Tag: opinion

A recent IRI survey provides expansive empirical evidence in understanding political developments in Armenia over the last six months; the activities and stated objectives of the opposition have enhanced the current government's favorability.

The excess symbolic power that comes with “Westernness” explains how some authors and commentators on the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict can get away with the most outrageous gaslighting, at times engaging in outright racism.

Russia’s war against Ukraine has thrust the South Caucasus into a contest for control over transport routes. Despite being landlocked, Armenia remains at the center of Russian-Turkish ambitions to deepen cooperation.

«Կարծիք» բաժնում հրապարակված՝ Գևորգ Օսկանյանի «Ինչու է Հայաստանին պետք ռեալպոլիտիկ, հիմա՛» հոդվածի ձայնագիրը։ Ընթերցում է Գոհար Աբրահամյանը։ Ավելի քան 30 տարիների ընթացքում մշտապես խոսվել է Հայաստանի ազգային նպատակների արդարացիության և չափազանց քիչ` այդ նպատակներին հասնելու միջոցների և ընտրված նպատակների իրագործելիության մասին:

«Կարծիք» բաժնում հրապարակված՝ Կայծ Մինասեանի «Արցախ-Ուկրաինա. Հայաստանը` երկու պատերազմի արանքում» հոդվածի ձայնագիրը: Ընթերցում է Սոնա Ներսեսյանը: Փետրվարի 24-ին Ռուսաստանի ներխուժումից հետո Ուկրաինայում ծավալվող իրադարձությունների շուրջ չդադարող լարվածության պայմաններում և 2020 թվականին Արցախում պարտությունից հետո Հայաստանն ինչպե՞ս կարող է դուրս գալ ահագնացող հակամարտությունների այս շղթայից:

For over 30 years, there has been a constant refrain on the righteousness of Armenia’s national aims and precious little about the means towards those ends, and the feasibility of those chosen goals.

Since the 2020 Artsakh War, discussions about Armenia-Diaspora collaboration have become more active. Through his own personal experience, scientist Hrant Khachatrian lays out his vision for effective cooperation.

The strategic limitations of the last 30 years are no longer tenable, and there is an acute need for innovation, creativity and sophistication in creating a new chapter in U.S.-Armenia relations.

A power vacuum was created after the pullout of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, allowing China, Russia, Iran, and also Turkey to play a greater role in Central Asia triggering new developments. What does that mean for the wider region?

Representatives of Armenia and Turkey met in Moscow on January 14, 2022 for the first round of bilateral negotiations. Gaidz Minassian looks back at various stages of Armeno-Turkish dialogue before Armenia restored its independence in 1991.

While Baku prepared for war, Armenia relied on overconfidence, willful ignorance and underestimated the enemy leading to its defeat in 2020. But Azerbaijan, intoxicated by its own victory, will also lose because of Aliyev’s strategic narcissism.

After a bitter election campaign, three political forces are poised to enter parliament. What they do and how they behave will determine the future of the country.

Armenians may be wary of going to the polls in the upcoming snap parliamentary elections, but democracy remains the only option on the ballot.

The 2020 Artsakh War highlighted the interests, strategies and positions of Iran and Russia, both regional powers, regarding the resolution of the Karabakh Conflict.

Following Moscow’s facilitation of the ceasefire agreement ending the 2020 Artsakh War, some are asking whether Armenia should pursue “more Russia or less Russia.” The reality of the matter is that geography is inescapable.

The early parliamentary election was officially triggered on May 10, 2021. Harout Manougian looks at the main possible scenarios for the outcome of the election, based on party rankings from recent poll results.

Three years ago today, Serzh Sargsyan resigned as Prime Minister. When it comes to unjustified constitutional amendments and rigged referendums, Armenian history should never repeat itself.

A Military Trophy Park-Museum dedicated to Azerbaijan’s military victory over Artsakh was inaugurated in Baku. It is a gruesome display that includes hundreds of helmets of Armenian soldiers killed in battle and grossly exaggerated life-size figures of dead and dying captives.

Although Nikol Pashinyan and Donald Trump are different in demeanor and policy, both lean heavily on the populist playbook. Each is more comfortable fighting against resistant forces rather than governing through institutions.

Armenia’s Government must quickly shape a coherent and powerful vision of what it wants to gain from the transport talks. If they get it wrong, the country is at risk of being outmaneuvered by Azerbaijan and taken advantage of by Russia.

Instead of playing semantics, PM Nikol Pashinyan should have taken responsibility for the war's disastrous outcome and resigned. A golden opportunity to push the democratic movement forward was squandered.

Armenia’s Constitution states that the Armed Forces must ensure the security, defense and territorial integrity of Armenia, as well as the inviolability of its borders. Intervention by the army in political processes is a violation of the principle of political neutrality and civilian control over them.

The demand for the Prime Minister’s resignation by the Army’s General Staff is a violation of the civilian-military doctrine that has served as an institutional and normative standard within Armenia’s state system and establishes a highly dangerous precedent.

Several popular myths that had become deeply entrenched in Armenian society began collapsing after the war. Today, new myths are being constructed. Will Armenians risk fooling themselves into disingenuous politics and disastrous policy based on a set of new myths?

Armenia can either unify around a shared vision for the future or digress into internal political strife. Artin DerSimonian explores what a unified Armenian vision for the future could include if the country is to continue on the path of healthy socio-economic development.

A concerted effort is needed to overcome the crisis the Armenian nation is facing. To do that, we need to understand where we are now, be honest, admit mistakes, learn lessons and move forward, writes Hovsep Kanadyan.

The defeat in Artsakh was a profound loss on multiple levels. The actions taken today, will impact the future of the Armenian nation.

On this day of independence, the Armenian people celebrate their defiance of history and injustice. Every September 21, Armenians celebrate their will-to-power, their indestructible will to Struggle.

It is hard to have two countries to love differently but with equal vulnerability, writes Roubina Margossian as she reflects on the catastrophic explosion at the Port of Beirut.

Armenia’s Security Council recently introduced a new National Security Strategy after a 13-year hiatus. Vahram Ter-Matevosyan writes that while it is an important milestone and invested efforts are praiseworthy, the document, with a few exceptions, is inward-looking and unambitious.

Border settlements are unequivocally and strategically vital for the security of Armenia and Artsakh. Protecting them militarily, economically and socially needs to be a national priority.

I was so privileged that I had never reflected on my privilege before, writes Harout Manougian, in lieu of this week’s “It Has To Be Said” editorial.

If you don’t believe that there is a pandemic, if you think it’s a hoax, if you refuse to follow simple safety rules then maybe when you need help, your luck will run out.

In this week’s editorial, Roubina Margossian writes that most of us would put our lives on the line for our country, but at times of a pandemic we would rather fight windmills.

In this week’s “It Has To Be Said” editorial, Maria Titizian looks at how the glorification of aggressive male behavior and dominance in Armenian society has found its way into the corridors of parliament and elsewhere.

While many people are following regulations of social distancing and self-isolation, other processes continue unabated, creating a new normal.

The lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic has ripped the domestic gender gap wide open, laying bare the deep inequity that exists in most families.

In this week’s editorial, Maria Titizian writes that the COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the vulnerability of workers in Armenia.

As the world grapples with the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, the time will come when governments will have to implement a coordinated national response program, including Armenia.

Parallel to the coronavirus pandemic taking over the world, an infodemic is causing strain and impacting mental health. This week’s editorial, once again, looks at the role of every person inhabiting the earth.

This week’s “It Has To Be Said” editorial looks at the importance of social responsibility amid a pandemic that has rattled almost every country on the planet.

In this week’s “It Has To Be Said” editorial, Maria Titizian reflects on the latest domestic violence case in Armenia that left a woman dead and her 13-year-old daughter fighting for her life.

Toxic masculinity is not only an attack on femininity, it is also an attack on manliness, on the cultural precepts of Armenian society and it is an assault of ontological proportions, writes Nerses Kopalyan.

Our weekly editorial “It Has To Be Said” looks at one woman’s odyssey to obtain Armenian citizenship and the broader issue of an ineffective and counterproductive civil service.

The 21st century has witnessed the rapid encroachment by capitalism on what is referred to as the “commons,” writes Sjur Papazian. He argues that surplus from mining in Armenia could be placed in a permanent fund for the benefit of all.

The International Republican Institute recently published its fourth public opinion survey since the Velvet Revolution. The survey found that a healthy majority of Armenians believe the country is heading in the right direction.

If we are to develop and build a functional relationship between the Homeland and the Armenian Diaspora, we need to understand the discrepancy between the Diaspora’s devotion to Armenianness and the Republic of Armenia’s vision for the Armenian world.

After a decades-long struggle by the Armenian-American community, the U.S. House of Representatives officially recognized the Armenian Genocide of 1915. Maria Titizian writes about the significance of this resolution for her and all Armenians, despite the motivations behind the vote.

Can the popularity of the National Security Service be sustained after the dismissal of Artur Vanetsyan? It can, but only through one mechanism: rigid institutionalization and the complete alleviation of the personalization of politics in Armenia.

While Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan’s trial continues, Sossi Tatikyan writes about the need to amend relevant provisions of the Constitution to delineate the distinct responsibilities of the army and internal security forces, and to ensure checks and balances when declaring a state of emergency.

Serious issues in the country’s mining sector is something this new government inherited from the former regime. Artur Grigoryan argues, however, that enough steps have not been taken to eradicate or even curb corruption in the sector.

When the Ministry of Diaspora was eliminated, many believed it went against the interests of the Armenian Diaspora. Nerses Kopalyan provides an alternative approach that alleviates bureaucratic bloating, enhances legislative efficiency offering the Diaspora a healthy dosage of political capital and a culture of reciprocity.

The divisive “black or white” tone of the political campaign is not lending itself to the very ideals that the Velvet Revolution promised - pluralism, choices, diversity and freedom. On Election Day, people should vote according to their conscience and preferences, not out of pressure to be with the “right” crowd.

Dr. Nerses Kopalyan provides an in-depth analysis of the parties and coalition of parties that are running for the Dec. 9 snap parliamentary elections. Of the 11 political forces preparing for the campaign, Kopalyan writes, only six are competitive and have the capacity to influence and effect the policy discourse during the campaign.

Following the Velvet Revolution and the ensuing political instability, it seems residents in Armenia will be heading to the polls in snap parliamentary elections in December. The issue of the formation of a constructive political opposition has been part of the public discourse over the past several months.

With snap parliamentary elections around the corner and if all indicators hold true, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civic Contract party remains poised to sweep the vote. The question that the prime minister will have to consider is whether he wants to rule or govern.

The dramatic events of October 2, highlights the fundamental political paradox in Armenia – a Prime Minister with no parliamentary majority governs the executive branch in a parliamentary republic – and we experienced both sides “flexing their muscles” to demonstrate their respective powers, Raffi Kassarjian writes.

Dr. Nerses Kopalyan writes that the municipal election was not about Yerevan, the Council of Elders, or the Mayor: it was about reifying Pashinyan’s dominance of the Armenian political universe.

After his many years working in Brussels and trying to counter the effects of Azerbaijan’s Caviar Diplomacy, Bedo Demirdjian writes about his anger and frustration at how many European politicians received money from Azerbaijani authorities in a scheme being dubbed the Azerbaijani Laundromat.

Nerses Kopalyan examines and debunks the arguments that the arrest and detention of Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan is politically motivated and that the basis of the arrest lacks cogent and substantive legal foundations. Kocharyan has been charged with “overthrowing constitutional order” regarding the events of March 1, 2008 that left ten people dead.

Since the beginning of the year, decisions to bar reporters from government sessions and Yerevan City Council meetings along with threats to a reporter are raising concerns of a slow but steady suppression of the media.

Dr. Nerses Kopalyan takes a look at the role some of the most powerful Diasporan organizations have played in “reinforcing and indirectly legitimating the country’s existing political system” and draws parallels between the relationship of Armenia’s ruling administrations and their politics of co-opting the powers of the Diaspora.

How we treat the most vulnerable in our society is a reflection of ourselves. December 10 is Human Rights Day – the day the UN General Assembly, in 1948, adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In this essay, Maria Titizian writes about dignity and how certain politicians view the condition of Armenia's poverty-stricken.

Armenia’s parliament is set to discuss a bill on domestic violence that was significantly watered down after pressure from conservative groups and the ruling Republican Party. In this opinion piece, Maria Titizian ponders how a nation that reveres mothers and the traditional Armenian family can be divided on the necessity for such a law.

At the height of the Erebuni siege last year by the Daredevils of Sassoun, a group of journalists were allowed into the compound. "Misplaced Fear" is a journalistic and a photographic essay by Roubina Margossian, who was working for CivilNet at the time and provides an inside view of the events that day and also reflects on developments of the past year.

Why did Armenia not take more proactive measures when it knew that Moscow was actively developing its military-political dialogue with Baku? In this analysis, Areg Galstyan looks at the complex relationships in the South Caucasus and policies that Russia implements with both Armenia and Azerbaijan.