Warning: This is a rush transcript generated automatically and may contain errors.
Hovik: As Armenia heads towards a pivotal 2026 election, Samvel Karapetyan’s Strong Armenia Party is emerging as a key opposition force. One of the prominent voices from that party will be joining us to discuss arrests, Pashinyan’s vision of peace and their vision for the future of Armenia. So on this Conversations on Groong episode, we will soon be joined by Arega Hovsepyan from Samvel Karapetyan’s Strong Armenia. And since 2020, Arega has been active in advocating for the rights of displaced Artsakh Armenians in Armenia.
And now she is entering politics with strong Armenia.
Asbed: And folks, thanks for listening to our shows. We accept that as your vote of confidence, your trust that we bring you truthful reporting of Armenian news. And that is the truth. We work hard at it.
There are no corporate Thank you for listening. Now on with the show. Arega Hovsepyan, welcome to Groong.
Arega: Thank you very much. Thank you for the invitation.
Hovik: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for accepting our invitation.
Asbed: Very nice to have you. Arega, so this is your first time on our show. Would you tell us a little bit about yourself so that our audience will get to know you?
Arega: Okay, for sure. I am Arega Hovsepian. I was born in Nagorno-Karabakh in Artsakh in the capital, Stepanakert. I have graduated Yerevan State University, faculty of oriental studies.
I am a turkologist. Later, I started my work in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Artsakh. Later, I had graduated Tufts School in Boston. and came back to Armenia, continued my diplomatic career in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this time already in Armenia. And later, after the 2020 war, I resigned by my offer, so I decided to not continue my work in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and became in a position in Armenia.
Now I am the member of the Party of Strong Armenia. So I am a mother of two sons. So it’s all.
Hovik: Great, great. Very nice to have that background. So since last June, the Pashinyan regime has been making a pointed effort to arrest and otherwise disable any political opposition that could pose a threat to him and some that we know about Samvel Karapetyan his freedom is limited he’s under house arrest he’s the head of strong Armenia the archbishops of course were arrested we know that as well literally tens of people are currently either in pretrial detention or serving jail time for charges that are trumped up or, at best, questionable. And today, on April 27, I’m currently in the U.S.
I was woken up by the news that legendary Artsakh intelligence officer Artur Avanesyan, also known as Kandaz, and four other members of strong Armenia, or supporters, were arrested and accused of electoral bribery. Many see this as another way to limit the opposition, limit strong Armenia, but I wanted to get your thoughts on these developments. I understand that supporters of Gandalf and strong Armenia were gathered at the courthouse today. I guess it’s yesterday, your time, but what can you tell us about the current status of this case and your reaction to these developments?
Arega: Yes, we start from the very important topic, actually. This is the purely political persecution regarding our friend, our team member, Artur Avanesyan, Legendary Intelligence. So if you hear the recordings, which are published in mass media, It is nonsense, really, because the acquisition is based on the words where he says that if we be elected in Armenia, we will have jobs, we will have territory and we will have a job. We will have salaries.
Yeah, home. So it is the Purely the campaign about which we talk these few months, which each political party says to the citizens, promise to the citizens that what will happen if they will win. So it is totally nonsense. But, you know, our party not become weaker.
Contrary, we become stronger because we understand that it cannot be this situation along a lot we should stop we should change this situation in Armenia these political persecutions became the ordinary things now in Armenia everyone already knows that it is something ordinary when you say something in the opposite opinion of this government they will come just bring you and you will be in jail this government Nikol Pashinyan did what Aliyev couldn’t do during 30 years. Aliyev couldn’t bring and arrest Artur Avanesyan, but Nikol Pashinyan in Armenia arrested Artur Avanesyan. You know, it’s not about them.
I know that Artur is not feared of this everything. He’s prepared for this everything, what happened with him. But for me, it is kind of It’s about my dignity. I mean, our war hero, our legendary intelligence who was our hero for our old society.
We talk about him to our children, to our kids. Now he’s jailed by Armenian government. I think that only persons who are, who is happy now is Aliyev and Nikol Pashinyan.
Hovik: I was going to ask you about the accusations but actually shortly before this interview I listened to it as well and I couldn’t believe my ears. Basically people were asking what hope is there? And he said: well, you know, vote for us and there’ll be hope, you’ll have jobs, you’ll have land, and I took it as you will have dignity. So if I ran for office in Armenia and I said I will bring you dignity if you vote for me.
Is that a bribe? Am I offering a bribe to voters? It’s crazy. The only thing we can underscore from all of this is that everyone in the opposition is under intensive surveillance.
I think that will be clear to any impartial observer of the events right now.
Arega: Recordings in Armenia now are totally. Everything is under recordings by special services in Armenia, by our security services, which give all these records to Pashinyan, to his team. You know what is interesting? Just a few days ago, there has been four years that Sona Mnatsakanyan The woman, pregnant woman, who was killed by this cortege of Nicole Pashinyan.
And so far, they can’t find any recordings from this connection of these cars, which they talk by phone. What happened? They said there are no recordings. It happens that All our opposition members are under this surveillance, are under these recordings.
But if it comes to the government, suddenly all recordings are disappeared.
Hovik: Yeah, you know, thank you for mentioning Sona Mnatsakanyan. I think I was able to watch the memorial held on the street where she was brutally murdered by Pashinyan’s motorcade and reading the news and basically the statute of limitations for that crime will run out in one year. So in one year and I mean the cynical, pardon me, and lately there are a lot of reasons to be cynical, Basically thinks that the government is waiting for the statute of limitations to run out in order for them to basically close the case.
Arega: No one so far has been punished for this incident what happened with Sona Mnatsakanyan.
Asbed: No one.
Arega: And of course you are totally right when you say that after one year it will be not actual question already and will be out of the date and no one will take responsibility and will be under punishment what happened. It is a strategy. I am a mother and To know that what happened with her, it is really very strategic for us, for women in Armenia. You know that a few days ago, me and our other women in Armenian society who is not active, who want their voices to be heard, organized this small but very symbolic event in the streets.
Hovik: Coming back to this issue of the pressure against the opposition, are you concerned that, I mean, why just arrest people? Maybe just Pashinyan will find it acceptable to also close down strong Armenia as the political party or prevent them from running in the elections? I mean, obviously we can all see the risk, but what strategies does the opposition have In case this happens.
Arega: Look, now I believe that the strategy of Pashinyan is to spread fear in society to say that don’t talk, don’t even now when we are in the street talk with the people, we feel that they want change. They want something to be changed. in Armenia, but they’re afraid to say that because this is the Pashinyan’s policy that people… I very often use public transport, buses, etc. I hear what people are talking about.
So they really fear to say something opposite to this government. And this is this government’s strategy to spread fear.
But at the same time, we also see people who want change, who are disappointed from this government, who waited a lot for them in 2018 when this government came, by hanging the flag of democracy, saying that democracy has come to Armenia etc. etc. and they are totally disappointing and they won’t change and they see alternative in us in the new party strong Armenian party so regarding uh another scenarios I should say just now for what I can say that we consider all scenarios all scenarios are on our table and we are ready to all of them.
Hovik: Arega, you were born in Artsakh, you grew up in Artsakh, and it has been almost three years since the complete ethnic cleansing of Artsakh. Artsakhtsis are strong people, they’re known to be very strong, but losing a homeland and being dispersed, being separated from your community is probably very tough. And to add insult to injury, we see in the media every day how Deliberately, the Aliyev government, one after another, destroys any sign or any artifact of Armenian and Christian heritage Tell me as an Artsakhtsi about the experience of other Artsakhtsis in Armenia Where do they live nowadays? What are their conditions?
And I think this is also part of your platform, if I’m not mistaken.
Arega: You’re right. But before answering to your question, I would like to have short comments regarding destroying the churches in Artsakh. It is cultural genocide, let’s say, in a way which happened there. It is the cultural genocide.
And this government keeps silence regarding anything regarding Armenian heritage. If another country be in their place, there should be lots of noise in international community and many of our embassies will be engaged in this process regarding voicing what’s happening in Artsakh. It is not about even return. It is about our identity.
It is about our heritage, culture. So even in these points, what is not about return, it is not about the war, what they want or always talk about that peace and war, et cetera, saying that when you talk about Artsakh, even when you say the world of Artsakh, you want war, et cetera. It is not about that. It is just about the culture.
It’s about our identity. And even now they are afraid to talk about that. They’re afraid of Aliyev maybe, I don’t know, but they’re afraid to talk about that. What can we anticipate from the government who make attacks on our church to our Catholicos?
So I think that it is not a surprise for all of us, for all of Armenians, their position regarding destroying the churches in Artsakh. Coming Artsakhians, what is their situation in Armenia, etc. You know, we have almost already 15,000 Artsakhians who left Motherland Armenia. And for me, each one who left Armenia is really tragedy. when they say we can’t go on here, etc.
I say it’s our homeland. How we can say we can’t go on? But really conditions here for them are totally not relevant. What what is the situation in Armenia?
All programs what they say that they implemented for Artsakhians are totally didn’t work. because so far don’t have houses, don’t have jobs, don’t have any judicial status what they can use here. This government made the, I think, largest violation of human rights in Armenia when they Annual our citizenship of Armenia. During these 30 years, Artsakhians have been citizens of Armenia. In no one country it was under question, in no one country.
Only in Armenia after 2023 it became the question that we are not the citizens of Armenia. and now many people of us couldn’t bring with them their documents from Artsakh you know the situation what was it was not they had the time even to go to home to bring something especially in villages in Artsakhian villages you know after the 2020 war the border became very close to their homes And when war started, they just went to the forests and couldn’t have time to take any documents. And now they are going door to door in many state institutions to find their documents, to restore their documents.
And that’s why people are just wanting to finish everything what have here and want to left. But at the same time, For us, for example, for a strong Armenian party, it is the priority to create the conditions which Artsakhians stay in Armenia as a community. We want to bring and keep their language, our language, you know, we have specific dialects in Artsakh. And after two or three generations, If we talk with each other, with our language, it will disappear.
So if we live together, if we have our society in one place, it will work very well to keep our identity, our subculture, etc. So this for us as a strong Armenian party is priority.
Hovik: It’s very convenient, right, for Pashinyan to annul those passports for all those refugees claiming that they are not citizens of Armenia and they can’t vote unless they change their passports. What’s interesting is that one of the members of this government, there are many examples, but one of the members of this government, Armen Gregorian, who is the head of the Security Council, he is an Artsakhtsi, I’m ashamed to say. He is quoted in interviews saying that he voted in the 2018 elections. He’s not only voted, he’s occupying high office in Armenia, being an Artsakhci.
Asbed: He’s from Martuni, right?
Arega: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Hovik: Yeah. Do you know how many Artsakhtsis today have changed their passports? Even though at one point I was thinking that they should resist as much as possible because that’s one sort of the remnant of their statehood and identity. But I think that you cannot vote unless you do that.
So is Strong Armenia doing any campaigns to help people from Artsakh to change their passports so they can vote in the elections?
Arega: Very good topic. I will go to the details, sorry, but it is very important and I know the details regarding that. We would like to share with you. When Artsakhians came to this place, forcedly displaced from Artsakh and came to Armenia, you know, it was not the time about documents, you know, everyone was in the heart, psychology situation, etc. and later when they start already looking for jobs etc they understand they need documents and all of us became refugees suddenly in our homeland and there were so many lies regarding citizenship lies about they say that if you take citizenship, you will not allow to go back to Artsakh.
I don’t know from where they bring this or if you take citizenship, you will not allow to give some assistance from abroad which came to Artsakhians, etc. We, I was, yeah, because there were so many myths which regarding the citizenship and people were just mislead and didn’t understand what is going on, what they should do, what they should not do, etc.
Later when everything became already understandable that there will not be any block when they take, I always say, retake Armenian citizenship if we go to Artsakh or they will continue to have some assistance from abroad coming and some very small state support, financial support, which we had many times before. Now they say that if you take Armenian citizenship after only six months you will allow to go to vote. It is again a lie because after one day if you had the citizenship you can go and you can vote. There are so many misunderstandings regarding this and I believe that it is done by purpose.
They don’t want Artsakhians to go to wood because you know that Artsakhians are mainly opposition to this government and they had the right have right to be opposition basis to be opposition for this government. And what is the last point for this old tragedy? We have people who apply for citizenship If I’m not mistaken, in September or in October and so far, they don’t grant this citizenship to Artsakhians. Delaying again and again.
But in the very beginning, they declared that the Artsakhians will have the citizenship in an extraordinary way, in a very quick way, in a very short time. But even if it is not in a short time, by law we should have during two months, but people applied in October, in September, and so far they delay and delay again and don’t give our citizenship.
Asbed: So it’s clearly designed so that Artsakh Armenians cannot vote in the upcoming elections.
Arega: Majority yes unfortunately majority yes because if I’m not mistaken so far we have like 30,000 Armenians who take citizenship but we have also about 40,000 who apply
Asbed: but so far don’t have citizenship so is the number approximately 30,000 who can vote today
Arega: Yes, 30,000 who can… No, let’s say that maybe… But yes, 30,000 can vote, yes.
Asbed: Okay. Where would you put their level of motivation to actually go to the ballot and vote?
Arega: Because people won’t change, really. People can go through these 30 years in the cycle of the same names. The same names comes in this cycle and during these 30 years and people just not only want, need change. And for me, specifically, personally for me, if you ask about me also as Artsakhian, I want to have my input in this change by just signing in one paper.
It is the easiest thing for me also in that period to do. And I think that Artsakhians also majority want to their voices be heard and their sign in this paper have any kind of impact of the Armenian future.
Asbed: Would you say a high percentage of the 30,000 would vote?
Arega: I’m more than sure that the majority will vote for opposition. So to whom it is already about a few numbers, but majority will vote for opposition.
Asbed: Some political parties are suggesting that we close the page on our history. Let’s not worry about what happened yesterday and let’s move forward all happy and friendly. There will be no Artsakh. There will be no nothing.
There’s this concept of real Armenia and…
Arega: There will be no Armenia without Pashinyan.
Asbed: That’s right. Nikol Pashinyan has a pin and that’s what he’s peddling. Can you tell us what strong Armenia’s position is on Artsakh and How would you plan to achieve that vision?
Arega: Yeah, just a short comment. You remember that in 2018 when Pashinyan came to the power, he said that there will be no prime minister if it will not be him, Pashinyan. Now time comes to whole Armenia. He said that there will be no Armenia without him.
But I think that Armenia, we will have Armenia without Pashinyan and Armenia will be strong without Pashinyan. Our position regarding Artsakh issue, the page of Artsakh doesn’t belong to one single person. One single person can’t open and close our historical pages. Artsakh Movement was the movement of all Armenians, of all Armenians in Artsakh, in Armenia and diaspora.
So he can’t close any kind of our historical pages. He also now trying to close the page of genocide too. So he can’t do it because it belongs to all Armenian nation. Regarding our position of strong Armenia specifically, you know, Artsakh is always in the core of our party.
I am Artsakhian, I am member of this party and I am in the high numbers of this. And you know my background, I am always talking about Artsakh, about Artsakhian people, about Artsakhian people rights, etc. So it means something that I am here in this party. But at the same time, we should see the reality.
Now, Artsakh is our pain Artsakh it is us but we can’t talk now in realistic way about the return to Artsakh if we have Aliyev there if we had any chance to stay in Artsakh under Aliyev we would stay yes we didn’t go out from Artsakh Only 10 or 15 people stayed in Artsakh after our forceful displacement. And even today, they couldn’t go on.
Asbed: They left.
Arega: Yeah, they left. It means that it is impossible to live under Aliyev’s control in Artsakh.
So for us now, as I mentioned before, it is critical to have Artsakhians in Armenia. to bring them dignified life here dignified conditions to live here and don’t live to have our community here to be as a kind of a subject of international community also because when you know you can love very much Artsakh you can love very much Armenians also but when we speak about the our demands or our rights or our everything regarding Artsakh no one country will speak more but Armenian government Armenian government should talk the most about Artsakhians so we should be in Armenia to bring such a government who speak about Artsakhians
Asbed: If there was a strong Armenia government in Armenia after June, is there anything on the agenda to negotiate a mass right of return for Artsakh Armenians back to their native lands?
Arega: Look, we as a party say that when we come to power, We will never, will not annual any document signed before us. We will not start our foreign policy from zero point as it was declared. For example, this government who came to the power said that we are starting our foreign policy from the zero point because we are much serious regarding our future of Armenia. We want our partners, international partners, to see us as a responsible part.
But at the same time, there are some documents that are pre-signed but not final documents. They are just the frame on which the negotiations are going on. and we say that we will take into account these documents and we will keep this framework and we will do our negotiations taking as a base our national interests.
Hovik: What is Strong Armenia’s position on our hostages and prisoners in Baku? Because we know, I mean, Azerbaijan is controlled by a dictator. Is there anything that the future Armenian government can do to help bring our heroes our prisoners back and I noticed this subtext in Pashinyan propaganda now that this is now an issue between Russia and Azerbaijan and Armenia is no longer involved so if they were to return any people it would be to Russia how can how can strong Armenia engage international partners to To put pressure on Azerbaijan to release our prisoners Regarding our prisoners in
Arega: Baku I was the first organizer of the first protest when they were jailed and brought to Baku I was the organizer of the first protest in Armenia in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where I have been working before. Because for us it is about our dignity, for me especially as Artsakhian.
It is really it doesn’t matter to whom I vote before I like them or not our political persons who are now in Baku it is not about that it is about the and they don’t care about their personalities they take that they talk about their positions what they held in Karabakh I mean they want to do so that no one else after Many years will take the responsibility to be at the same position. Actually, the same happened in 1915 on April 24, what happened in Ottoman Empire when they wanted to cut our leaders, leaderships in Western Armenia. So the same happened in Artsakh. So it is the matter of our dignity to return them to home.
And our leader, Samvel Karapetyan, already declared that when we win these elections, these prisoners, they will come back to home. It is possible. It is possible because it is the issue of humanity. It is a humanitarian issue.
It is not about the lands. It is not about the return. etc etc it is humanitarian issue and I think if we push a lot in international community in our negotiations with Azerbaijan in our negotiation with negotiations with uh major powers we can come to the point that there will also pressure to Azerbaijan to bring these uh prisoners to home
Asbed: Arega, one part of Pashinyan’s big peace plan is the Trump route, the TRIPP project. This is really the same thing as Turkish-Azerbaijani Zangezur Corridor. So, while it’s being pitched as a regional connectivity, in reality, it only provides connectivity between Turkey and Azerbaijan. And that comes, of course, at the expense of Armenia’s sovereignty.
Now, Narek Karapetyan from Strong Armenia has actually said that TRIPP can work, but it must come with some security guarantees. Can you tell us how this is going to work? How can TRIPP be transformed from the Zangezur Corridor into a real connectivity that is beneficial for Armenia as well.
Arega: Yes, as I mentioned also before that we are not going to annual any document signed before us and the TRIPP is included. We see such kind of opportunities in the framework of the TRIPP, but also we see some risks And we consider that there should be strong negotiator who can push Armenian interests, national interests, not the interest to keep on chair. So we think that we are now in weak position. Let’s speak frankly, we are now, Armenia now is in a weak position.
And when you are weak, You need some kind of strong and big brother and brothers who will come to help you in TRIPP. Now we have United States who is the like a witness. He’s even now not the guarantor, but he is the witness in the document. It is written that he is the witness of this process.
So we consider that maybe it will. will be beneficial for all parts of this process be engaged and to have to be in this different positions. One should be guarantor or another should be guarantor because we see what happened when we depend on only one guarantor. We see what happened because what happening with this one guarantor in other places It comes to your own head. It comes to your own head because you are totally dependent on the one guarantor.
We see that we need more than two guarantors of our whole integration of processes, not only TRIB, but we also think that we need guarantors in our negotiations with Azerbaijan. We had For example, mediators. During these 30 years, the OSCE means group and through which we could negotiate with Azerbaijan. And it was successful enough that during these 30 years, we had Artsakh, we had Artsakhians living in Artsakh.
So it means that if we look at the whole process, we can’t talk with Azerbaijan just in a direct way. because now we are not strong. We need some guarantees. We need some mediators.
Asbed: Aregat, let me follow up on that one. That’s a very interesting thing you’re saying. If you are talking about guarantors, who would you see as providing these security guarantees, especially since Pashinyan and Aliyev have annulled the OSCE Minsk Group, so there’s no international group that is really mediating in an impartial way anymore. So that is gone.
Am I understanding that Strong Armenia advocates the return of some kind of multiple international powers who would be the the guarantors and how would they guarantee the security of the the Trump Corridor basically or the Zangezur Corridor
Arega: or the Trump route whatever it’s going to be called look what we have now now we have weak Armenia and Azerbaijan which is in the highest strongest position which they didn’t have during these 30 years. Having Nikol Pashinyan in Armenia is just a dream for Azerbaijanis and Nikol Pashinyan and they have it now.
We say that we should take into account our regional countries too which as a guarantors of our processes which is going on with Azerbaijan because we don’t we can’t just say that we don’t care about them we just go and negotiate with them directly we should also take into account our regional countries we should take into account our major powers in the international sphere so we say that we don’t mention any specific country who should come to and aware about all documents which are published which are not published we should understand what is in the reality but our position is the same that we need other guarantors to to have not to be not dependent on it one guarantor can I just
Hovik: interject one question here I mean we are of course in the middle of a war in the region TRIPP is a U.S. project. The agreement is between the Armenian government and the U.S. Do you see the U.S. ever agreeing to expand regional participation and guarantees to Iran, who has militarily almost threatened the project? To Russia who has said that this project is going to disrupt regional power balance since 1828 both those countries which are traditionally the friends of Armenians and some would say that the only reason why Syunik is still in Armenian hands is because of Iran.
How is that going to work? Are U.S. and Iranian forces going to side-by-side patrol the TRIPP? Sorry for asking such a simple question, but I’m just really curious about this.
Arega: Yes, yes. I will bring the same example what I brought before. Countries which you mentioned, Russia, U.S., at least after the collapse of USSR have been in the different parts and in the different stages but we Armenians could manage to create Minsk to be the part of the Minsk group and Russia, US, and France, who were co-chairs of Minsk Group, could find kind of common stage to talk about Nagorno-Karabakh issue. You remember, you know that this is not the first time that Russia and the U.S. are contrary.
During the 30 years, they also were contrary. But in Karabakh issue, we could have some kind of platform where they can talk, where they created the platform for us, for Armenians and Azerbaijanis to come and to talk. So it is about diplomacy. It is about the art of diplomacy.
Even when we remember there and now we had strong sanctions on Iran. But for Armenian and in previous government, when I have been working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who could manage to talk with US to talk with Europeans to make them understand that for Armenia, it is impossible to close the border with Iran and say that we are not going to engage with you in economic ways, etc, because we already have two closed borders. So it is about the our diplomacy way, how we can talk. And again, I’m more than sure that there can be some kind of other documents too, which are not published.
And so actually it is normal in diplomatic processes when some papers are just on the process in negotiations. We should understand the meaning of that document and understand how we are going to do so.
Hovik: Alright, let’s talk about elections. According to various different polls, stronger Armenia at least has enough of a rating to clear the threshold. The legally mandated threshold for alliances or electoral blocs in Armenia with three or more parties in it is 10%. And according to all the polls, Strong Armenia is either at 10% or even higher.
I’m going to quote one poll, which is MPG that we looked at, and Strong Armenia is currently at 13%. Of course, Civil Contract is at 24%, and there are other polls that give similar percentage points for strong Armenia. So the point I’m making is that it seems that there’s a strong opportunity for a coalition government to form, a minority coalition, that would remove Pashinyan from power. First of all, let me ask, do you agree with the MPG rating of 13%?
Is it higher? And by how much? How do you perceive the position of strong Armenia right now?
Arega: Look, we have now especially and as closer we are to elections, these polls became more and more many types of polls in Armenia. Some are respectful, of course, organizations, some are not even we don’t know who is going to organize these polls, etc. For us, just these polls, just something that we take into account, but we continue our schedule and our plan. We don’t want to be dependent on any number of any polls.
But also, me also, I am engaged in different hour processes. I went to the specific region in Armenia almost each day. And we have meetings with citizens, we are walking in the streets, talk with citizens, etc. And we also have our own opinion and own polls on which we also look at.
So, but at the same time, as I said, we don’t want to be dependent on any kind of poll, but we have some kind of already results on which we can say that the point of Nikol Pashinyan almost during this last time is the same. It is not going down. It is not going very high. Because it is his peak on which he can, he won’t.
Hovik: Yeah, it’s a ceiling essentially for him.
Arega: Yes, yes. But what about stronger meaning? It became higher and in one month it is higher a lot. So one month it’s not a lot.
So it means that we have potential. We are new. We have potential and it depends on us how we are working. to make people understand our programs, our positions, etc. So, of course, now we already don’t have time even.
I just think that these six months just flew like the bird. So these 40 days which we have, it’s already no time. But we work not each day, but each hour, really. Because we want one single party win.
Strong Armenian party win. It is our aim. We are ready, as I mentioned before, we are ready for all scenarios. But our plan is to win and have majority. in National Assembly.
Asbed: Arega, you mentioned that you have your own polls and opinions. Does Strong Armenia actually do its own sociological poll? In which case, are you free to share what your numbers are showing, your popularity levels are currently in the country?
Arega: You know, as I mentioned, we make our polls also when we went to the regions, not only in Yerevan, but also to the regions. So we come and we brought all together because not only me and our other members also is going to the regions and make our pre-election processes, etc. So we bring all these numbers each day almost and understand what situation we have in reality. Of course, there are other academic polls, etc.
But for me, really, for me, It is the most realistic and real number when I go to the street and speak with common people and going out of my bubble because of course I am in my family, I am with my relatives, everyone is for Okay, one more question on this whole poll thing.
Asbed: Most of the polls that we’ve seen indicate a very high level of disengagement. There are many people who say they are not going to be participating. There are many people who say they don’t care, that they will not vote for anybody. So there’s a large potential here to attract a lot of people.
And you were saying that strong Armenia is going up and up. So you believe that the ceiling is a lot higher. How are you planning to engage those people who are currently disenfranchised, they are not participating in the political process, to come in and vote for you?
Arega: Excellent question, because really for us, the priority, the first priority, is to bring these neutral people to come to vote. Because this number of people is very big. Just even based on some numbers, I will not give the number, but just the concept. In the places where the activity of voters is high, opposition is in a good position.
Where the activity is low, Nikol Pashinyan’s position is well. It means that the majority of people who don’t go to vote are potentially opposition. That and it means that we lost the lose this part of population because they are potentially opposition people, but they don’t go to vote because they don’t believe or, for example, there are many reasons that they won’t, for example, They don’t believe that anyone can bring changes, etc.
For us, energizing these people is priority as they say and in our strategy it is the in the first level but uh we want these people to understand that if you don’t go to vote it means directly that you vote for Pashinyan If you don’t go or if you go and just don’t vote for anyone and just don’t make something with your pen in the paper and don’t vote for anyone, it also means that you vote for Pashinyan.
Asbed: Because they vote for status quo.
Arega: Yes. When you say that you don’t want Pashinyan too, you don’t want another person too, and you don’t go to vote, it means that you are for Pashinyan. We try to bring this simple concept to persons who are from this part of our society who say that we will not go to vote.
Hovik: So if you don’t get majority, will you commit to forming a coalition with other opposition forces in order to displace Pashinyan? How serious is this risk? Because I think that if there is no coalition, then the second round happens, and I think in that case things may be more advantageous for Pashinyan, I’m not sure. But I ask because we have this We have this experience of seeing opposition parties infighting with each other, especially the Republican Party and second and third presidents.
And it seems more personal than political. Actually, it seems 99% personal. But will strong Armenia join coalition with anyone? Or who wouldn’t you join a coalition with, if you can say it like that?
Arega: Look, now we already have alliance with new small parties in Armenian society. So they are not very famous, but they are very professional parties and we have alliance with them. We have no any kind of arrogance regarding this, that we will not go to alliance with other parties.
But we say that we will go to the alliance with new parties not parliamentary parties so it is our position from the very beginning until now regarding after elections yes you mean after elections yeah so after elections yeah exactly if you don’t have enough votes look already we have very important announcements from second president’s party and they declared that they will give their We will give their votes to the party who gets most votes in opposition. We have already their announcement regarding that. And so far, based on polls, the party from opposition who will get most votes is strong Armenian.
So it is kind of already concept which is creating now, but we as strong Armenian party declares that we are going to win by ourselves. What will happen later? We say that we have all scenarios, but for us the plan A is that.
Hovik: Last question, I think, or maybe last few questions. Strong Armenia says that Samuel Karapetyan is going to be your Prime Minister’s candidate. We know that Armenian law prohibits dual citizens, I believe he’s a citizen of Armenia and Russia minimum, from holding high positions. There may also be a residency requirement currently.
I’m not sure if that’s correct, but I’ve seen articles about that. So given all of this, can you tell us how Samvel Karapetian will be the next Prime Minister?
Arega: Look, we are very sincere with our population. We say yes. Now it is not possible for Samvel Karapetian to be Prime Minister. But our candidate for Prime Minister Samvel Karapetian and when we win The first thing, what we will do, is the change in one single technical issue in our constitution, which will allow Samvel Karapetyan to be prime minister, and we as the majority in parliament will vote for Samvel Karapetian.
This is the concept. We say that, yes, we understand the law and everything. But at the same time, we are totally sincere and frank with our population, saying that we will change the single point in the constitution, which is banned for Samvel Karapetyan now to be prime minister. And if we vote for us, It means that you vote for this change what we are going to do in constitution because you vote for Samvel Karapetian as a prime minister and you want him to be prime minister and there is just a technical issue which we need to change and it will be the first thing what we will do as a government So it’s a constitutional
Hovik: law that the parliament itself can change, right? You don’t have to go to a referendum
Arega: No, no, no, no. It is technical issue. It is not only about one point in constitution and based on constitution, we can change it in national assembly.
Hovik: How many votes do you need to change that?
Arega: What percentage of votes do you need?
Hovik: Two thirds. So let’s say, hypothetically speaking, if all of the opposition unites and wants Samvel Karapetyan to be the prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan has to win less than one third of the vote right because if he wins more than 30% or 33.3% then they they would be able to block this from happening
Arega: yes that means that we need to walk 24x7 regime and I’m just curious well I mean I
Hovik: know that other parties are open to a coalition But will other parties agree? Because they now have leverage over you, right? Will other parties agree for Samvel Karapetyan to be the Prime Minister? Or maybe they can negotiate some concessions from you from that perspective?
Arega: Other parties already declared that they will give their votes to the party who will get more votes. So, it is already the base of this process.
Hovik: All right. Arega, thank you so much. We hope it’s not the last time that we talk to you, but this was a very interesting discussion. We’re happy to see you in politics and wish you a lot of success in the June elections.
Arega: Thank you very much. Thank you for invitation. And I believe that our people is strong enough to go to change, to change which has come and we want our life to be changed and after 7th of June, we will have another Armenia.
Hovik: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Well, that’s a wrap, folks.
This was another Groong podcast and we recorded it on April 28th, 2026. Our guest was Arega Hovsepyan, an Artsakh-born public and political figure, a member of the strong Armenian party, a candidate for the parliament, and a former president of the Armenian Center for Political Rights. You can learn more about her bio by going to our show notes, podcasts.groong.org slash episode number.
Asbed: Please don’t forget to support us by subscribing to our channel on YouTube, Substack, and Apple Podcasts. Share our shows with your circles and like our shows. And of course, we want to hear your feedback, so comment on our shows on YouTube and Substack. I’m Asbed Bedrossian.
Hovik: And I’m Hovik Manucharyan. Until next time.
Asbed: We’ll talk to you soon. Bye-bye. Bye.