CoG: “Velvet Revolution” Two Years On - Part 1 | Ep 17 - Sep 25, 2020
It’s been two and a half years since the dramatic popular protests of 2018 that resulted in the resignation of Serge Sargsyan and the subsequent election of Nikol Pashinyan as Prime Minister in Armenia. The change in power, which is commonly referred to as “The Velvet Revolution”, gave many the hope of a more democratic Armenia. Many promises were made in 2018, and mid-way through this administration many of us want to know how the Armenian government is delivering on those promises.
In this Conversation On Groong, we talk to two long-time activists who ended up on opposite sides of the fence on this topic.
Guests:
Topics:
- Introduction to guests
- Democratization
- Corruption
Episode 17 | Recorded: September 23, 2020
Show Notes
Guests
Marine Manucharyan
Marine Manucharyan (no relation to Hovik Manucharyan) is president of the Civic Forum NGO. Her areas of focus include Artsakh, the Armenian Armed Forces, National Security and Foreign Policy.
Mikael Zolyan
Mikael Zolyan is a member of the National Assembly of Armenia. He holds a Ph.D. in history from Yerevan State University, and has taught at the Yerevan State University of Linguistics and Social Sciences. His research focuses on issues of nationalism, conflict, and democratization. He is a member of the standing committee on Foreign Affairs of the National Assembly.
Hosts
Asbed Bedrossian
Asbed Bedrossian is an IT professional, and for years oversaw the central IT enterprise infrastructure and services at USC. His decades of experience spanned across IT strategy, enterprise architecture, infrastructure, cybersecurity, enterprise applications, data center operations, high performance computing, ITSM, ITPM, and more.
Asbed founded the Armenian News Network Groong circa 1989/1990, and co-founded the ANN/Groong podcast in 2020.
Hovik Manucharyan
Hovik Manucharyan is an information security engineer who moved from Seattle to Armenia in 2022. He co-founded the ANN/Groong podcast in 2020 and has been a contributor to Groong News since the late 1990s.
Disclaimer: The views expressed by Hovik Manucharyan on the ANN/Groong podcast are his own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of his employer or any other organization.