By Tigran Grigoryan On February 14, a criminal case was initiated against Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II. The case centers on allegations of obstructing the enforcement of a court decision to temporarily reinstate Arman (Gevorg) Saroyan as Primate of the Massyatsotn (Masis) Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church. On January 10, Catholicos Karekin II […]
By Tigran Grigoryan Renewed Developments in the Iranian Protest Case In a previous Democracy Watch report, we examined how protests by Iranian residents in Yerevan—and the Iranian ambassador’s criticism that Armenia was allowing “anti-Iranian forces” to mobilize—were followed by a ban on a planned march and the summoning of several protesters by Armenian law enforcement. […]
The main long-term assistance program for people forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh is the housing provision program, which envisages supporting families in acquiring housing. The amount of assistance ranges between 2 and 5 million drams per family member. One of the main requirements to become a beneficiary of the program is acquiring new citizenship of the […]
The United States has officially announced, for the first time, a major sale of military technology to Armenia. The deal concerns the delivery of V-BAT vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) reconnaissance drones worth $11 million. This was announced by U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance following talks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Yerevan […]
By Tigran Grigoryan A couple of months ago, I was invited to a working lunch with a foreign delegation, together with several other colleagues representing Armenia’s civil society and think tank community. As the discussion turned to Armenia’s domestic dynamics, I pointed out the anti-constitutional and anti-democratic nature of some of the domestic processes initiated […]
Protests in Iran’s History In Iran, any protest, in the field of analysis — both Iranian and international — becomes an occasion for two main narratives: “The protests are about social, economic, and individual freedoms, but they are not against the Islamic Republic,” and, “The protests are about social, economic, and individual freedoms as a […]
Political polarization is the displacement of social diversity from the political arena, replacing it with a categorical division of “us versus them.” This model becomes the main principle by which the political field is structured and the core subject of political debate—both in form and in substance. All other issues become secondary, and their solutions […]
In the context of modern states, questions concerning the state and religion, as well as separation of state and church, encompassing both political and legal dimensions, have been a subject of scholarly and public debate in democratic world for about two centuries now. Scholars have developed a range of classification models to describe the relationship […]
The Armenian Minister of Defense’s address summarizing the results of 2025 overall gives the impression of a managerial report on the administration of a large state institution. Almost all key theses are built around finances and social programs, while issues of armaments, military equipment, combat training, and operational thinking remain on the periphery. A brief […]
