By Tigran Grigoryan On February 1, the Armenian media landscape was shaken by the news that a 70-year-old professor from Nagorno-Karabakh, Gharib Babayan, who had recently posted a video on his Facebook page showing a group of ethnic Azerbaijanis from Iran singing a song titled “Karabakh”, was under investigation. In his post, Babayan expressed outrage […]
By Karena Avedissian For a recent Freedom House project on disinformation and hate speech targeting vulnerable groups in Armenia, the Regional Center for Democracy and Security, where I work as Senior Analyst, conducted a focus group with Nagorno-Karabakh refugees. Our goal was to identify the most common stereotypes they face in Armenian society, based on […]
By Tigran Grigoryan The recent confrontation between Armenia’s Human Rights Defender, Anahit Manasyan, and opposition MP Garnik Danielyan has ignited debate over freedom of speech and the independence of the ombudsperson institution. The controversy began with a Facebook post by Danielyan, in which he criticized Armenia’s penitentiary system and accused the ombudsperson’s office of inaction. Manasyan responded with a […]
By Eduard Arakelyan President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky stated that the country has everything necessary to quickly replace the discontinued transit of Russian gas to Europe with gas from Azerbaijan. However, Zelensky’s statement requires clarification and specifics to understand what exactly he means by replacing Russian gas with Azerbaijani gas. If he is referring […]
By Tigran Grigoryan Since launching Democracy Watch with CivilNet last spring, we have mainly focused on Armenia’s domestic challenges and alarming trends. Yet, as academic literature on democratic transitions and consolidation makes clear, a conducive international environment is another critical factor shaping these processes. During the third wave of democratization, the prospect of integration with the European […]
By Eduard Arakelyan On January 15, the Minister of Defense of Armenia held a press conference summarizing the year and answered several questions from journalists. Overall, the speech was restrained and balanced in assessing the Armed Forces’ activities. The Minister expressed cautious optimism about the ongoing reform process, army modernization, and the Armed Forces’ future […]
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By Tigran Grigoryan When I was invited to testify at the U.S. Helsinki Commission’s congressional hearing on Armenia last September, I drew the attention of the Russian propaganda machine. Posts about the hearing began appearing immediately after the event was announced. One of the largest Russian propaganda Telegram channels, Rybar, shared a post about the hearing. After the hearing, […]
Campaign posters ahead of the Mayoral elections in Yerevan, Armenia By Tigran Grigoryan and Tatev Baghdasaryan On December 18, Factor TV hosted a live debate between Yerevan Mayor Tigran Avinyan and his predecessor, Hayk Marutyan. During the debate, Marutyan criticized Avinyan’s conduct in office, particularly highlighting investigative findings from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). These findings, […]
