EVN Talks

Korioun Khatchadourian, the Managing Director of Children of Armenia Fund (COAF), spoke to EVN Report about their grassroots approach to development, their work in the border regions of Armenia and their COVID-19 response.

Bishop Bagrat Galstanyan, the Primate of the Diocese of Tavush speaks about the strength, patriotism and resilience of the people living in the border villages and towns along the Armenia-Azerbaijan state border. He says the imperative is to develop and strengthen infrastructure and institutions in Tavush and it is the responsibility of the Armenian nation to support them through investments and not only charity.

After Azerbaijani forces began shelling Armenian positions on the international border between the two countries on July 12, Azerbaijani hackers launched cyber attacks on a number of Armenian state and media websites and vice versa. Digital security consultant and co-founder of CyberHub Artur Papyan explains the logic, history and potential danger of this hybrid warfare.

Narek Manukyan, co-founder of Paradigma Educational Foundation speaks to EVN Report about “EdCamp Armenia” the first general education and teaching conference that took place online with the participation of thousands of teachers from across the country.

Dr. Suren Manukyan, Head of the new UNESCO Chair on Education and Prevention of Genocide and Other Atrocity Crimes at Yerevan State University (YSU) speaks about the establishment of the chair, the goals and objectives in raising awareness about genocides and contributing to the formation of global policies aimed at condemning and preventing genocides. Each year, UNESCO selects a number of projects in various countries to establish chairs that promote international inter-university cooperation and networking to enhance institutional capacities through knowledge sharing and collaborative work.  Since 2017, Dr. Manukyan has been the head of the Department of Genocide Studies at YSU, Institute for Armenian Studies, as well as head of the Department of Comparative Genocide Studies of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute (AGMI) since 2018. He served as Deputy Director of AGMI from 2007-2018 and is an adjunct lecturer at the American University of Armenia. 

Dr. Nerses Kopalyan puts the criminal case against Gagik Tsarukyan, leader of the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party into context and says that knowing the scope and depth of the case against him was serious, Tsarukyan went on the offensive by attacking the government so that once charges were filed, he could claim political persecution.

Egor Zaitsev, the World Health Organization Representative in Armenia says that the Armenian government’s decision to implement a lockdown was timely, however, the issue was with enforcement and lifting the lockdown too soon, especially when cases were increasing.

Boris Navasardyan, President of Yerevan Press Club spoke with EVN Report about the current media landscape, the politicization of the media since independence, challenges of misinformation and fake news especially in the midst of a global pandemic, media regulation and self-regulation and more.

Professor Philip Leach is the lead counsel in the ECHR case of Makuchyan and Minasyan v. Hungary and Azerbaijan. He spoke to EVN Report about the May 26 Chamber judgment, which found Azerbaijan in procedural violation of Article 2 (right to life) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The case involved the 2012 extradition to Azerbaijan of Ramil Safarov, who murdered Lt. Gurgen Margaryan in Budapest, Hungary in 2004. Safarov received a hero’s welcome in Baku, was granted a presidential pardon, received an apartment, was promoted to Major and received eight years worth of backpay. Phillip Leach is a professor of Human Rights Law at Middlesex University and the director of the European Human Rights Advocacy Center.

Founder and CEO of WineWorks, Vahe Keushguerian speaks about the impact of COVID-19 on Armenia’s wine industry and how it revealed trends in the consumption of wine.