CIVILNET

#DailyArmenia 📍@NikolPashinyan warned that the country could face a new war as early as the autumn if opposition wins. 📍Pashinyan said Armenia’s Declaration of Independence fuels conflict & dependence, defending proposed changes to the constitution. youtube.com/watch?v=2ZL1bi…

Low spectator interest leaves Armenian football clubs facing constant collapse

#DailyArmenia 📍The EU will soon deploy a team of advisers to Armenia to help counter foreign interference and strengthen resilience ahead of the upcoming elections. 📍The ongoing war in Iran is harming Armenia’s economy by creating inflation risks. youtube.com/watch?v=_3rqO2…

False videos posing as coming from real outlets are targeting Armenia-France relations ahead of June's parliamentary elections. civilnet.am/en/news/100871…

Susan and Robert live in one of the few houses in Nrnadzor, Armenia’s southernmost village, where Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran meet. For nearly 30 years, their main livelihood has been growing and selling pomegranates, but in recent years their income has substantially decreased. The village sits at the end of a 15 km dirt road that runs alongside the barbed wire border fence. Trips to the largest neighboring city, Meghri, are costly and time consuming. And the lack of basic services makes life in the village more challenging than ever.

#DailyArmenia 📍Armenia’s former president Robert Kocharyan will run for prime minister in the June parliamentary elections. 📍The Armenian Church has removed Abraham Mkrtchyan, who leads the diocese of Vayots Dzor province, from his position. youtube.com/watch?v=4Z8K3q…

European Union rapid response team to be sent to Armenia ahead of elections

#DailyArmenia 📍During a phone call with his family, former Nagorno-Karabakh State Minister @RubenVardanyan_ attempted to publicly appeal to Azerbaijan’s ombudsperson about his case, at which point the call was disconnected. youtube.com/watch?v=LHm0QR…

Sinners, co-produced by Sev Ohanian, wins four Oscars #oscars

Ameriabank CFO Hovhannes Toroyan discusses the inclusion of its parent company, Lion Finance Group, in the FTSE 100, making it the first Armenia-linked blue-chip company. youtube.com/watch?v=HxTfYk…

The horror film Sinners, co-produced by Armenian-American Sev Ohanian, won four Oscars at the Academy Awards ceremony held in Los Angeles on Sunday. Written and directed by Ryan Coogler and produced by Coogler alongside his wife Zinzi Coogler and Ohanian, the film awards for original screenplay (Coogler), lead actor (Michael B. Jordan), cinematography (Autumn Durald Arkapaw) and original score (Ludwig Göransson). Sinners entered the competition with a record 16 nominations. The top prize for best picture went to One Battle After Another, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, which won six awards overall. The horror film follows two identical African American twins, World War I veterans and former gangsters, who return to their hometown in Jim Crow-era Mississippi and become entangled in a vampire saga. Earlier in January, Ohanian accepted the Golden Globe Awards for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement for the film, while Sinners also won the Golden Globe for Best Original Score.

Palgrave Macmillan has published Hrair Balian’s substantial volume Anatomy of Peacemaking: Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict and Missed Opportunities. Newmag is expected to release the Armenian edition of the book soon. Balian brings decades of experience in conflict resolution across various regions of the world, and in this work he successfully combines his practical knowledge with academic methodology through meticulous source comparison, comparative reconstruction of different phases of negotiations, and parallel reading of legal and political arguments within international frameworks. The book presents the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict not only within its own historical and political context, but also alongside other international conflicts, revealing both structural similarities and distinctive characteristics. The study is heavily document-based and often resembles a diplomatic chronicle, examining negotiations that lasted more than three decades. It is perhaps the first work to consolidate nearly the entire accessible documentary record of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Yet Balian does not limit himself to presenting archival material or retelling familiar political episodes. He places them within a broader framework of comparative conflict analysis, international law, and the interaction of major powers’ political calculations. A particularly notable aspect of the book is its use of negotiation theory, especially the concept of BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement). This provides a useful lens for understanding how the conflicting sides assessed their options beyond the negotiating table. The author shows that for a long time, both the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides operated under the assumption that they had more advantageous alternatives outside negotiations—whether due to time, military recovery, or expectations of changes in the international environment. It was precisely this perception that repeatedly reduced political willingness for compromise and contributed to the prolongation of the negotiation process. From this perspective, Balian explains why even relatively advanced understandings failed to evolve into final agreements. Read more on civilnet.am/en

At the Agarak checkpoint on the Armenia–Iran border, CivilNet speaks with refugees crossing from Iran as the war continues. Many Iranians are reluctant to speak on camera, fearing repercussions from the Iranian government against them. youtube.com/watch?v=pERqzu…

#DailyArmenia 📍Magnus Brunner, the European Union’s commissioner for internal affairs & migration, says Armenia is implementing its visa-free travel action plan “successfully and effectively.” 📍Despite the war, few refugees are crossing into Armenia youtube.com/watch?v=-FqFgb…

INSIGHTS: Armenia’s economy continues to grow, outpacing neighboring Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, the European Union is increasing military assistance to Yerevan through the European Peace Facility, signaling deeper security cooperation. Hosted by @molon_labe97 youtube.com/watch?v=wCayDK…

#DailyArmenia 📍Turkish Airlines launched its first direct flights between Istanbul and Yerevan, a move seen as symbolically linked to ongoing normalization efforts between Armenia and Turkey. youtube.com/watch?v=3Rohcw…

More than two dozen genocide scholars from universities and research institutions in the United States and Europe issued a joint statement on Friday calling on the Armenian government to reinstate Edita Gzoyan, saying her removal threatens the international standing of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute and raises concerns about academic independence. The statement followed remarks by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who said he had personally instructed Gzoyan to submit her resignation after her conduct during last month’s visit by U.S. Vice President JD Vance at the Tsitsernakaberd memorial complex. “We, the undersigned, express deep concern over the recent and troubling developments at the Armenian Genocide Museum Institute in Yerevan,” the scholars said, adding that Gzoyan had resigned “reportedly under pressure from the government rather than by free choice.” The signatories said Gzoyan had strengthened the institute’s global academic reputation through archival expansion, international conferences, and scholarly publications, and warned that political interference in its leadership would discourage cooperation with researchers abroad. Pashinyan said that Gzoyan’s presentation to Vance of books related to Artsakh, and her references to anti-Armenian pogroms in Sumgait, Kirovabad, and Baku, contradicted Armenia’s foreign policy line. “I was the one who asked the director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute to submit a resignation letter; it was done on my instruction,” Pashinyan said at a government briefing. “I considered giving a book about Artsakh to Vance to be a provocative act that goes against the government’s policy.” Museum staff have protested the move, and genocide historian Raymond Kevorkian, along with several other board members, resigned in protest. The statement was signed by: Prof. Bedross Der Matossian, professor of history and Hymen Rosenberg Professor in Judaic Studies at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln; Prof. Elyse Semerdjian, chair in Armenian Genocide Studies at the Clark University; Prof. Armen Marsoobian, professor of philosophy at Southern Connecticut State University; Prof. Keith Watenpaugh, professor of human rights studies at University of California, Davis; Prof. Melanie Schulze Tanielian, associate professor of history at University of Michigan; Dr. Simon Maghakyan, faculty member at University of Oxford; Dr. Boris Adjemian, director of Bibliothèque Nubar; Mr. Marc Mamigonian, director of academic affairs at National Association for Armenian Studies and Research; Prof. Vahé Tachjian, Armenian studies chair at Saint Joseph University of Beirut; Prof. Houri Berberian, professor of history at University of California, Irvine; Prof. Henry Theriault, vice-chair of National Association for Armenian Studies and Research; Prof. Ronald Grigor Suny, professor emeritus at University of Michigan and University of Chicago; Prof. Barlow Der Mugrdechian, Armenian studies coordinator at California State University, Fresno; Prof. Lori Khatchadourian, associate professor at Cornell University; Dr. Hilmar Kaiser of University of Bern; Mr. Michael Bobelian, adjunct professor at Columbia University and Baruch College; Prof. A. Dirk Moses, professor at City College of New York; Prof. Hervè Georgelin of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens; Mr. Gregory Aftandilian, senior professorial lecturer at American University; Prof. Julien Zarifian of University of Poitiers; Prof. Fatma Müge Göçek of University of Michigan; Prof. David Gaunt of Södertörn University; Prof. Tessa Hofmann, formerly of Free University of Berlin; Dr. Talar Chahinian of University of California, Irvine; Prof. Samuel Totten of University of Arkansas. The scholars said Gzoyan should be reinstated immediately and warned that leadership decisions at the institute should be based on academic qualifications rather than political considerations.

Armenian alphabet monument installed near the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

#DailyArmenia 📍The director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute in Yerevan has resigned after a dispute related to last month's visit by @JDVance. 📍The European Union would like to deepen political dialogue with Armenia. youtube.com/watch?v=59MaBI…

Turkish Airlines, Turkey’s flag carrier, operated its first-ever flight from Istanbul to Yerevan on Wednesday. The flights between Armenia’s capital and Turkey’s largest city, first announced last September, will run daily and are set to expand to twice daily starting in June. While air travel between Armenia and Turkey has existed since the early 2000s, those services were mainly operated by smaller low-cost carriers. One such airline is Pegasus; it has served daily flights between Yerevan and Istanbul in recent years. Turkish Airlines is Turkey’s largest airline. About 49% of its shares are owned by the Turkish government, while the remainder are publicly traded. The arrival of Turkey’s national airline on the route is seen as carrying political symbolism amid ongoing efforts to normalize relations between the two countries. Armenia and Turkey have never established diplomatic relations, though they formally recognize each other. In recent years, contacts have intensified, including two visits by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to Turkey and several trips by Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan. A joint working group launched in 2021 has been tasked with pursuing normalization. As part of the process, Turkey’s special envoy visited Armenia in September for talks. Negotiations have focused on establishing diplomatic relations and reopening the land border between the countries, which Ankara unilaterally closed in 1993 in support of Azerbaijan’s blockade of Armenia during the Nagorno-Karabakh War. So far, discussions have centered on allowing third-country nationals to cross the frontier. Despite more than four years of dialogue, progress is widely viewed as tied to Armenia’s relations with Azerbaijan, with Turkey reluctant to advance normalization until Yerevan and Baku take further confidence-building steps.