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 officials. The same cannot be said, however, of pro-government social media users, who continued targeting forcibly displaced persons during the final days of the campaign by attempting to dehumanize them, undermine their dignity, promote false anti-Karabakh narratives, and stigmatize an entire community.
The targeting of refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh continued even after the elections, outside the logic of electoral campaigning.
For example, on June 11, Facebook user Ara Nersisyan wrote:
“I think it’s time to speak honestly. No, I don’t need this—I have always said that the time will come when Armenia’s number one enemies will be Karabakh and Karabakh Armenians. Karabakh and the Karabakh Armenians sold themselves to Putin; all that’s left is for Karabakh Armenians to remain our enemies.”
Nersisyan continued targeting refugees in another Facebook post:
“Part two. Karabakh Armenians never considered Armenia their homeland during these 38 years. Their homeland is larger; their homeland is the homeland of Bagramyan, Babajanyan, and other Soviet people—in other words, Russia. Fine. But everyone whose homeland is Russia, Armenia’s enemy, is my enemy. Therefore, Karabakh Armenians, as a collective, are enemies of Armenia. Who disagrees? Speak up—with facts. Without emotional drama.”
In this post, Nersisyan makes a sweeping claim targeting an entire group without presenting any factual evidence, attempting to substantiate the labeling introduced in his previous post.
Ara Nersisyan explicitly equates an entire community with the enemy, creating an artificial and dangerous division between “us” (Armenians from Armenia) and “them” (Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh). This is a classic example of incitement to hostility and enemy construction. Labeling a particular group of people as a collective enemy lays the groundwork for aggression, discrimination, and social exclusion against them.
One of the most common techniques of hate speech is the attribution of collective responsibility, whereby the blame for tragic events is assigned to an entire group. This technique is also employed in Nersisyan’s post.
The post contains elements of dehumanization and targeting described in internationally recognized definitions of hate speech. By constructing the image of Karabakh Armenians as a permanent “enemy,” the author diminishes public empathy toward forcibly displaced persons, thereby creating conditions that may justify their stigmatization and even potential violence against them.
Such public statements are dangerous not only from a moral standpoint but also from the perspective of democratic cohesion. The spread of internal hostility can deepen societal divisions and further intensify intolerance toward refugees who are already in a state of severe psychological trauma.
Under both international standards and Armenian legislation, statements of this kind are regarded as dangerous public speech that falls outside the scope of protected freedom of expression. Article 329 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, titled “Public speech aimed at inciting or promoting hatred, discrimination, intolerance or hostility, as well as the dissemination of materials or objects for that purpose,” provides for imprisonment for:
“Public speech aimed at inciting or promoting hatred, discrimination, intolerance or hostility against an individual or a group of persons on the grounds of race, nationality, ethnicity or social origin, religion, political or other views, or other personal or social characteristics, as well as the dissemination of materials or objects for that purpose.”
The Regional Center for Democracy and Security (RCDS) submitted a report concerning Ara Nersisyan’s posts to the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia. However, based on previous experience, we are not confident that criminal proceedings will be initiated.
On April 15, 2026, RCDS also submitted a report to the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Investigative Committee regarding the apparent commission by Roman Baghdasaryan of offenses under Article 329 of the Criminal Code.
The report was based on one of Baghdasaryan’s videos in which he referred to Karabakh Armenians, as a social group, as “animals” and “inhuman creatures,” accused them of “running away” and “looting Armenia’s state budget,” and claimed that “the majority of Karabakh Armenians are not normal people,” that they “did not fight for their homeland,” and that “during the war they stabbed Armenian soldiers in the back,” among other statements.
Only two and a half months after submitting the report—and only after we repeatedly contacted the Investigative Committee by phone and in writing—did the investigator inform us that a decision refusing to initiate criminal proceedings had been sent to the Prosecutor’s Office.
Previously, criminal proceedings had been initiated on the basis of various reports, but no criminal prosecution followed, allowing Roman Baghdasaryan to continue spreading hate speech for years.
Hate speech directed against refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh continues to go unpunished. Armenia’s law enforcement and justice system responds to such cases only with great reluctance, and even when it does respond, this rarely results in actual accountability. Frequently, if criminal proceedings are initiated, they are effectively allowed to stall during the pre-trial investigation.
In June, pro-government activists once again stood out for spreading hate speech against Nagorno-Karabakh refugees. Tatul Asilyan, who was also mentioned in our previous reports, shared a video titled “The Scum of Artsakh” on his page. The video featured another individual, Aram Avetisyan, known for spreading hate speech directed at refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh who criticize Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
In the video, Aram Avetisyan states:
“…so, for 30 years, you ungrateful Kurdish dogs, for 30 years the Armenian people did not just give money, took [food] out of their children’s mouths, gave their children, you beasts [literally: ‘cattle’ or ‘livestock’]; Armenian soldiers from Shirak Province, Syunik, Yerevan, Artashat, and Ashtarak served at those Karabakh posts, you hambals [colloquial insult literally meaning ‘porter,’ used to imply someone is uncultured, low-class, or a fool]. Show me a single Karabakh Armenian who served as a soldier; their Downs [derogatory slang deriving from Down syndrome, used here to imply stupidity or incompetence] were lying on the couch at home or studying at universities here with that Niva with the 90 license plate [vehicle registration historically designated for Nagorno-Karabakh] and stuff.”
In this excerpt, Avetisyan employs extremely degrading and offensive labels. Expressions such as “ungrateful Kurdish dogs,” “beasts,” and “Downs” are not merely personal insults, but deliberate attempts to dehumanize an entire group. This represents one of the highest-risk forms of hate speech because stripping a target group of its humanity psychologically facilitates aggression and discrimination against it.
Avetisyan’s hate speech is also saturated with disinformation and denial of facts. Claims that people from Karabakh did not serve in the military contradict official data. Such narratives, based on false information, can foster a strong sense of injustice among Armenia’s residents and serve to justify the targeting of refugees.
The use of hate speech directed against refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh by senior public officials (see the reports for March and May), together with the high degree of tolerance shown by law enforcement bodies toward various social media users spreading hate speech—or their outright inaction—constitutes one of the most dangerous factors enabling the spread and legitimization of hate speech in any society. Such tolerance effectively renders specific hate speech actors immune from accountability.
Tolerance toward hate speech creates a culture of impunity. When those who incite discrimination see that their harmful activities carry no consequences, the aggressiveness of their rhetoric steadily escalates. As a result, hate speech that initially circulates in the online sphere increasingly spills over into real life, taking the form of everyday discrimination.
Monitoring of hate speech also demonstrates that what we are witnessing is no longer a series of emotional outbursts but rather a well-established system consisting of entrenched narratives, recurring hate speech actors, and a reality shaped with the tacit consent of law enforcement authorities. The purpose of this system is the socio-political isolation and stigmatization of an entire community.
This report was produced with the financial support of the European Union and the German Marshall Fund of the United States – Transatlantic Foundation (GMF TF). Its contents are the sole responsibility of the Regional Center for Democracy and Security and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union or the GMF TF.