Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent on Thursday a congratulatory message to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in connection with his victory in the June 7 Armenian parliamentary elections.
“I am fully confident that your strategic vision of establishing lasting peace and stability in the region and ensuring the necessary cooperation in that direction will be successfully completed,” read the message cited by Pashinian’s office.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry praised the elections on Monday. It expressed hope that Armenia’s leadership will take “bolder steps towards peace and normalization in the region” after securing reelection.
Pashinian phoned Erdogan four days before the vote. According to a Turkish readout of the call, the two leaders discussed efforts to normalize Turkish-Armenian relations and “regional matters.”
Turkey continues to make the opening of its border with Armenia conditional on an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal acceptable to Azerbaijan. That means accepting Baku’s demands for a change of Armenia’s constitution and the opening of a land corridor that would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave and Turkey.
Throughout the election campaign, Armenian opposition groups said that Pashinian will make such concessions if he and his Civil Contract party win another term in office. They rejected as fraudulent the official vote results that gave victory to the ruling party.
Contrary to reports in the Turkish press, Ankara refrained from implementing ahead of the elections a 2022 agreement to open the border for Armenian and Turkish diplomatic passport holders as well as citizens of third countries. It took instead other, largely symbolic steps. Those include the lifting of a longtime Turkish ban on imports from Armenia and permission of Turkish-Armenian cargo shipments through Georgia’s rail link with Turkey. Pashinian touted these moves during his election campaign.
—
RFE/RL – Karapetian’s Bloc Also Rejects Official Election Results
Billionaire Samvel Karapetian’s Strong Armenia alliance, the runner-up in Sunday’s parliamentary elections, demanded on Thursday the scrapping of their official results that gave victory to the ruling Civil Contract party.
Karapetian’s nephew and right-hand man Narek, who topped the list of the bloc’s candidates, joined other opposition leaders in alleging widespread electoral fraud.
According to the preliminary results released by the Central Election Commission (CEC), Civil Contract won the elections with 49.8 percent of the vote. Strong Armenia came in a distant second with 23.3 percent, followed by former President Robert Kocharian’s Hayastan alliance (almost 10 percent) and businessman Gagik Tsarukian’s Prosperous Armenia Party (just under 4 percent).
The three opposition groups cried foul after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian claimed a “historic victory” early on Monday when less than one-fifth of the ballots cast were counted by election officials. Pashinian and his political allies deny that his statement predetermined the vote results.
Narek Karapetian said that Strong Armenia will formally petition the CEC on Friday to “annul the election results and reconsider the ruling party’s votes.” He said that the bloc will appeal to the Constitutional Court if the CEC rejects the demand.
Hayastan announced on Tuesday plans to challenge the CEC figures in the court. It claimed that they were seriously affected by “widespread government pressure, arrests of oppositionists, unprecedented use of administrative resources, and electoral violations.”
Pashinian again rejected the vote-rigging claims on Thursday. He alleged that the three opposition forces themselves bought all of their votes.
“Civil Contract got 100 percent organic votes, while the other forces received 100 percent bribed votes,” he told reporters. “Nobody voted for them without money.”
According to the CEC tally, Strong Armenia, Hayastan and the BHK garnered a total of about 544,000 votes, compared with the ruling party’s almost 728,000 votes.
Hundreds of their members and supporters were arrested during the election campaign and even on election day on vote-buying charges rejected by the opposition trio. Its leaders say that the crackdown also influenced the vote results.
Strong Armenia and Hayastan are planning to legally challenge the results as they are urged by some of their supporters not to take up their seats in the new Armenian parliament and thus undermine its legitimacy. Their leaders are clearly leaning against that option. Some of them have argued that Pashinian’s party fell short of a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly necessary for enacting a new constitution demanded by Azerbaijan.
Kocharian’s and Karapetian’s blocs also hope that the BHK will clear the 4 percent legal threshold for entering the parliament. In that case, Civil Contract will also lack a 60 percent majority needed for enacting some key laws and installing senior law-enforcement officials and judges handpicked by Pashinian.
According to the CEC, the BHK got 3.996 percent of the vote. The opposition party led by businessman Gagik Tsarukian has suggested that the electoral body headed by a longtime collaborator of Pashinian resorted to “trickery” to steal its parliament seats.
The BHK and several other opposition contenders initiated on Tuesday vote recounts in many precincts across the country. The CEC is due to release the final election results on Sunday.
—
IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva congratulates Pashinyan on election victory
Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva has congratulated Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on his electoral victory.
“Dear Prime Minister Pashinyan, I would like to warmly congratulate you on your victory in the parliamentary elections in Armenia.
This renewed mandate reflects the trust of the people of Armenia in your leadership. In a period of global uncertainty and regional challenges, Armenia’s continued commitment to dialogue, stability, and peaceful relations is of particular importance both for Armenia and for the wider region.
I would like to assure you of the International Monetary Fund’s continued commitment to close and long-term cooperation with the Armenian authorities. Your leadership provides a valuable opportunity to advance policy reforms that will enhance resilience, strengthen macroeconomic stability, promote inclusive and sustainable growth, and improve the well-being of the Armenian people.
We look forward to continuing our close partnership with your government,” the Prime Minister’s Office quoted the IMF chief as saying in a letter.
Published by Armenpress, original at
—
Bart De Wever congratulates Nikol Pashinyan on election victory
Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Belgium Bart De Wever has sent a congratulatory message to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan following the victory of the Civil Contract Party in the parliamentary elections.
According to a statement released by the Office of the Prime Minister of Armenia, the message reads:
“Dear Prime Minister,
On behalf of the Government of Belgium, I would like to warmly congratulate you on your victory in the parliamentary elections of June 7 and on the renewed confidence placed in you by the Armenian people.
These elections once again demonstrated the Armenian people’s commitment to democratic values and institutions. I would also like to commend the citizens of Armenia for their broad participation in democratic processes and for their belief in the future of their country.
Their choice reaffirms Armenia’s democratic path at a time when democracy, stability and respect for the rule of law are more important than ever.
I was particularly pleased to meet with you in May on the sidelines of the European Political Community Summit. Our discussion provided an excellent opportunity to reaffirm the friendship between Belgium and Armenia and our shared commitment to peace, stability and prosperity.
I also fondly recall our joint opening of the Belgian Embassy in Yerevan. This was an important milestone reflecting the deepening of our bilateral relations and Belgium’s long-term commitment to Armenia.
I look forward to continuing our cooperation in the years ahead, particularly in support of lasting peace and stability in the South Caucasus.
Belgium remains committed to strengthening its partnership with Armenia and deepening our cooperation across various fields, including political dialogue, economic cooperation, innovation, education and people-to-people exchanges.”
According to the preliminary results of Armenia’s June 7 parliamentary elections, three political forces are set to enter parliament: the Civil Contract Party, the Strong Armenia Alliance and the Armenia Alliance.
Preliminary data show that the Civil Contract Party received 727,827 votes, or 49.825 percent. With this result, the party is expected to secure a parliamentary majority and form the government.
The Strong Armenia Alliance received 340,088 votes, or 23.281 percent, while the Armenia Alliance won 145,113 votes, or 9.934 percent.
The Prosperous Armenia Party came very close to the electoral threshold of 4 percent. According to the preliminary results, the party received 3.996 percent of the vote, falling short of entering parliament by 0.004 percentage points.
Prosperous Armenia earlier announced that it would apply to the Central Electoral Commission for recounts at a number of polling stations.
Vote recounts are currently under way, while the final election results are scheduled to be announced on June 14.
Published by Armenpress, original at
—
U.S. lawmakers advance bipartisan measure demanding Azerbaijan release all Arm
U.S. lawmakers have introduced a bipartisan House Foreign Affairs Committee action advancing an amendment to the House Foreign Service Act (H.R. 9086) that calls on Azerbaijan to immediately and unconditionally release all Armenian prisoners of war and political prisoners, the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) reported.
The amendment, led by Congressional Armenian Caucus Vice-Chair Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), cleared the committee markup with the support of House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast (R-FL) and is now expected to proceed to a full committee roll call vote.
The amendment, as adopted, declares it is the sense of Congress that Azerbaijan should immediately and unconditionally release all Armenian prisoners of war and political prisoners. Rep. Sherman urged the committee to act, citing documented abuses in Azerbaijani captivity and verified battlefield executions of Armenian POWs — including several captured on video and reviewed by Human Rights Watch. “Given documented executions of Armenian POWs by Azerbaijani forces, including several executions which were horrifically recorded and distributed on social media, as documented by Human Rights Watch, it is vital that the United States clearly advocate for the immediate and unconditional release of all Armenian POWs,” Sherman told the committee.
Rep. Sherman also framed the release of hostages as directly aligned with President Trump’s South Caucasus peace efforts. “As President Trump continues his efforts to secure lasting peace in the South Caucasus, securing the release of Armenian POWs and political prisoners would be a significant step toward this achievement,” he said.
The amendment originally directed the United States to employ all diplomatic, economic, and legal tools — including full enforcement of Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act — to secure the release of Armenian hostages. Chairman Mast expressed support for the prisoner release language but opposed the Section 907 enforcement provision, prompting Sherman to modify the amendment by unanimous consent to strike that paragraph and secure Mast’s backing. “I would love to work with you further on this amendment and possibly dividing it up and working on this in additional ways,” Mast told Sherman during the markup. Sherman agreed to the modification, and Mast thereafter offered his support. “Representative Sherman, I offer my support for this amendment,” Mast stated. “Thank you for working with me so immediately to adjust the text of the amendment.”
The amendment will next come before the full House Foreign Affairs Committee for a recorded roll call vote, after which, if adopted, the measure will advance to the full House. Sherman cited growing international momentum behind the measure, including a European Parliament resolution adopted in April condemning Azerbaijan’s detention of Armenian prisoners of war. “This amendment reflects growing international consensus on releasing Armenian POWs,” Rep. Sherman said.
Azerbaijan continues to unlawfully hold 19 Armenian POWs, including former leaders of Karabakh. They have been wrongfully convicted on war-crimes charges that they deny, in proceedings widely viewed as sham trials and an act of political persecution.
Published by Armenpress, original at
—
Russian ambassador returns to Armenia after consultations in Moscow
Russia’s Ambassador to Armenia, Sergey Kopyrkin, has returned to his post following a brief recall to Moscow for consultations, Russian state media reported, citing the Foreign Ministry.
“Following consultations, Ambassador Kopyrkin has returned to Yerevan and resumed his duties. He will host a reception on the occasion of Russia Day,” TASS cited the ministry as saying.
Russia recalled Kopyrkin to Moscow on May 30 for consultations over Armenia’s moves toward EU integration, which Moscow says could undermine cooperation within the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
Armenia’s leadership has repeatedly rejected Moscow’s concerns regarding its ties with the EU, saying that closer relations with the bloc do not, for now, contradict the country’s EAEU membership.
Published by Armenpress, original at
—
Pashinyan stresses reform continuity and priority-oriented action plan
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan chaired on Thursday the first Cabinet meeting after the June 7 elections and vowed that his administration will continue reforms both in the current term and after forming the next government.
Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party won a majority of seats in the next parliament in the June 7 polls.
Speaking at the Cabinet meeting, Pashinyan said that his administration’s objective is to continue the mission of building a new-quality state and ensuring the country’s progress.
“The state is a means to ensure the security, well-being, and freedom of the person and the citizen, and we must act according to that logic. We will now begin developing the [next] draft Government program, which, of course, must be approved by the National Assembly after the formation of the new Government,” Pashinyan said.
“I believe that the main logic will clearly be the continuity of our actions and tasks, and for that reason, at this stage it is important to fully analyze the previous period and understand what needs to be intensified, what we need to abandon, and where our results do not seem sufficient to us and require greater effort,” the Prime Minister emphasized.
He also added that he had proposed a new idea for the Government to include a clear list of priorities in its upcoming program.
“It is important that we have priorities and priorities of priorities. As, for example, in the previous Government program it was clearly stated that the top priority of all priorities is the peace agenda, and we remained highly focused on that topic and achieved results. Now we must have priorities and priorities of priorities so that in our daily work we can remain focused on a very narrow set of issues,” Prime Minister Pashinyan said.
Published by Armenpress, original at
—
Pashinyan expresses hope for swift opening of Armenia–Türkiye railway
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has expressed hope for the swift opening of the Armenia–Türkiye railway amid ongoing efforts to diversify export destinations.
“During this period, we also gained new transport opportunities,” he said at a Cabinet meeting. “Both lines of the Akhalkalaki–Kars railway are operating. I also discussed this issue with the Prime Minister of Georgia, and he assured me that no problems will arise in either direction. I also spoke with the President of Türkiye on this matter, and he also confirmed that these routes are open. We hope that the Armenia–Türkiye railway will be opened as soon as possible. Not to mention that, within the framework of the TRIPP project, the opportunities will significantly increase,” the Prime Minister said.
Amid restrictions imposed by Russia on the import of Armenian goods, Pashinyan also noted that the Armenian government has consistently worked toward market diversification, which is now yielding results.
“We now need to promote the creation of logistics centers so that, for example, tomato producers can find a formula to act as a unified exporter, because in many cases there is interest in the quality of the product and in purchasing it, but when it comes to volumes, it turns out that we can only produce part of the required quantities. This can be compensated through consolidated supply. There are mega-chains that are interested, but small volumes are a problem for them,” Pashinyan said.
Pashinyan said that his Dutch counterpart sent him a personal letter stating that they are paying special attention to the issue and will support Armenian businesses to avoid difficulties.
“This concerns the rose market. I remember that last October, during various visits, we kept thinking about how to consolidate our rose industry so that we could gain access to Dutch markets. And, as [things moved faster than expected], now this is a great opportunity,” he emphasized.
Published by Armenpress, original at
—
Four questions (and expert answers) about Armenia’s elections and what to exp
In the end, Armenians went with the heart. Early on Monday morning, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan declared victory in his country’s elections while wearing a hat and shirt depicting two hands forming a heart, his and his party’s unofficial symbol.
Throughout the campaign, Pashinyan reaffirmed his support for continuing peace negotiations with Azerbaijan and normalization with Turkey, as well as his goal of further strengthening ties with the United States and the European Union. Not feeling the love, however, is Russian President Vladimir Putin, as the results are widely seen as a rebuke to the Kremlin for its attempts to intensify its influence over the South Caucasus region. Below, Atlantic Council experts answer four pressing questions about Armenia’s election and what to expect next in the region and beyond.
1. What kind of political mandate does Pashinyan have?
Pashinyan has a clear mandate to govern, but not a decisive one. His Civil Contract party took just under 50 percent of the vote, more than double its nearest rival, and it is assured a governing majority in the National Assembly. Running against a fragmented opposition with no credible alternative to his Western pivot, this is an endorsement of his course: distancing Armenia from Russia, deepening ties with Europe, and pursuing peace with Azerbaijan and normalization with Turkey.
The biggest qualifier on his victory is the threshold he missed. The peace process has, thus far, assumed Armenia’s constitution must change, removing preamble language that Azerbaijan reads as a territorial claim on Nagorno-Karabakh. That requires a national referendum, but the National Assembly must first vote by a two-thirds majority simply to put the question to voters, and Pashinyan has fallen well short of that two-thirds majority. He cannot, by these means, start the process of changing the constitution, let alone finish it. And a referendum put to Armenians on this question would likely fail.
Peace, on the terms currently on the table, runs into an obstacle the election did not remove. None of this is an argument against the peace process, and the obstacle is not insurmountable. But it is a reminder that the path to peace can be difficult, and difficulties should not halt the process in its tracks. Pashinyan, and all others party to the peace, will need to keep working, proactively, to find a way forward, constitutional change or not.
—Laura Linderman is a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center and is the director of programs for the Central Asia Caucasus Institute.
2. What role did the Kremlin play in the election?
Unnerved by Armenia’s play for peace with Azerbaijan and its foreign policy pivot to the West, Russia has not-so-secretly been trying to undermine the Pashinyan government and his reelection bid. After Russia failed to back its nominal ally Armenia in its 2020 and 2023 conflicts with Azerbaijan, Pashinyan froze his country’s membership in the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). Since then, Moscow has sought to undermine Pashinyan, spreading false narratives online, threatening to hold up gas supplies, blocking Armenian agricultural exports, and reportedly deploying agents to distribute bribes to voters.
Russia wants Armenia to be weak and in conflict with its neighbors to maximize Moscow’s leverage over Yerevan and advance Russia’s own interests in the South Caucasus. Pashinyan has dared to break that paradigm—putting Armenia first—an exercise in sovereignty to which Moscow has not yet grown accustomed.
—Andrew D’Anieri is associate director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center.
Ahead of the June 7 Armenian parliamentary elections, Russia conducted one of the most intensive election interference campaigns in the region in recent years, deploying a wide range of tactics to shape the electoral outcome.
At the core of the interference were large-scale coordinated disinformation campaigns. Between April 2025 and April 2026, Armenia was targeted by Russian threat actor Storm-1516, linked to Russian military intelligence, more frequently than any other country in the world. Operation Matrioshka produced more fake videos targeting Armenia ahead of the election than it did ahead of Moldova’s 2025 elections, which had been one of the most heavily targeted elections previously by Kremlin. Russia-originated fabricated stories, including smear campaigns against Pashinyan and his government, were amplified and disseminated through multiple fake websites, Telegram channels, and social media accounts.
Beyond disinformation campaigns, Russia applied pressure ahead of elections across multiple fronts. According to leaked Russian documents, the Kremlin provided financial backing for pro-Russian opposition parties. Kremlin-affiliated organizationsoffered to buy flight tickets for Armenians living in Russia to travel to Armenia to vote. Pro-Kremlin actors also tried to instrumentalize the Armenian Apostolic Church to mobilize the Armenian public against the government. In an attempt to increase diplomatic pressure, Moscow also recalled its ambassador to Armenia for “consultations.” One day earlier, the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union called on Armenia to hold a referendum on joining the European Union or remaining in the Eurasian Economic Union. Russia also restricted imports of Armenian products to put economic pressure on voters.
None of it worked to sway the elections. The ruling Civil Contract party won nearly half of the vote and secured a majority in parliament, which was not the outcome Moscow preferred.
That said, calling this an absolute Russian defeat would be too simplistic an approach. The Russia-backed Strong Armenia Alliance received over 23 percent of the votes, which still gives Moscow a strong foothold in Armenian politics. In a matter of a few months, a recently formed party founded by Kremlin-backed candidate Samvel Karapetyan managed to outpace long-established opposition leaders and parties. Russia now relies on a fresh political power in Armenia, around which will seek to build a long-term strategy. The Kremlin plays a longer game than just one election cycle.
—Givi Gigitashvili is a resident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab.
3. What does this mean for Armenia’s relations with Azerbaijan?
The victory of Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party in Armenia’s parliamentary election marks a profound shift in the strategic orientation of the Armenian electorate.
For centuries, Armenians looked to Russia as a protector against threats from Turkic peoples—more recently, fears of Azerbaijan and Turkey. Pashinyan ran explicitly on reducing that dependence on Russia, committing instead to deeper partnerships with the European Union, the United States, normalized relations with Turkey, and peace with Azerbaijan.
The Kremlin worked actively to undermine him. Russia launched a disinformation campaign, spreading false claims about Pashinyan’s health and intentions. In the campaign’s final days, Moscow even banned imports of some Armenian agricultural products, citing sudden health safety concerns. None of it worked.
Pashinyan won 49.9 percent of the vote, translating into 61 of 105 parliamentary seats—a majority, though below Civil Contract’s previous 71 seats. The result far outpaced pre-election polling, including an International Republican Institute survey that projected only 32 percent support.
The outcome reflects a clear Armenian desire for lasting peace with Azerbaijan. However, Pashinyan’s 58 percent parliamentary majority falls short of the two-thirds supermajority required to amend Armenia’s constitution to eliminate potential ambiguity regarding Armenia’s renunciation of claims on Azerbaijani territory. Azerbaijan has demanded such an amendment as a precondition for finalizing the two countries’ peace treaty. The text of that treaty was agreed to in March 2025 and initialed by both foreign ministers in August in President Donald Trump’s presence at the White House.
A constitutional amendment would also require approval in a national referendum, another potentially serious political challenge.
Azerbaijan’s leadership is nonetheless relieved. With Armenian voters having endorsed the peace process, Baku may even reconsider its constitutional precondition. And even without a formal treaty, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has stated repeatedly in recent months that Armenia and Azerbaijan are already living in peace.
—Matthew Bryza is a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Turkey Program, managing director for Straife, and a former US ambassador to Azerbaijan. He was the US mediator of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between 2006 and 2009, and he covered the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict on the National Security Council staff at the White House between 2001 and 2005.
4. What does this mean for Armenia’s relations with the United States?
Pashinyan’s success is both political and geopolitical, and it includes a notable warming of relations with Washington that began late in the Biden administration and quickened when Trump returned to the Oval Office.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio underscored this in congratulating Pashinyan’s election win, noting that “the United States stands with Prime Minister Pashinyan and Armenia in the pursuit of peace, and we are committed to advancing the goals of the historic Washington Peace Summit, including implementation of the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP).”
Pashinyan’s success consists of freeing Armenia from its over-thirty-year confrontation with Azerbaijan. With the mediation of the United States, Pashinyan was willing to back away from Armenia’s claim to Nagorno-Karabakh, a former Armenian ethnic enclave internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan—an act that has opened the door to peace. Trump’s intervention last August, when he invited Pashinyan and Aliyev to the White House, sealed an agreement that had been tantalizingly close for several years. This development also provided an impetus for the longstanding talks on normalizing Armenian-Turkish relations—a major goal of Yerevan’s foreign policy. Proof of progress came just before the parliamentary elections when a group of Armenians entered the Turkish region of Kars by bus, the first time that border had opened to Armenia in thirty years.
All of this works well for US interests in the South Caucasus and extending into Central Asia. Trump’s promotion of peace in the South Caucasus has enhanced US influence there, including with Turkey. It also includes the prospect of a new transportation corridor into and out of landlocked Central Asia. Trump’s efforts have also effectively ended Kremlin hegemony in the area. Moscow has used the tension over Nagorno-Karabakh as a way to keep Armenia under its sway and to court Azerbaijan. No more. The US role in the South Caucasus and Central Asia is growing, and those who believe Trump is in the tank for Putin have trouble interpreting his creative diplomacy in this large region. No wonder Rubio hailed Pashinyan’s election win.
—John E. Herbst is senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center and a former US ambassador to Ukraine.
Related Experts:
- John E. Herbst,
- Andrew D’Anieri, and
- Matthew Bryza
—
Trump lauds Armenia PM’s ‘decisive’ election win in face of Russian pressure
June 10, 20268:19 PM PDTUpdated 19 hours ago
The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here.
Reporting by Jekaterīna Golubkova in Tokyo; Editing by Kevin Buckland
—