A tense situation arose between the representatives of the ruling and opposition factions at the meeting of the Yerevan Council of Elders, which escalated into mutual insults and fights.

The incident started with a debate between the chairperson of the session, the deputy mayor of the CP, Armen Pambukhchyan, and the member of the “Mother Armenia” faction, Gevorg Stepanyan. Pambukhchyan stated that the representatives of the opposition faction should first deal with the problems of their political team, and then only criticize others.

After Stepanyan’s reaction, harsh expressions were exchanged between the parties, after which a decision was made to remove the latter from the meeting hall.

However, the situation has worsened since then. According to those present, Mikael Khachatryan, a member of the CP faction, approached Grigor Iskandaryan, a member of the “Mother Armenia” faction, after which a clash took place between them, which turned into a fight.

Female councilors were also involved in the incident. A dispute arose between Anna Avetisyan and Ani Khachatryan, a member of the “Mother Armenia” faction, which turned into a physical confrontation.

Due to the situation, the session was interrupted and a 30-minute break was announced.

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At the session of June 23, the Yerevan Council of Elders accepted the issue of renaming Amiryan Street after King Pope, which was included in the list of non-reportables.

At the beginning of the session, a group of members of the Council of Elders suggested that the issue be reported and discussed. The mayor of Yerevan, Tigran Avinyan, put the proposal to make the issue reportable, as a result of which it was rejected.

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Early this morning, the law enforcement officers conducted a search in the apartment of Ishkhan Saghatelyan, the representative of the General Assembly of the ARF.

According to Saghatelyan, the reason for the search is the proceedings regarding non-fulfillment of the demands of the State Security Agency.

He informed that during the search, jewelry and some money in the apartment were confiscated.

“This is another manifestation of the persecutions carried out against me in the last seven years and another illegal act,” Saghatelyan said.

According to his claim, DAHK was involved in a process with a political context and made illegal claims against him.

According to Saghatelyan, in order to protect his rights, he applied to the Administrative Court, after which, according to his assessment, the prosecutor’s office initiated criminal proceedings, which were transferred to the Investigative Committee.

“Then a search was carried out. At the moment, I do not have any legal status,” he stated.

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As part of the activities carried out by the Armenian American Committee, Brad Sherman, the vice-chairman of the Congressional Armenian Affairs Group, Congressmen Tom McClintock, Judy Chu and Laura Friedman will hold a press conference in the US Congress on June 23, in connection with the 1000th day of the illegal hostage-taking of Artsakh military-political leadership, prisoners of war and civilian hostages by Azerbaijan. Aram Hambaryan will participate in the press conference on behalf of the Armenian Committee of America.

It is noteworthy that the press conference takes place at a time when the Foreign Relations Committee of the House of Representatives is preparing to discuss Brad Sherman’s legislative amendment proposal this week, which would require Azerbaijan to immediately and unconditionally release all Armenian prisoners of war and hostages.

During the press conference, other pro-Armenian legislative proposals submitted within the framework of the National Defense Authorization Act and the National Security and Foreign Operations Appropriations Act for the fiscal year 2027 will be discussed.

The title of the press conference is “1000 days. Release the Armenian hostages now.” The press conference will begin on June 23, at 17:00 Washington time.

The press conference can be followed online through the social network addresses of the Armenian American Committee.

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The first symbolic batch of Armenian apricots has arrived in the European Union, EU Enlargement Commissioner Martha Kos wrote on her X page after the meeting with RA Minister of ICT, Davit Khudatyan.

“Thanks to Davit Khudatyan, RA Minister of Education and Culture, for the gift and very good discussion. We met ahead of tomorrow’s launch of the Connectivity Agenda, where we will advance our work to better connect Armenia with its neighbors and Europe. This will help Armenian producers to diversify their exports and bring more of their high-quality products to new markets,” said Kos.

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A serviceman was injured during training exercises in the training military unit of Pambak. Spokesman of the Ministry of Defense Aram Torosyan told Panorama.am that the serviceman underwent an operation.

“The soldier underwent an operation, is under the supervision of doctors, his life is not in danger.

We cannot disclose health and other personal data of the serviceman, because the relevant laws (on personal data and medical secrecy) do not allow it,” said Torosyan.

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Due to the accident that occurred on July 23, the intercity traffic schedule of the “South Caucasian Railway” company was violated, as a result of which the Yerevan-Gyumri electric train number 686 (14:25) was canceled. We ask for the forgiveness of the citizens.

Today, around noon, a truck hit a freight train passing by Dalarik station, causing considerable damage to the company. The rolling stock and power poles were damaged.

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In the picture, it is from the materials of the 4th grade Azerbaijani reading textbook, where the girl hits the Armenian soldier with an ax.

The “Geghard” scientific-analytical foundation strongly condemns the anti-Armenian and anti-Armenian propaganda of Azerbaijani statesmen, MPs and Azerbaijani “experts”, packed with expressions of racism, and also calls to boycott and ignore the manifestations of Azerbaijani propaganda on all possible platforms.

At the state level, Baku is again trying to mislead the international audience that there is hate speech and anti-Azerbaijani propaganda in the Armenian educational system.

The next event was held in Baku. The presentation of the report “Hate speech and falsification of historical facts in Armenian secondary schools” was presented in Azerbaijani and English. The head of the project is the vice-president of the Center for Strategic Communications, Ali Abdullaev, who stated that the “study” they did was based on the materials found in educational institutions of Karabakh. Abdullaev, who exposes Armenian “historical falsifications”, was “surprised” that “Nakhijevan is represented on Armenian maps as a historical Armenian territory”, and thus during the analysis of more than 1000 materials, about 3000 cases of falsification were allegedly “discovered”.

Famous forger A. Abdullaev makes baseless accusations against Armenians and Armenia, “forgetting” that, since the Soviet years, Baku has been engaged in the policy of systematic destruction of Armenian spiritual, cultural and historical traces in Nakhichevan. The clear evidence of this is the destruction of the Jugha Armenian cemetery, khachkars and hundreds of other cases that have been reported.

According to Abdulaev, “the studied textbooks and ideological literature were published in Yerevan by state bodies”, allegedly containing “hateful speech directed not only against Azerbaijanis, but also against the minorities living in Azerbaijan”.

Jabi Bahramov, head of the “History of Western Azerbaijan” department of the Institute of History and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan, in his turn stated that “the Armenian side falsified the history of Azerbaijan both during the Soviet period and after the collapse of the USSR.”

The fact that the head of the “History of Western Azerbaijan” department talks about the falsification of history is funny, when “Western Azerbaijan” itself is a fake and a politicized fiction.

Deputy of the Parliament of Azerbaijan Rizvan Nabiev also made accusations against Armenia. “In Armenia, the administrative resources of the state were used at different stages and in different ways to strengthen the hatred towards Azerbaijan.” According to one of the MP’s untrue claims, people in Armenia are drawn into “ideological wars” from childhood.

Nabiyev clearly characterizes what is happening not in Armenia, but in Azerbaijan.

In Azerbaijan, hatred towards ethnic Armenians is instilled from kindergarten and school. There are many videos on the Internet of events with anti-Armenian content in Azerbaijani schools and kindergartens. Azerbaijani journalist Javid Ahmedov also published similar footage.

“Look at this madness in the Azerbaijani school. This is how young people are brainwashed. The school has become a place of propaganda, not of education. In a role play, the students present how they catch an Armenian and force him to say: “Karabakh is Azerbaijan.” What a shame…” he said.

There are materials with anti-Armenian content in the textbooks of almost all subjects of Azerbaijani schools. Information about Armenia and Armenians is distorted. The “Geghard” scientific-analytical foundation had discussed in detail the anti-Armenian propaganda in the Azerbaijani textbooks earlier. These evidences were documented and submitted by Armenia to the International Court of Justice of the United Nations within the framework of the lawsuit against Azerbaijan.

“For decades, the Azerbaijani government has cultivated racist hatred towards ethnic Armenians. Azerbaijani children are taught to hate and kill Armenians in school textbooks. The state media spreads hate speech. State officials are calling for the complete elimination of Armenians,” said Yeghishe Kirakosyan, RA representative for international legal affairs, on April 16, 2024, during the hearings of the lawsuits “Armenia vs. Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan vs. Armenia” at the International Court of Justice of the United Nations. Yerevan filed a lawsuit against Baku in September 2021 for violating the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

Such events have a political goal to create a certain distorted image of Armenia in the eyes of the international community.

What happened proves once again that Baku continues its anti-Armenian activities in various directions, and the accusations of “hate speech” and “falsification of history” in Armenian schools are also a part of anti-Armenian propaganda, in contrast to the arguments presented by Armenia.

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As far as I understand, the process of “handing over” Tigran Avinyan has been gently started. A few days ago, I referred to a statement made by Avinyan after the election. You can read it at the link above attached to this post.

The result of the parliamentary election brought Tigran Avinyan out of the dangerous status of the so-called “monopoly owner of illegitimacy” within the ruling system. If after 2023, Tigran Avinyan had a vestige of electoral legitimacy, then after the 2026 election, essentially, the entire ruling force lost its electoral legitimacy.

It significantly eased Tigran Avinyan’s situation in the leadership, and that’s why he was essentially not interested in whether PAP will enter the parliament or not.

Against this background, another hot scandal at the session of the Yerevan City Council of Elders, which unfolded largely at the instigation of the ruling power and its coalition partners, is notable. And the whole point is that in any arrangement, the “barrel” of public indignation inevitably rolls in the direction of Avinyan, for completely understandable and objective reasons.

The whole point is that the process of redistributing the pie is starting within the government. Here, an extra “eating mouth” is naturally not desirable. But this is not even the main problem within the government. Everyone can imagine at what cost Nikol Pashinyan declared an absolute victory, the expressions on his face standing in the background at midnight on June 7 are a witness. And this means that the risk of “sacrifices” by non-governmental organizations will be extremely high.

In that sense, it is obvious that Tigran Avinyan is considered a “realization zone” at a high level.

Political analyst Hakob Badalyan

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One of the most beautiful streets in the heart of Sofia, in the Peyo Yavorov district, will be officially named “Armenia Alley” from now on.

 The RA Embassy in Bulgaria informs that the decision was adopted by the Sofia City Council unanimously with 33 votes in favor, 0 against and 0 abstentions.

“This unanimous support is an important manifestation of friendship and mutual respect, which reflects the centuries-old ties and strong friendship between the Armenian and Bulgarian peoples. We express our sincere gratitude to the Sofia City Council and the Sredets District Administration for their dedication and consistent efforts that have made this initiative a lasting symbol of Armenian-Bulgarian historical friendship, as well as an expression of appreciation for the Armenian presence in Bulgaria and the contribution of the Armenian community.

Soon we will have an opportunity to celebrate this important event together. We will inform you further about the official opening,” the embassy informs.

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