Guests of Groong Podcast

Ehsan Movahedian

Dr. Ehsan Movahedian is an International Relations specialist, ATU University, in Tehran, Iran. He focuses on multidisciplinary research about Digital Diplomacy and politics.

Eldar Mamedov

Eldar Mamedov is a non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute and a member of the Pugwash Council on Science & World Affairs, a Nobel Peace Prize–winning Track II diplomacy organization committed to pursuing a world free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.

Eldar has more than 30 years of professional foreign policy experience. As a Latvian diplomat from 1994–2003, he served in his country’s embassies in Washington D.C. and Madrid, Spain, where he focused on Latvia’s integration to NATO and the E.U.

From 2007–2024, Eldar served as a foreign policy adviser in the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium and Strasbourg, France, where he accrued deep expertise in the E.U.’s relations with Iran and countries in the Persian Gulf and South Caucasus. During this time, Eldar drafted and negotiated parliamentary motions on relations with these countries, organized multiple missions to Iran and the Persian Gulf, and participated in backchannel diplomacy.

Eldar is a regular contributor to Responsible Statecraft, The American Conservative, and Eurasianet.org, where he writes on E.U. foreign policy and the Middle East. Eldar has also produced publications for The National Interest, the Stimson Center, and Amwaj.media, and has provided his expertise to CNN International, Politico, Al Jazeera, El Pais, Deutsche Welle and other international outlets.

Eldar is fluent in English, Spanish, Russian, and Latvian.

Elisa von Joeden Forgey

Dr. Elisa von Joeden Forgey is the founder and executive director of the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention. She is the former endowed chair in Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College in New Hampshire, and the Marsha Raticoff Grossman Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Stockton University in New Jersey. She is an expert in genocide, gender, prevention, and the history of colonialism. Dr. Joeden-Forgey holds a BA in History from Columbia University in New York City, and MA, and PhD in History, from University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia.

Emil Sanamyan

Emil Sanamyan, a senior research fellow at USC’s Institute of Armenian Studies specializing in politics in the Caucasus.

Erhan Arik

Erhan Arık was born in Ardahan, Turkey, in 1984. He studied Journalism at Anadolu University in Eskişehir. During this period he became a student of Merter Oral who is a significant figure in the field of social documentary photograph. He started his career as a social documentary photographer. Since 2010, he has worked on photography and video projects focused on the memory of the 1915 Armenian Genocide. His photography and video project, which he shot in the villages at the border between Turkey and Armenia titled “Horovel”, was exhibited in Turkey, Armenia and France. His photography work “Gayan” which he started in 2014, is about the Armenian diaspora of the Middle East (Iran, Iraqi Kurdistan, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine) was exhibited in Turkey and Iran in 2016. His documentary works “Remembering” and “Voice” were shown in IDFA under Doc Next section. In 2021, he founded Horovel Films with Meryem Yavuz to produce documentary films. He participated in IDFA Project Space, Close Up Documentary Program, IDFAcademy and IDFA Forum with his first feature-length documentary project, Our Seeds (wt). Our Seeds (wt) was supported by IDFA Bertha, Sundance Institute, Redford Grant Center and MFG Baden-Württemberg, World Cinema Found.

Fyodor Lukyanov

Fyodor Lukyanov is Chairman of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, a Russian think tank providing expertise in the foreign policy field. He is also editor-in-chief of Russia in Global Affairs, a platform for publication in English and Russian of research in political science and international relations. Mr. Lukyanov is also Director of Research at the Valdai Discussion Club.

Garen Jinbachian

Garen Jinbachian serves as the Community Coordinator for the Armenian National Committee of America - Western Region, where he leads grassroots engagement, community outreach, and youth education initiatives across the Western United States. In this role, he works closely with local chapters, community laeders, and elected officials to strengthen advocacy networks and advance policy priorities related to Artsakh, Armenia, and the Armenian-American community.

Garen oversees regional programs – including the ANCA-WR Summer Internship, advocacy trainings, school outreach, and public education efforts – while supporting strategic planning and organizational development. His work focuses on empowering community members, amplifying Armenian voices in civic spaces, and cultivating the next generation of activists and leaders committed to Hye Tahd (Հայ Դատ).

Georgi Derlugyan

Dr. Georgi Derlugyan is a sociologist and historian with expertise in ethnic violence, guerrilla movements and revolutions, particularly in the Caucasus, Central Asia and Africa, as well as post-Cold War globalization. Since 2011 he has been a professor of Social Research and Public Policy at New York University in Abu Dhabi.

Gev Iskajyan

Gev Iskajyan is the National Grassroots Director of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). Before joining ANCA in 2024, he served as the Executive Director of the Armenian National Committee of Artsakh, where he worked to raise international awareness about Artsakh’s challenges and led relief efforts.

Previously, Iskajyan held leadership roles with ANCA Western Region, the Armenian Youth Federation, and the Armenian Genocide Commemorative Committee, where he organized impactful initiatives like the ‘March for Justice’ in 2015. His insights have been featured in prominent outlets such as CNN, BBC, and Newsweek. Iskajyan studied Political Science and Philosophy at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.