Groong Links:
Guest:
Topics:
- OSCE MG Dissolved
- Libaridian on Submitting to Turkey and Azerbaijan
- News Constitution to be Drafted by March 2026
- Archbishops, Letters, Attacks on the Church
- Border Commissions Meet in Baku
- Comments from Jacob Pursley
Episode 493 | Recorded: December 2, 2025
Show Notes
A response to @jacobpursley1800
We address a comment from a user “@jacobpursley1800”, responding to our Episode 490 with Joel Veldkamp, of the Christian Solidarity International, about Armenia’s national prayer breakfast.
Comment screenshot:
Pursley says the event was not organized by the Armenian government, the Prime Minister did not host it, and that our take was not “fact based.”
While the main topic of our show was the persecution of the Armenian Apostolic Church and its clergy, which the commenter completely sidestepped, we would like to address the matter of whether this event was truly organized by an independent “civil society” without any help from the government.
- Who was the prayer breakfast organized by?
There were other co-organizers, but the main coordinator of the event is Stepan Sargsyan from the “Individual Believers Club” as the commenter also indicates.
- Who is Stepan Sargsyan?
Stepan Sargsyan is listed as a “member of the central committee of the ‘Education is Fashionable’ movement and project manager”.
- Education is Fashionable is a program under the aegis of My Step Foundation which is an ‘NGO’ founded by Nikol Pashinyan’s partner, Anna Hakobyan and affiliated with Civil Contract.
- Chair of the Board of Trustees is Lena Nazaryan, a member of the Civil Contract party.
- Executive Director is Anna Hakobyan, Nikol Pashinyan’s partner.
- According to media, Education is Fashionable is also funded by the state budget and the amount of funding is concealed as a ‘state secret’
Wrap-up
Links and Resources
That’s our Week in Review, we hope you found it helpful. We invite your feedback and your suggestions, you can find us on most social media and podcast platforms.
Thanks to Laura Osborn for the music on our podcasts.
Guests
Arthur Khachikyan
Dr. Arthur Khachikyan, an International Relations expert from Stanford University, specializing in intervention.
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.