Publications

Democracy Watch

What Armenia’s democratic backsliding means for civil society and international partners

By Tigran Grigoryan #DemocracyWatch – Armenia’s June 7 parliamentary elections were the most geopoliticized in the country’s modern history. All the major external actors involved in the South Caucasus had clear preferences in the race and were actively engaged during the pre-election period in promoting their respective agendas. While Russia supported the opposition through its […]

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Articles

Azerbaijan Builds Combat Readiness While Armenia Falls Behind in Operational Training

by Eduard Arakelyan Last week, Azerbaijan showcased several key developments in the evolution of its armed forces. The country conducted training flights of its new JF-17 Block III fighter jets, launched large-scale ground forces exercises, and had its special operations forces participate in joint survival training with Serbian troops. Taken together, these activities reflect Baku’s […]

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Research

Parliamentary Elections in Armenia and Hate Speech Against Nagorno-Karabakh Refugees: June 2026

By Hayk Khanumyan The campaign for Armenia’s 2026 National Assembly elections ended on June 5, with voting taking place on June 7. Compared to May—which was saturated with hate speech targeting forcibly displaced people from Nagorno-Karabakh and featured incidents involving senior public officials, community leaders, and other political actors—June saw fewer such incidents involving high-ranking […]

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Democracy Watch

Why Armenia’s new voting law threatens democratic norms

By Tatevik Ghazaryan #DemocracyWatch – From July 1 to 3, the National Assembly of Armenia, in what was effectively a 24-hour legislative process conducted over two readings and without prior public consultations, adopted amendments to the Electoral Code and the Law on Referendums, making the right to vote conditional on a period of actual residence in Armenia. […]

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Democracy Watch

The Gagik Tsarukyan case and the dangers of selective justice

by Tigran Grigoryan #DemocracyWatch – On July 6, the leader of the Prosperous Armenia Party, Gagik Tsarukyan, was arrested and taken to the Investigative Committee. During the day, investigative actions were also carried out at companies owned by Tsarukyan. According to the statement released by the Investigative Committee, he faces criminal charges including organizing fraud on an especially large […]

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Articles

Understanding local perspectives on TRIPP implementation in Syunik

Tigran Grigoryan From June 15 to 18, our team at the Regional Center for Democracy and Security conducted a research visit to Armenia’s Syunik Province. The purpose of the visit was twofold: to carry out field research on the prospects for implementing the TRIPP project and to organize meetings and discussions with local residents and officials in […]

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Research

Parliamentary Elections in Armenia and Hate Speech Against Nagorno-Karabakh Refugees: May 2026

By Tigran Grigoryan and Hayk Khanumyan On May 8, 2026, the official campaign period for the elections to the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia commenced. The month of May was marked by unprecedented levels of hate speech, with the primary generators being representatives of the ruling Civil Contract Party and their supporters. Once […]

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Democracy Watch

The Artur Osipyan case and the cost of selective democracy

By Tigran Grigoryan #DemocracyWatch – The year preceding Armenia’s parliamentary elections was marked by a sharp deterioration in democratic standards. The ruling party, leveraging the state institutions under its control, targeted various opponents, instrumentalized law enforcement and the judiciary to serve narrow political agendas, and increasingly relied on selective justice. Throughout this period, through the […]

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Articles

RISE 2026: The State of Armenia’s Defense Industry

By Eduard Arakelyan If we look at the RISE exhibition, which took place on June 3–4 in Yerevan, the most important aspect is not so much the display of individual samples, but the overall picture of the development of Armenia’s military-industrial complex. More than 40 companies from the defense and high-tech sectors participated in the […]

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