With four days left until Armenians head to the polls to elect a new parliament, which will in turn elect a new prime minister, CivilNet’s Eric Hacopian breaks down the recent developments, including issues of vote buying, incendiary rhetoric, and Armenia’s political divides.
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EXPLAINER: Azerbaijan border delimitation deal sparks protests in Armenia
By Paul Vartan Sookiasian Earlier this month, Armenia formally launched a long-delayed process to delimit, or legally define, a section of its border with Azerbaijan for the first time, sparking ongoing protests across the country. That process is expected to involve Yerevan handing over to Baku four abandoned villages along the border between Armenia’s northeastern Tavush region and Azerbaijan’s northwestern Gazakh district. The announcement has been met with fierce protests in the nearby communities of Kirants and Voskepar, where scores of residents have been blocking one of the country’s main highways. They are concerned they may be forced out of […]
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Armenia-Turkey process of normalization: illusive deadlock?
Sergey Minasyan, Deputy Director of the Caucasus Institute Despite the growing frequency of optimistic statements by officials and experts in both countries, the prospects for progress in Armenian-Turkish normalization remain vague. Armenia has lately been making symbolic steps that it hopes can push Turkey to activate the process. These steps have included the dispatch of humanitarian aid and Armenian rescue workers to the regions of Turkey affected by the February 2023 earthquake, the subsequent visit of the Armenian foreign minister to Ankara and the earthquake-affected areas and his participation in the Anatolian Diplomatic Forum in March 2024, together with Armenia’s […]
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Reviving the Art of the Armenian Rug
“A rug is life. It’s alive, it breathes. It is organic. Pure wool, cotton and natural colors. It comes from nature itself. When it is woven by hand, the artisan puts his soul, his breath into it.” This is how Kyle Khandikian, the founder of The Rug Code, a traditional Armenian rug store, describes the rugs made by villagers in Armenia. Each drawing and each pattern is designed to tell a story. Each ornament is a symbol whose meaning many do not know about. Like a secret code.
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Antelias, the Armenian nation’s beating heart
By Tigrane Yegavian On April 20-22, the Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia hosted a conference dedicated to studying the continuous nature of the Armenian genocide and the issue of Artsakh. Researchers, intellectuals, and activists from Armenia, Artsakh, and the diaspora gathered at the Catholicosate in Antelias, Lebanon, to share their analyses and debate topics as burning as they are vital. Organized by the Cilicia Analytical Platform, set up at the beginning of the year by a team of researchers and intellectuals from Armenia, Artsakh and the diaspora, the conference featured two highlights. Firstly was the visit by Louis Moreno Ocampo, who […]
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Call for transparency, divisive rhetoric and political polarization: Democracy Watch
The past week saw a surge in the use of divisive and polarizing language by key political figures in Armenia. The government’s decision earlier this month to initiate the delimitation process with Azerbaijan has sparked a significant public backlash, as many see the government’s current approach as unilateral and devoid of consensus. Here are three examples: Armenia’s political elites — both ruling party officials and opposition figures — are now resorting to a language of treason and loyalty. Such rhetoric portrays domestic political rivals as genuine security risks. In each instance, the objective is to divide political opponents by developing […]
