Armenia seeks to strip Tsarukyan of immunity as post-election arrests and dism

Ekmekjian Janet
OC Media

June 26, 2026
by Arshaluys Barseghyan

Armenian authorities have asked the Central Election Commission (CEC) to lift the parliamentary immunity of tycoon Gagik Tsarukyan, who leads the opposition Prosperous Armenia party. Separately, the authorities have continued their investigations into alleged vote-buying, including by dismissing state servants associated with opposition figures.

Before prosecutors can initiate criminal proceedings against Tsarukyan, who was placed under investigation for alleged large-scale tax evasion just two days after the 7 June parliamentary elections, the CEC must lift his parliamentary immunity.

Tsarukyan’s Prosperous Armenia party narrowly missed the 4% threshold to enter parliament following a controversial decision by the CEC.

The announcement of the investigation came after Tsarukyan had attempted to leave Armenia through Yerevan’s Zvartnots International Airport shortly after the elections, but was prevented from doing so.

Later, Russian–Armenian tycoon Samavel Karapetyan’s Strong Armenia’s leading candidate Narek Karapetyan and Armenia Alliance leader and former President Robert Kocharyan were similarly barred from leaving the country following the elections. However, the legal justifications of such preventions remain unclear.

Armenia revokes license of tycoon and opposition figure Tsarukyan’s casino

Ahead of the elections, Armenian authorities launched dozens of criminal cases alleging vote-buying by the main opposition groups. New cases have continued to emerge after the vote, with investigators publishing wiretapped recordings as evidence to support the allegations.

On Thursday, an unspecified number of people were detained in connection with an alleged vote-buying scheme involving a Prosperous Armenia representative.

Separately, according to RFE/RL, the Anti-Corruption Committee searched the home and two vehicles of Karen Simonyan, a parliamentary candidate from the Armenia Alliance. Authorities said the searches were part of a criminal investigation into alleged vote-buying and vote-selling involving supporters of the alliance.

Meanwhile, prominent Strong Armenia member Artur Avanesyan has been placed under house arrest and banned from leaving the country after prosecutors failed to secure an extension of his pre-trial detention. He was detained at the end of April on suspicion of electoral bribery.

Armenia arrests senior member of Karapetyan’s Strong Armenia party

Opposition figure says sister dismissed from state job

Edgar Ghazaryan, a parliamentary candidate from Strong Armenia, accused the authorities of targeting his family by dismissing his sister, Lilit Ghazaryan, from the state-run Drug Expertise Centre, where she had worked for more than 30 years.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, Edgar Ghazaryan described the move as ‘political repression against our family’.

According to him, the day after the election, his sister ‘was instructed’ by the Health Ministry to resign, and after refusing to do so ‘she was unlawfully dismissed’.

‘My sister has worked at the centre for more than 30 years, including the last 22 as deputy director. She is one of Armenia’s leading specialists in pharmaceutical regulation’, Edgar Ghazaryan wrote.

He argued that the ‘only reason’ for Lilit Ghazaryan’s dismissal was that she is his sister, ‘despite the fact that she has remained politically restrained and has made no public or political statements’.

In turn, Lilit Ghazaryan told RFE/RL that after she refused to submit a resignation letter, management instead abolished one of the centre’s two deputy director positions, effectively dismissing her.

‘The elimination of that position had no factual basis and no legal basis’, she said.

She also claimed that the decision originated with Health Minister Anahit Avanesyan rather than Drug Expertise Centre Director Arayik Baghryan, who she said merely carried out the order.

Speaking at a press briefing on Thursday, Avanesyan rejected the allegations, insisting that the decision had no political motivation and dismissing the accusations as ‘manipulations’. She suggested that if the decision had indeed been politically motivated by Ghazaryan’s brother’s opposition activities, such action would have been taken years earlier.

It is not the first time that figures linked to the opposition or simply holding opposition-minded views working for the government have alleged politically-motivated retribution since the election.

Earlier in June, Gohar Vardanyan, a local civil official in the border village of Kirants, said she was pressured to submit a resignation letter after publishing a Facebook post disputing claims that the strong showing of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party in the village actually reflected real local support.

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Israel stokes tensions with Turkey with push to recognise Armenian genocide

Emil Karabekian
The New Arab

June 26, 2026
Israel, widely accused of committing genocide in Gaza, has for years avoided comment on the killing of 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire 
Matthew Hoare

Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar will this week propose an official recognition of the Armenian genocide in a move that will likely further escalate tensions between Israel and Turkey.

Israel, which itself is widely accused of carrying out a genocide in Gaza, has for years not commented on the killing of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman forces during World War I.

But amid a growing geopolitical rivalry, Saar will on Sunday advocate in a cabinet meeting that the Israeli government overturn its decades-long position on the event.

“Recognising the genocide perpetrated against the Armenian people in the final years of the Ottoman Empire is both a moral and historical duty,” Saar wrote on social media on Thursday.

“We must also firmly condemn any denial, minimisation, or distortion of the historical truth,” he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in August said that he recognised the genocide, provoking a furious response from the Turkish government.

Turkey vehemently rejects that the killings and forced deportations of Armenian Christians amounted to genocide.

Any decision by the Israeli government to formally recognise the genocide will need to be passed into law by the Knesset.

The New Arab has approached Turkey’s foreign ministry for comment.

Deteriorating ties

Since its founding, Israel has avoided comment on the Armenian genocide, instead prioritising good relations with Ankara.

But ties between the two countries have fallen to historic lows on the back of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and a battle for influence in post-Assad Syria

Concerns in Ankara have mounted over Israeli’s destabilising behaviour since October 2023, which has seen it bomb seven countries in the region and seize territory in Syria and Lebanon.

Israel increasingly sees Turkey as a major rival in the region with a succession of Israeli officials in recent months hinting at the prospect of a future military attack on the country, with some characterising it as posing a bigger threat than Iran.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stridently criticised Israel’s assault on Gaza, describing it as a genocide and repeatedly comparing Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler.

The two countries are also at odds in Syria, where Israel has sought to undermine Ahmed al-Sharaa’s government, which has been supported by Turkey.

Israel wiped out much of the country’s military capabilities in the wake of Assad’s ouster and has backed Druze separatists in the south. It has also threatened to target Turkish forces inside the country

Support for Azerbaijan

However, Israel’s geopolitically informed show of support for the past plight of Armenians has been overshadowed by its backing of Azerbaijan.

Israeli defence companies are among the biggest suppliers of arms to the Azeri government, which fought a war with Armenia in 2020 in order to take control of the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

In 2023, Azeri forces took control of the region and drove out 100,000 Armenians after launching a major offensive.

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Ancient water management system uncovered in Armenia

Chakhmakhchian Vatche
Heritage Daily

June 26, 2026
By:Mark Milligan

Date:

June 24, 2026
Archaeology

A vast ancient water management system has been uncovered near the ancient city of Argishtikhinili in Armenia, shedding new light on the engineering capabilities of the Urartian Kingdom more than 2,700 years ago.

Archaeologists from Poland and Armenia have identified traces of an extensive network of canals, riverbeds and irrigation infrastructure in the fertile Ararat Basin, revealing what they describe as one of the region’s most ambitious ancient development projects.

The discovery was made by researchers from the University of Warsaw and the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia with satellite imagery, historical aerial photos and advanced remote sensing techniques. The report was published in the Journal Antiquity.

The study covered the area around Argishtikhinili, a major Urartian centre, established during the reign of Argishti I in the 8th century BC.

Researchers have identified over 1,000 kilometres of water-related features throughout the landscape. These include about 135 kilometres of ancient canals, nearly 420 kilometres of former riverbeds and streams, around 429 kilometres of modern irrigation channels, and 36 kilometres of ancient canals.

The findings suggest that the Urartians transformed what had once been dry and underutilised land into a productive agricultural heartland capable of supporting a growing population and strengthening the kingdom’s economy.

Ancient inscriptions discovered in the region indicate that five major canals supplied water to Argishtikhinili and its surrounding agricultural lands, including fields, orchards and vineyards. One inscription records that the area had remained uncultivated before the construction of the irrigation system, highlighting the importance of water management to the kingdom’s prosperity.

The scale of the newly documented network points to a highly organised and technically sophisticated undertaking.

“This skill was brought by the Urartians, who understood perfectly well that the lands around the recently founded city of Argishtikhinili were potentially very fertile,” said Krzysztof Jakubiak. “Unfortunately, the lack of access to water prevented their intensive use. The royal administration had the appropriate means to change this situation, and thus a network of canals appeared in the valley landscape, thanks to which these areas became the granary of the entire kingdom.”

According to the researchers, constructing such an extensive irrigation system would have required advanced engineering knowledge. Canal builders needed to calculate gradients precisely to ensure water could flow over long distances without pumps while also controlling erosion and maintaining the channels.

The research also suggests the existence of a specialised administrative system responsible for overseeing water distribution and infrastructure maintenance. Such a large-scale enterprise would have required substantial labour resources and effective management.

To reveal the old network, scientists combined modern satellite data with imagery captured by American CORONA and GAMBIT reconnaissance satellites during the Cold War. These photos from the 1960s and 1970s show the country before heavy farming and modern irrigation had changed the landscape.

The researchers found that traces of ancient canals can still be detected through subtle variations in soil moisture, vegetation growth and ground elevation. Digital terrain models which could identify changes of a few centimetres were particularly useful for locating buried channels and embankments.

Even in light of this discovery, questions still surround the age of many of the structures. Some of the canals are thought to date back to the Urartian period, but some of them are thought to have been built centuries later after the kingdom was dismantled around 590 BC.

“Dating irrigation canals is extremely difficult because they were constantly silting up during use,” Jakubiak said. “To determine when they were first created, it is necessary to drill into the canal beds and recover sediments containing organic material that can be radiocarbon dated.”

Further fieldwork and analysis will be needed to establish a detailed chronology of the irrigation system and the settlements it supported. However, the discovery already provides compelling evidence of the scale and sophistication of ancient water management in the Ararat Basin and highlights the crucial role irrigation played in the rise of one of the ancient Near East’s most powerful kingdoms.

Header Image Credit : Krzysztof Jakubiak

Sources : PAP – 
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Washington Can Change the South Caucasus

Ophelia Vardapetian

June 26, 2026
Nikol Pashinyan’s election victory in Armenia shows the way forward for the region, especially if the US plays a big role.
a:hover]:text-red” st1yle=”box-sizing:border-box;border-width:0px;border-style:solid;border-color:currentcolor;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:2rem”>By Tinatin Khidasheli
June 26, 2026

Armenia’s prime minister won re-election on June 7 in spite of the clergy, Moscow, and history. He proved that with proper leadership, hard work, and the courage to look forward rather than back, leaders can take their people along even the hardest roads.  

Pashinyan showed that even a small, landlocked nation in a difficult neighborhood can refuse to act as a pawn in someone else’s game, and start building its own place in the world through open borders, better transport and data connections, and integration into global trade corridors. 

By working toward a settlement with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh and opening the door to normalization with Turkey, Pashinyan has created a chance that this fractured corner of the world could function as a cooperative region, rather than a collection of frozen conflicts and closed borders. 

Armenia is not the only small country in the neighborhood where there was reason for hope. For years, Georgia championed a better neighborhood and became a beacon for post-Soviet transformation, consistent and deliberate in its European, democratic choice, even under the most relentless pressure from Moscow.  

Georgia was never confused about where it belonged, and it built the infrastructure to go with its choice. These included the BTC and TANAP energy pipelines, the BTK railway running from Azerbaijan to Turkey, road and energy connections, and trade corridors. None was an accident of geography. They were the product of deliberate political choices, of trust built over years, of enormous Western investment in Georgia.  

These foundations have now been undermined by the Georgian Dream government, which won power in 2012 and has eroded many of the democratic and diplomatic gains of the previous years in order to hold onto it.  

The US push for a settlement with Azerbaijan (and the associated TRIPP road corridor), however promising in the wake of Armenia’s vote, faces a structural problem precisely because Georgia is now nearly absent from the picture. That is a gap no serious strategy can afford to ignore, and a region defined by its interconnections cannot be stabilized by a deal that accounts for only part of it.  

The question is whether Washington recognizes that the South Caucasus is a puzzle and that Georgia is a key piece. If it does, Washington could exercise considerable leverage in Tbilisi, certainly more than anyone else. Applied with consistency and purpose, that could bring Georgia back to a path it never should have left.  

Georgia did not lose its potential; it lost its way politically. Washington helped build Georgia’s path to democracy and cooperation, and can help rebuild it now. 

Some will argue there are ways to bypass Georgia (Armenia also borders both Turkey and Azerbaijan, for example). But these come at far greater cost, in time, in money, and in political capital. The more rational course is to treat Georgia as a central player on which a functional regional architecture depends.  

The Georgian Dream government is acutely aware of this calculus and is playing its own hand accordingly. It has been deepening engagement with China through high-level meetings, declarations on deep and comprehensive strategic cooperation, and a deliberate presentation of alternatives. By publicly elevating its partnership with Beijing, Tbilisi also appears intent on signaling to Washington that it has other strategic options, using its ties with China as leverage to challenge US influence and demonstrate that American disengagement will not leave Georgia without powerful partners. 

But Tbilisi knows the path back to stability runs through Washington, and the conditions for that are well understood: democratic governance, the primacy of the rule of law, and a return to the Euro-Atlantic path that Georgian Dream has been turning away from. 

Washington understands this, too, and it is the only player with the tools to act. The European Union (EU) has influence but has already been rebuffed on accession and lacks the hard tools to compel action. Meanwhile, Russia’s interest is in Georgian instability, not in making Georgia a stable and sovereign state.  

Iran has its own regional calculations, but no credible offer to make to a country whose society is genuinely European. China can offer investment and political flattery, but not the security or the future that Georgians voted for.  

It is Washington, through bilateral security relationships, financial institutions, and the backing of Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic orientation, that holds the cards.  

Targeted pressure on individuals responsible for democratic backsliding, conditionality to security cooperation, and direct diplomatic engagement are instruments that have been used effectively elsewhere. What has been missing is the sustained will to deploy them in Georgia. 

Washington wants a South Caucasus deal that works, not one that looks good on paper but falls apart when it comes into contact with reality. Pressing for democratic stability in Georgia is not a detour; it is the most direct path.  

The South Caucasus has seen peace initiatives before. They have come with summits and frameworks and cautious optimism, and they have unraveled. The region has lived through cycles of ceasefire and conflict, of Western engagement followed by fatigue and retreat, of progress that looked durable until it was not.  

But this moment is different. For the first time, there is a leader in the region who has staked everything on a genuine transformation and won a democratic mandate for it. Notably, this came with significant support from the US, despite Russia’s aid for the opposition.  

Acting in Tbilisi and winning in the South Caucasus are not choices between two separate objectives; they are the same thing. 

Tinatin Khidasheli heads Civic-IDEA, a think-tank fighting the Soviet legacy in Georgia, confronting Russian propaganda, and advocating for a sound defense and security policy. Tinatin is the author of the first Georgian-language book on Hybrid Warfare and teaches Hybrid Warfare and Defense Policy in Georgia. Mrs. Khidasheli served as Georgia’s first female Minister of Defense. She is a lawyer by education, holds an LLM in International Law from Tbilisi State University, and an MA in Political Science from the Central European University in Hungary. Mrs. Khidasheli is a Visiting Researcher at the Graduate School of Law, Hitotsubashi University. 

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Armenia’s New Pro-Russian Opposition Leader

Elizabeth Jabejian

June 26, 2026
As Armenia cemented its shift to the West in June’s election, a new Kremlin-aligned opposition emerged, giving Moscow a way to build influence and sow division.
a:hover]:text-red” st1yle=”box-sizing:border-box;border-width:0px;border-style:solid;border-color:currentcolor;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:2rem”>By Agnieszka Filipiak
June 26, 2026

While Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan won almost 50% of the vote on June 7, and his Civil Contract party secured another parliamentary majority, a political movement built around Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, won 23% and became the largest opposition force in the country.

And that outcome may prove much more consequential than the raw numbers suggest.

That’s because it’s a familiar pattern in the South Caucasus. Wealthy businessmen with deep ties to Russia periodically reinvent themselves as political leaders during moments of crisis and transition.

Bidzina Ivanishvili in Georgia, and Ruben Vardanyan in Nagorno-Karabakh, are among the most prominent examples. Karapetyan is just the latest  to follow that path.

Karapetyan made his money after moving to Russia in the late 1990s. After taking over a logistics and supply company that counted Gazprom among its main clients, he built Tashir Group into one of Russia’s largest conglomerates, with interests spanning commercial real estate, construction, energy and retail.

Karapetyan entered politics a year before the election. Within six months, he had launched Strong Armenia, which went on to become the country’s largest opposition force. The speed of both his rise and Strong Armenia’s emergence is striking. So are the circumstances.

He spent much of the campaign in detention or under house arrest on charges of calling for the overthrow of the government. He rarely appeared in public, yet his image was everywhere — on billboards, on social media, and across Armenia’s political debate. Campaign rallies were led by his nephew Narek Karapetyan.

Strong Armenia’s showing does not threaten Pashinyan’s hold on power, but it has changed the dynamics.

Karapetyan is more than just a businessman entering politics, he is now a central figure in the political debate. And his rise is not just about personal popularity, it reflects deeper disagreements about the country’s future direction.

Pashinyan won re-election with a message of peace, stability, and economic development, and was able to show new roads, schools, kindergartens, and infrastructure projects as visible symbols of that promise.

Yet not all Armenians were convinced. And the shadow of Armenia’s military defeat to its neighbor Azerbaijan after a long and bloody war hangs over the country.

Many remain skeptical about the current peace process, while others are uneasy about the government’s foreign policy course and its push for closer ties with Europe. For some, the loss of Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023 and the expulsion of 100,000 Armenians is an open wound, while others are more concerned that Armenia is giving up too much in exchange for promises of stability.

Karapetyan did not create those doubts, but he gave them a political vehicle.

That’s significant because, in the past, political forces advocating closer ties with Russia have struggled to refresh their image. Their leaders remained the same, their messages largely unchanged. Karapetyan offered a new face.

And that is where Moscow enters the story.

Investigations and reports have described Russian efforts to cultivate political alternatives to Pashinyan, and Karapetyan’s  emergence fits neatly into that pattern.

He combines substantial financial resources, public visibility, ties to influential conservative and religious circles, and decades of experience operating in Russia’s political and economic system. His support for the Armenian Apostolic Church during its confrontation with Pashinyan strengthened those ties at a moment when the Church remained one of the country’s most trusted institutions.

And that combination matters because it means Karapetyan does not need to look like a traditional party leader to be politically useful. His value lies in the network around him: money, business interests, institutional allies, and a public profile large enough to unite voters who are uneasy with the country’s course but tired of the old opposition.

For Moscow, that makes him valuable even without an election victory. Influence does not always require winning power, sometimes it‘s about building a durable and effective political instrument.

Whether one views Karapetyan as a Kremlin project, or simply a politician whose interests happen to align with Moscow, is less important than the political reality facing Armenia. Nearly a quarter of voters backed Karapetyan, with his close ties to Russia and a more skeptical view of Armenia’s current European trajectory.

That should not necessarily be read as Armenians turning back to Moscow, or abandoning Brussels, because Armenian politics rarely fits such clean categories.

Even Pashinyan, with his fresh mandate, is not looking for a rupture with Russia, and many voters who question his course are not simply pro-Kremlin.

Moscow does, however, now have a stronger channel through which to influence Armenian politics, and Karapetyan has emerged as someone around whom the Kremlin can build its next strategy.

For Pashinyan, that creates a distinct challenge.

No government wants a powerful opposition movement closely associated with a foreign power, and the temptation to weaken it through investigations, court, or administrative pressure is obvious. Pashinyan himself signaled as much after the election, describing the opposition as a “three-headed party of war” and saying its leaders should face criminal liability and that the “criminal-oligarchic system” must be eradicated from Armenia.

How he responds may prove to be just as important as the election result itself.

Agnieszka Filipiak is  a Polish journalist and senior editor specializing in the South Caucasus, Russian influence, and democratic resilience. She is Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Women Polska, author of several publications on the region, including the College of Eastern Europe’s report ‘At the Crossroads of Asia and Europe: Poland’s Foreign Policy towards the South Caucasus,’ and creator of the Filipiak Insights newsletter.


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Modi Pledges Closer India-Armenia Defense Cooperation

Arsine Chaltikian
Eurasia Review

June 25 2026
 June 25, 2026  0 Comments

By PanARMENIAN

India and Armenia agreed to deepen bilateral cooperation, including in the defence sector, during a phone conversation on June 24.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on X that he and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan discussed expanding cooperation across a range of areas, including defense.

Modi also said he congratulated Pashinyan on the parliamentary election results.

“We reaffirmed our shared commitment to further strengthen our warm and multifaceted partnership in key areas, including trade, defence, technology and people-to-people ties. We look forward to working closely together to elevate India-Armenia relations to a new level,” Modi wrote.

Earlier, the Armenian government’s press service said Pashinyan and Modi discussed further steps to deepen bilateral ties across several areas of the Armenia-India agenda.

“The leaders stressed the importance of intensifying political dialogue, as well as expanding cooperation in the economy, high technology, education, culture, and other areas of mutual interest,” the statement said.

Armenia and India have signed defense procurement agreements worth about $1.5 billion, under which Armenia has received Indian-made artillery systems and air defence systems.

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Opinion: ‘ECHR ruling is indisputable historical fact’

Tatoyan Vazgen
JAM News

June 25 2026
  • JAMnews
  • Yerevan

“Any judicial decision, including a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, is an indisputable historical fact. This judgment reveals the true face of the war,” lawyer Ara Ghazaryan said, commenting on the verdict in the case of V.T. and Others v. Azerbaijan.

On 18 June, the European Court of Human Rights found Azerbaijan responsible for the torture and beheading of an Armenian serviceman during the April 2016 war. The court ordered Azerbaijan to pay the victim’s family a total of €104,210 in compensation.

The April War, also known as the Four-Day War, was the name given to clashes between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces that took place from 1 to 4 April 2016 along the line of contact in what was then the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

The fighting marked the first large-scale military confrontation since the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and the ceasefire agreement that Armenia and Azerbaijan signed in 1994.

International law specialist and lawyer Ara Ghazaryan represented the family of the slain officer before the court. He argues that the ECHR ruling “debunks the myth promoted by Azerbaijan that it was the victim of an Armenian attack.” According to Ghazaryan, the court made it clear that “Azerbaijani armed forces committed these crimes.”

Ghazaryan also believes the judgment calls into question Azerbaijan’s claims of self-defence and the legitimacy of what it calls the “Patriotic War” — the name Azerbaijan uses for the 2020 44-day war. In his view, “by beheading and mutilating soldiers, Baku chose the path of aggressive war.”

“Azerbaijan sought to legitimise acts of terrorism and wars of aggression. Judicial rulings like this are meant to challenge that legitimacy. In my opinion, that is the ruling’s greatest legal significance,” the lawyer said.

Asked about the likelihood of compliance with the judgment, Ghazaryan said Azerbaijan “holds the record” for failing to implement ECHR rulings.

At a press conference, Ghazaryan discussed the ECHR judgment in V.T. and Others v. Azerbaijan alongside four other lawyers who represented the applicants: Siranush Sahakyan, Araks Melkonyan, Haikui Harutyunyan and Hasmik Harutyunyan.

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Armenian officer “was tortured and then beheaded”

According to lawyer Araks Melkonyan, applicants have filed a total of 22 cases with the European Court of Human Rights concerning crimes committed during the April 2016 war. This is the first judgment the court has delivered in those cases.

The family initially filed the case concerning the torture and beheading of the Armenian officer as an individual application. In 2017, however, the Armenian government joined the proceedings as a third party.

“A.T. came under attack from a sabotage group while transporting ammunition. He suffered a severe leg wound and could not even walk on his own. Azerbaijani forces tortured him and then beheaded him,” Melkonyan said.

She argues that the ruling is highly significant not only because it confirms human rights violations, but also because it establishes that war crimes took place.

Melkonyan said the ECHR accepted as credible the evidence and arguments presented by the Armenian side. She added that the court also recognised links between several crimes committed during the war. Those included the entry of Azerbaijani troops into the village of Talish, attacks on civilians, killings and the mutilation of bodies.

She noted that the court relied on photographs taken by Azerbaijanis themselves as evidence in the case. It also considered forensic findings and statements issued by Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defence, including claims that Azerbaijani forces had “cleared Talish of Armenian forces.”

“The court established both the aggression and state endorsement”

According to lawyer Haikui Harutyunyan, the legal team proved that A.T.’s injuries did not result from combat but from the “deliberate mutilation of his body”. She added that they also presented evidence showing that the state encouraged such conduct.

“This was a matter of state policy that demonstrated intolerance towards a particular group, or an individual, on the basis of their ethnicity,” she said.

Harutyunyan argued that the ECHR established not only that the crime had taken place, but also how the Azerbaijani authorities treated the individual who carried it out.

“This is an exceptional judgment. It clearly establishes not only the fact of aggression, which the highest judicial authority has recognised. It also proves that the state officially protected the individual who directly carried out that policy.”

According to the lawyer, recognising these and other crimes is important because it helps reduce future risks and prevent similar violations from happening again.

“Azerbaijan understands there is no point in denying the crime”

Siranush Sahakyan, who represents Armenian prisoners of war before the European Court of Human Rights, says the ruling carries major legal and political significance.

In her view, Baku’s response amounts to “an acknowledgement of the crime”.

“They are not denying that the crime took place. They are expressing outrage at the court’s ruling because it recognised the existence of the Republic of Artsakh during that period. Any attempt to deny the violation is futile, and the Azerbaijani authorities understand that,” she said.

Following the ECHR judgment, Azerbaijani media reported that the country’s Foreign Ministry had summoned Peter Zih, head of the Council of Europe Office in Baku, and lodged what it described as a “strong protest” against a ruling it called “unfair, biased and contrary to international law”. The Azerbaijani authorities said they categorically rejected the judgment and would use all available means to protect what they described as their “legitimate interests”.

Baku also objected to the terminology used in the judgment. In particular, officials criticised references to the “NKR” and to the “line of contact between Azerbaijan and the NKR”. The Foreign Ministry argued that these terms contradicted Azerbaijan’s position as well as the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Officials also criticised the court’s use of terms such as “army”, “authorities”, “prosecutor general” and “ombudsman”, describing them as an attempt to “legitimise the former separatist regime”.

Asked about the likelihood that Azerbaijan would comply with the judgment, Sahakyan said that any refusal to do so would “open the door to new political discussions”. She argued that the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe should take steps to ensure the ruling is implemented.

“Lasting peace requires acknowledging violations”

On 8 August 2025, Armenia and Azerbaijan initialled a peace agreement. The document also provides for the reciprocal withdrawal of interstate legal cases.

Under Article XV of the agreement, within one month of its entry into force, the parties will:

  • withdraw, terminate or otherwise settle all interstate claims, complaints, protests, objections, proceedings and disputes arising from issues that existed between them;
  • refrain from initiating new claims, complaints, protests, objections or legal proceedings;
  • refrain from taking, encouraging or otherwise participating in hostile actions against one another.

Commenting on the agreement, lawyer Hasmik Harutyunyan said that “peace and justice do not exclude one another”.

She stressed that years after the April War, the 2020 44-day war revealed “the same Azerbaijani pattern”. According to Harutyunyan, the number of beheadings and cases of torture increased, affecting not only military personnel but also civilians.

During the 44-day war in 2020, around 30 cases of beheading involving Armenians were documented. The victims included soldiers as well as women and elderly people.

Harutyunyan argued that the recurrence of such crimes in 2020, 2022 and 2023 points to “a deliberate policy”. In her view, neither society nor governments can move forward by ignoring such events.

The lawyer believes that lasting peace requires:

  • acknowledging such grave violations;
  • recognising the victims’ rights were violated; and
  • using legal mechanisms to restore those rights and provide compensation.

The Armenian lawyers also stressed that, regardless of the withdrawal of interstate cases, individual applicants will still be able to file complaints against Azerbaijan. They added that no statute of limitations applies to the investigation of war crimes.

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Albania and Armenia advance as Kosovo, Malta stay perfect

Antranik Varosian
FIBA
June 25 2026

Albania and Armenia advance as Kosovo, Malta stay perfect

The Group Phase concluded after three days of action in Kosovo with the last four set.

PEJA (Kosovo) – Hosts Kosovo and 2024 runners-up Malta remained unbeaten through the Group Phase, while Albania and Armenia secured the remaining Semi-Finals spots at the FIBA Women’s European Championship for Small Countries 2026.

Malta finished top of Group A after opening the tournament with a 67-59 victory over Albania before recording a dominant 97-53 win against Georgia to maintain their perfect record heading into the Semi-Finals.

Amber Constance Melgoza had two huge performances for Malta with 38 points and 20 rebounds in their opening win, before following it with 35 points to help her side to 2-0.

Meanwhile, Kosovo also completed an unbeaten Group Phase campaign in front of the home crowd in Peja with victories over Armenia, 72-44, and an 85-39 success over Andorra to finish first in Group B.

Albania joined Malta in the Semi-Finals following a 98-78 victory against Georgia in the decisive Group A clash. Although Georgia remained competitive through much of the contest, Albania gradually pulled away in the fourth quarter with several key baskets from beyond the arc.

Ornela Lalaj starred with a triple-double of 16 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists as Albania secured second place in the group.

Armenia earned the last remaining Semi-Finals spot after defeating Andorra 63-54 in a tightly contested Group B showdown. The game remained close throughout with both sides trading momentum before Armenia eventually pulled away late in the fourth quarter.

Lia Krumian led the victors with 25 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals in the crucial victory as Armenia secured second place in Group B.

Georgia and Andorra will now move into the Classification Games after narrowly missing out on the Semi-Finals.

Semi-Finals: Malta vs Armenia Kosovo vs Albania

FIBA

https://www.fiba.basketball/en/news/albania-and-armenia-advance-as-kosovo-malta-stay-perfect-2026-scw

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EU’s von der Leyen to go to Armenia and Azerbaijan next week

Antonian Lara
Reuters

June 26,2026
By Reuters

June 26, 20261:26 PM GMT+3Updated 

BRUSSELS, June 26 (Reuters) – European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will go ‌to Armenia next week, said the EU on Friday, in a move aimed at highlighting Brussels’ ⁠support for Armenia as it faces political pressure from Russia.
The EU said von der Leyen would also go to Azerbaijan.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who ‌is ⁠working towards the goal of European Union membership, won re-election this month despite what international ⁠monitors said was blatant interference and pressure from Russia.
In turn, ⁠Moscow accused Western countries of interfering in ⁠the vote in favour of Pashinyan.

Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Alison Williams

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Israel on path to recognize Armenian genocide

Baghdasarian Karlen
Israel Hayom

June 25 2026

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar will bring a historic and particularly sensitive resolution to the government for official recognition of the Armenian genocide, including an explicit condemnation of Turkish efforts to deny and obscure it. 

 by  Bini Ashkenazi
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar is expected to bring a highly explosive resolution to the next cabinet meeting under which the State of Israel would officially recognize the genocide committed against the Armenian people in the final years of the Ottoman Empire. The resolution states that, based on a moral and historical obligation, any attempt to deny, minimize or distort the historical truth regarding these events must be condemned. The move comes amid tense days with Turkey, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan escalates his rhetoric and even threatens Israel. Just last night, US President Donald Trump, who is expected to meet Erdogan soon, said the Turkish president had been a candidate to join the war on Iran’s side, but that he had “stopped him.”

The explanatory notes to the proposal detail the grim sequence of events that began in April 1915, with the arrest and killing of hundreds of Armenian intellectuals and leaders in Constantinople. After eliminating the leadership, the Ottoman authorities turned to the systematic destruction of the population. Men were conscripted into forced labor and murdered, while women, children and the elderly were expelled from their homes and sent on long death marches toward the Syrian desert. During these marches, the deportees were subjected to mass murder, rape, deliberate starvation and thirst, leading to the deaths of some 1.5 million people and the destruction of a cultural and historical heritage thousands of years old across Anatolia.

Armenian genocide (archive). Photo: Wikipedia

Sa’ar’s proposal directly attacks Turkey’s policy, stating that despite extensive and unequivocal historical documentation, the Armenian genocide remains the subject of an institutionalized campaign of denial and minimization to this day, including the manipulative rewriting of history books, primarily by the government in Ankara.

For years, various bills and proposals to recognize the Armenian genocide were blocked due to concerns over damaging relations with Turkey. In August 2025, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated for the first time that he recognized the Armenian genocide in an interview with Patrick Bet-David’s American podcast. The interviewer asked Netanyahu: “If there’s any country I would expect to be on the list that recognizes the Armenian genocide, it’s Israel. Why haven’t you recognized it?” Netanyahu replied: “We did. The Knesset passed a resolution on it.” He then added: “I did it.”

To date, more than 30 countries have recognized the Armenian genocide in various ways, whether through legislation, parliamentary declarations or official statements. They include Austria, Uruguay, Italy, Argentina, the US, Bolivia, Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Venezuela, the Vatican, Greece, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Syria, Slovakia, Poland, Portugal, Paraguay, Chile, the Czech Republic, France, Canada and Cyprus.

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