning the AGMI to align its work with geopolitical priorities — especially a desire to avoid honest discussion of atrocities related to Azerbaijan amid ongoing normalization efforts,” they said.
Gzoyan has still not publicly commented on her resignation which upset the AGMI staff. While the AGMI is subordinate to the Armenian Ministry of Education, Culture and Youth Affairs, its directors are supposed to be appointed by its board of trustees.
The board’s chairman, French-Armenian genocide scholar Raymond Kevorkian, and several members also resigned last week. Pashinian was quick to replace them. He also installed one of his former aides, Hrachya Tashchian, as AGMI’s acting director. The latter officially began performing his duties on Friday.
Tashchian is a former career diplomat who is not known to have major scholarly experience. Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Thursday, he denied that Pashinian is exerting pressure on the AGMI and its scholars. But Tashchian also made clear that he will be guided by the prime minister’s foreign policy.
Meanwhile, there were signs of continuing discontent among the AGMI employees. All 74 people working for the institute protested against Gzoyan’s resignation in a joint letter to Pashinian last week. Arman Khachatrian, an AGMI fellow, denounced the premier in a social media post on Friday.
“By punishing Gzoyan, who is not a member of his political team, for an innocent and non-provocative act, the prime minister is … showing that anyone — be they a scholar, a state official, a sympathizer, an opponent — who continues to speak on the subject of Artsakh will be severely punished,” wrote Khachatrian.
Pashinian, he said, has no legal authority to censor scholarly activities. Ashot Melikian, the former longtime head of the History Institute of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences, echoed the criticism.
“In Soviet times, due to political constraints, many historical events were falsified, bypassed and not talked about, or if they were talked about, they were turned upside down,” Melkonian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “Now if we are going to be guided by political expediency, it will mean returning to the political constraints of the Soviet era.”
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RFE/RL – Pashinian Calls For Constitutional Change Demanded By Azerbaijan
- Gayane Saribekian
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian again pledged on Friday to try to enact the kind of constitutional change that Azerbaijan has set as a necessary condition for ending the conflict with Armenia.
He said that a new Armenian constitution planned by him must carry no reference to a 1990 declaration of independence which in turn cites a 1989 unification act adopted by the legislative bodies of Soviet Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
The declaration is referenced in a preamble to Armenia’s current constitution. Azerbaijan says that this amounts to a claim to Karabakh recaptured by Baku in 2023. It has made clear that it will not sign an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty, initialed last August, unless Yerevan removes the reference. The only legal way to do that is to adopt a new constitution through a referendum.
While insisting that the current constitution contains no territorial claims, Pashinian has pledged to try to change it. He again criticized the 1990 declaration on Friday, claiming that it could provoke another war with Azerbaijan.
“The [ruling] Civil Contract is the only political force that says there must be no reference to the Declaration of Independence in the new constitution,” he said in a video message posed on Facebook.
The new constitution is already being drafted by the Armenian Ministry of Justice. Pashinian said earlier that it will be put on a referendum after Armenia’s parliamentary elections scheduled for June 7. This suggests that the referendum will not take place if Pashinian and his party are voted out of office.
Armenian opposition groups have pledged to scuttle the change of the constitution sought by Pashinian. They say that his continuing unilateral concessions only encourage Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to make more demands on Armenia and will not bring real peace.
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The investigative committee tried to overturn the session of the Supreme Spiritual Council
The investigative committee tried again today to overturn the session of the Supreme Spiritual Council. Yesterday, the session of the Supreme Spiritual Council was not held, because the lay members were urgently invited to the CC, and the issues included in the agenda were planned to be discussed in today’s session.
According to “Pastinfo” information, this morning the Central Committee tried again to overturn the session. At 10 o’clock, this time, the members of the clergy were again called for questioning, allegedly under the name of “urgent investigative actions”. The spiritual fathers refused to go to the interrogation, stating that the CC is obliged to send a summons. Later, the summons was sent electronically, but the session was held anyway.
It is noteworthy that the CC invites people who have already refused to testify once, and were obviously going to refuse again, to be interrogated again. Therefore, it is obvious that in reality these actions do not contain any urgency, but there is a direct instruction to overthrow the activities of the religious bodies of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church.
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Verelq: The GCC rejected the fabricated attributions to the Church
On March 10-13, Mother See in Holy Etchmiatsin, H.S.O.T.T. The meeting of the Supreme Spiritual Council was held under the chairmanship of Karekin the Second Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians.
After the greeting and blessing of the Catholicos of All Armenians, the chairman of the Monastic Council, T. Archbishop Nathan Hovhannisyan.
2026 in Sankt Pölten, Austria. The leader of the Armenian Diocese of Damascus, Fr. Bishop Nalbandyan of Armash.
The GCC noted with satisfaction that the bishops participating in the meeting discussed the challenges faced by the Armenian Church, the current state of Church-state relations, as well as issues related to the achievement of the Church’s mission in a prayer union and formulated a number of recommendations for the benefit of organizing the life of the Church and overcoming existing problems. The GCC decided to start pursuing the settlement of the problems, stressing that the existing problems in the church life should be solved exclusively in a legal and ecclesiastical-canonical way.
In the Diocese of Masyatsotni, the deputy presbyter of the diocese T. Reverend Ruben Zargaryan. It was noted that Arman Saroyan, who was disbanded, obstructs the pastoral, canonical and administrative activities of the diocese with the illegal support of the authorities, causing tension among the clergy and believers.
At the same time, it was recorded that the majority of clergymen of the diocese continue their pastoral service, remaining faithful to church orders and canons.
In the context of church-state relations, reports were presented on legislative initiatives, as well as on the criminal, administrative, and civil cases initiated against the Mother See of St. Etchmiadzin and churchmen who were illegally imprisoned and subjected to other measures of disruption, judicial acts and their statistics. Tiar Gevorg Danielyan and lawyer, I.G.T. tiara Ara Zohrabyan.
Emphasizing the imperative to respect and preserve the rights and autonomy of the Church, justice and democratic principles, the Supreme Spiritual Council condemned the arbitrary, discriminatory actions of the RA authorities, the persecution of the Armenian Church and its members, the imprisonments on trumped-up charges, as well as the attempts to create artificial obstacles to the Church’s activities through the use of state levers, to restrict them, and to illegally interfere in church life.
Reference was also made to the bills and sub-legislative acts presented by the authorities recently, which limit the legal status and activities of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church, as well as their discussion is seen as a convenient excuse for voicing and unhindered dissemination of anti-church theses. It was noted that such initiatives undermine the constitutional foundations of Church-state relations, in particular, the right to freedom of conscience and religion.
The Council of Ministers also rejected Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s proposal for 2026 in the European Parliament. In the March 11 speech, the accusatory attributions made against the Armenian Church and ecclesiastics: “agent of foreign influence”, “war party”, etc., with which there is an obvious attempt to create grounds for justification for the illegal actions carried out by the Armenian authorities against the Church and the planned further repressions.
2026 The director of the administrative and economic department of the Mother See of Saint Etchmiadzin, T. Musegh Bishop Babayan. The latter presented to the congregation members the preparatory works and the questions and recommendations related to the organization of the meeting. Appropriate instructions were given in this regard.
T. presented a report on the cessation of spiritual service in the RA Armed Forces, the pressures on the soldiers, and the problems that arose. Reverend Movses Sargsyan. The General Assembly confirmed that the unilateral decision of the Minister of Defense contradicts the provisions of the RA Constitution, the Law “On Relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Holy Armenian Apostolic Church”, as well as the corresponding decision of the government, which stipulates the service of chaplains in the Armed Forces. Emphasizing the importance of the service of artillerymen in the recovery of the spiritual and morale-psychological atmosphere of the army, it was found necessary to discuss the new regulations of the service and the ways to return them to the legal dimension.
The inspector of the Gevorgyan Theological Seminary, T. Husik abegha Smbatyan.
The congregation listened to the report with gratitude. Emphasizing the work aimed at strengthening the training and spiritual education of the clergy, they ordered to continue taking consistent steps in the direction of improving the educational programs and attracting new students.
During the meeting, the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin activity bulletin for 2025, the financial year, the final reports of the construction of the Mother Cathedral and the report of the Audit Committee were presented. 2025 were also presented. Spiritual-propaganda, cultural, educational and social programs implemented in Armenia and diaspora communities.
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Asbarez: Israel Bombs Apartment Near Beirut’s Bourdj Hammoud Neighborhood
The apartment building at the center of the Israeli attack near Bourdj Hammoud
In the early hours of Friday Israel bombed an apartment building on the border between the Nappa-Mirna Shaluhi districts. These districts are also very close to the Armenian-populated Bourdj Hammoud neighborhood, which fortunately suffered no material or human losses. Some of the residents there heard the explosions from the bombing attack.
Shahan Kandaharian, editor-in-chief of our sister publication the Aztag newspaper, reported on the incident, noting that it is very worrying that the area near Bourdj Hammoud has been targeted.
According to reports, the target of the Israeli side was the apartment where a member of Hezbollah allegedly lived.
Kandaharian assured that there is no panic, but there is uncertainty that causes great concern to the residents.
The Armenian National Committee of America on Thursday called on the Trump/Vance Administration to condemn and hold Israel accountable for drone striking a residential apartment building in Beirut’s Armenian Bourdj Hammoud district – “a neighborhood populated by descendants of Armenian Genocide survivors.”
The attacks unleashed by Israel against Lebanon are gradually revealing Israel’s true goals in the region and against Lebanon, starting from the southern suburbs of Beirut to the border towns of southern Lebanon and the Bekaa and Baalbek areas.
Lebanon had initiated direct negotiations with Israel, in an attempt to prevent new attacks against Lebanon. Reports indicate that Lebanon has formed its own committee called to participate in the negotiations planned in Cyprus.
For his part, French President Emmanuel Macron has been in close contact with Lebanese and Israeli officials, urging them to stop the military operations.
However, it seems that Israel only wants to impose its point of view. Israeli forces have already penetrated the southern borders and are positioned in 18 centers, expanding the scope of their aggression.
Israeli sources have revealed that Israel is planning to launch a large-scale offensive within a week and penetrate deep into southern Lebanon.
On Thursday evening, the Israeli Air Force directly targeted Hezbollah facilities in the southern suburbs of Beirut with drones, causing material damage. It is worth noting that Israel is gradually penetrating the borders of the capital Beirut, where one of the latest targets was the building called “Ahmad Abbas” in the Bashura neighborhood near the Sodeco district of Beirut, where, according to the Israeli “justification,” Hezbollah has stored millions of dollars. Later, Israel also struck the branch of Hezbollah’s “Kart Hassan” credit institution in Zoqak Plat.
Before that, on the night between Wednesday and Thursday, Israel had also struck a building in Ramlet Bayda, near Raouche, on the Beirut coast, where, according to Israel, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard official was sheltering.
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Renowned Scholars Express Deep Concern Over Pashinyan’s Removal of Genocide Mu
Vice President JD Vance with AGMI Director Dr. Edita Gzoyan at Dzidzernagapert on Feb. 10
We, the undersigned, express deep concern over the recent and troubling developments at the Armenian Genocide Museum‑Institute in Yerevan. On March 11, Dr. Edita Gzoyan, one of the most outstanding and dedicated directors in the history of the Institute, submitted her resignation — reportedly under pressure from the government rather than by free choice.
Dr. Gzoyan has elevated the AGMI to international academic prominence. Under her leadership, the Institute expanded its archival collections, organized key symposia and conferences, and produced scholarly works that have significantly advanced genocide studies worldwide. She has been a tireless advocate for rigorous historical research on the Armenian Genocide and related atrocities against Armenians — work that has strengthened global understanding of past injustices and supported the cause of historical truth.
What makes her forced departure particularly alarming is its timing and context. Just weeks earlier, Dr. Gzoyan had personally guided U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance during his visit to the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex. She highlighted not only the genocide of 1915 but also later massacres of Armenians in Sumgait, Kirovabad, and Baku, underscoring the historical continuity of anti‑Armenian violence in the region. She also presented Vice President Vance with scholarly works on the Armenian Genocide and the Nagorno‑Karabakh conflict — essential context for understanding Armenia’s history and contemporary challenges. On March 12, in response to a journalist’s question regarding the forced resignation of Dr. Edita Gzoyan, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated:
“I was the one who asked the director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute to submit a resignation letter; it was done on my instruction. I considered giving a book about Artsakh to Vance to be a provocative act that goes against the Government’s policy.”
The sequence of events indicates a broader and deeply troubling pattern: the silencing of independent academic voices in favor of political convenience. There is every reason to believe that this is less about museum administration and more about repositioning the AGMI to align its work with geopolitical priorities — especially a desire to avoid honest discussion of atrocities related to Azerbaijan amid ongoing normalization efforts.
The Armenian Genocide Museum‑Institute is not merely a tourist site. It is a center of historical memory and scholarship — a bulwark against denial and distortion. Its leadership should be protected from political interference, not subjected to it. Dr. Gzoyan’s forced exit sends a chilling message to academics and historians everywhere: that rigorous inquiry and truthful remembrance can be displaced for diplomatic comfort.
All of us have been actively engaged with AGMI in numerous meaningful capacities—participating in its conferences, serving on the editorial board of the “International Journal of Armenian Genocide Studies” and on the academic board, collaborating with AGMI and its staff on joint scholarly initiatives, and contributing to the field through the publication of academic articles and books. Gzoyan has played a key role in involving us in AGMI’s activities through her creative vision and outstanding scholarship, helping shape the Institute’s future.
We believe that any attempt to remove Dr. Gzoyan from the directorship of the AGMI would seriously jeopardize the Institute’s future and undermine its standing within the international scholarly community. Such a decision would not only disrupt the Institute’s ongoing work but would also send a deeply troubling signal to leading scholars of genocide studies worldwide, discouraging them from collaborating with AGMI and weakening the global academic partnerships that are essential to its mission.
For these reasons, we strongly urge the Armenian government to refrain from interfering in the leadership of the Institute. We call on the authorities to respect the independence of AGMI and to ensure that Dr. Gzoyan is allowed to continue her work without political pressure or intervention. Protecting the Institute’s autonomy and leadership is critical for preserving its credibility, safeguarding its scholarly mission, and maintaining the trust of the international academic community. We believe that directorship of the AGMI should be based on the qualities of the individual as a scholar and administrator and not the political expediencies of any particular administration.
The AGMI staff and members of the Board have expressed their full confidence in Dr. Gzoyan’s exceptional leadership. We firmly demand that Dr. Gzoyan be reinstated immediately and allowed to continue the outstanding work she has been leading.
Prof. Bedross Der Matossian, Professor of History, Hymen Rosenberg Professor in Judaic Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Prof. Elyse Semerdjian Robert Aram and Marianne Kaloosdian and Stephen and Marian Mugar Chair of Armenian Genocide Studies at the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University
Prof. Armen Marsoobian, Professor of Philosophy, Southern Connecticut State University
Prof. Keith Watenpaugh, Professor of Human Rights Studies, University of California, Davis
Prof. Melanie Schulze Tanielian, Associate Professor of History, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Dr. Simon Maghakyan, Associate Member of the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Oxford
Dr. Boris Adjemian, Director of Bibliothèque Nubar de l’UGAB
Mr. Marc Mamigonian, Director of Academic Affairs, National Association for Armenian Genocide and Research
Prof. Vahé Tachjian, Houshamadyan, Berlin / Ara Hrechdakian Chair of Armenian Studies at Saint Joseph University of Beirut
Prof. Houri Berberian Professor of History, Meghrouni Family Presidential Chair in Armenian Studies University of California, Irvine
Prof. Henry Theriault, Ph.D., Vice-Chair, Board of Directors, National Association for Armenian Studies and Research, and Co-Editor, “Genocide Studies International”
Prof. Ronald Grigor Suny, William H. Sewell Jr. Distinguished University Professor of History Emeritus, The University of Michigan; Professor of Political Science and History Emeritus, The University of Chicago
Prof. Barlow Der Mugrdechian, Haig and Isabel Berberian Coordinator of Armenian Studies, California State University, Fresno
Prof. Lori Khatchadourian, Associate Professor, Departments of Near Eastern Studies & Anthropology, Cornell University
Dr. Hilmar Kaiser, Universität Bern
Mr. Michael Bobelian, Adjunct Professor at Columbia University and Baruch College
Prof. A. Dirk Moses, Anne and Bernard Spitzer Professor of International Relations at the City College of New York
Prof. Hervè Georgelin, Assistant Professor, National University of Athens, Greece
Mr. Gregory Aftandilian, Senior Professorial Lecture, American University, Washington, DC
Prof. Julien Zarifian, Professor of U.S. History, University of Poitiers, France
Prof. Fatma Müge Göçek, Professor of Sociology, University of Michigan
Prof. David Gaunt, Emeritus Professor of History, Södertörn University, Stockholm, Sweden
Prof. Tessa Hofmann, formerly Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, Institute for Eastern European Studies
Dr. Talar Chahinian, Continuing Lecturer in Armenian Studies, University of California, Irvine
Prof. Samuel Totten, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
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