Analyst Tigran Grigoryan talks to CivilNet’s Emilio Luciano Cricchio about the Armenian government’s approach to the Nagorno-Karabakh negotiation process. Tigran discusses the problems with the change in wording in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe’s latest Resolution, and the findings by the new IRI poll.
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Armenia lags behind global decline in smoking rates
By Alexander Pracht Tobacco smoking is deeply ingrained in the South Caucasus, and Armenia is no exception, with various studies estimating that 22.5% of the country’s adult population are smokers. However, the distribution of tobacco use is far from even, as smoking has traditionally been seen as a male practice in the region, while women who smoke often face social stigma. As a result, nearly half of Armenian men, 49.3 percent, are smokers, a figure that remains strikingly high. According to the Tobacco Atlas, a global initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO), 16.2% of all deaths in Armenia are […]
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Torture at Police Station and Zero Charges: The Case of
By Aram Tadevosyan #Democracy Watch – On March 17, lawyer Roman Yeritsyan posted on Facebook about Tigran Ulubabyan being tortured by officers at the Lori Regional Police Department and being subjected to insults. Thanks to several media outlets, the incident received widespread public attention. The story of an individual’s rights violation quickly shifted to a broader discourse, from police impunity and extracting confessions through violence to obstructing legal counsel and discriminatory treatment toward people from Artsakh. Let’s try to understand how this case, not unique for Armenia, became a topic that disrupted social solidarity. Concealment of Crimes and Impunity Radio […]
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Displaced families from Artsakh face mounting challenges as aid decreases
By Zhanna Avagyan “If the support is cut, many people will end up on the streets,” says Nanar Alaverdyan, whose five-member family now lives in Hrazdan after being forcibly displaced from Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). Her husband is the only breadwinner and is mostly involved in construction. Like thousands of other families who fled Artsakh following the 2023 Azerbaijani offensive and the subsequent ethnic cleansing of Armenians from the region, the Alaverdyans rely heavily on the monthly government assistance to survive. But that lifeline is about to be significantly reduced. The Armenian government has announced that financial support for people forcibly displaced […]
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Turning the tables on Baku’s information warfare
In this episode of Insights, Eric Hacopian focuses on the issue of disinformation by Baku and the need for Armenians to be more critical before spreading such news. He gives recent examples of how Azerbaijan tries to control the narrative by purchasing articles in legitimate-sounding outlets and names one of the questionable characters who assists the process. He encourages Armenians to adopt a skeptical lens for all news coming from their country’s enemies, and to go on the media offensive instead of merely reacting to dubious stories.
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Bridging Armenia and Georgia through stories
Though neighbors, Armenians and Georgians know little about each other. A special night at the Woods Center in Yerevan, hosted by the PEN Centers of Armenia and Georgia, brought authors and artists together for a cultural dialogue. Featuring the new translation of Georgian writer Tamta Melashvili’s novel Counting Out into Armenia and the electrifying “7 Voices, 7 Sounds” concert, the event highlighted the power of literature and music to connect beyond borders.
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Armenia in the Meat Grinder of Geopolitics: Alexander Iskandaryan
In his talk titled “Armenia in the Meat Grinder of Geopolitics,” political scientist Alexander Iskandaryan discusses the recent dramatic changes to Armenia’s foreign policy which have occurred due to external circumstances, while the structure of its domestic has remained unchanged. Iskandaryan delivered the talk at the conference “Gathering Storm: Regional Security in the South Caucasus Amid the Global Order Crisis,” organized by the Caucasus Institute in Yerevan on March 21, 2025.
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Armenia has no rivers with an “excellent” water quality rating
Here’s what the latest data shows. Armenia faces water scarcity, and climate change is making it worse Rising temperatures, reduced precipitation, and increased evaporation are shrinking rivers by affecting snow cover formation and river flow. Water quality is another major concern Which Armenian river has the worst water quality—and what’s causing it? Let’s take a closer look.
