Nikol Pashinyan

Sassounian says Pashinyan told parliament he consulted nobody and made his own decision, calling it one-man rule.

Sassounian describes Pashinyan posting a toothbrush on Facebook, then writing his UN General Assembly speech mid-flight to New York.

Sassounian calls it shameful that the head of the first Christian nation is taking the Catholicos to court, with prison a possible outcome.

Sassounian says Trump offered to call Aliyev to free Armenian prisoners in Baku, and Pashinyan never took him up on it.

In this episode of Conversations on Groong, we speak with Harut Sassounian about Armenia’s identity crisis amid escalating conflict between the Armenian government and the Armenian Apostolic Church. We discuss Catholicos Garegin II’s statements at the May 2025 World Council of Churches conference in Bern, Pashinyan’s public attacks on senior clergy, the constitutional role of the Armenian Church in national identity, and the deeper geopolitical questions surrounding Armenia-Diaspora relations following the June 2026 Armenian parliamentary elections.

The Prime Minister’s office published a 74 page report describing a Church crisis and laying out a roadmap to remove the Catholicos.

On the sixth anniversary of the 2020 war, thousands streamed to Yerablur while state TV aired a pop concert and no Civil Contract official appeared.

Pashinyan fell short of 50 percent, then the annulment of three polling stations stripped Prosperous Armenia of five mandates and handed Civil Contract a three-fifths majority.

In this week’s Groong Week in Review, Hovik and Asbed mark the sixth anniversary of the 44-Day War and examine Armenia’s deepening crisis over historical memory and national identity. We discuss the Armenian government’s controversial response to September 27 commemorations, escalating tension between the state and the Armenian Church, international concern over election integrity, and Armenia’s isolated position as Azerbaijan demolishes Artsakh’s Armenian cultural heritage while Turkey advances regional integration plans.

Aghajanian says Russia’s 102nd base in Gyumri still matters to Armenia, keeping Turkey at bay, and warns removing it would leave the country totally alone.

Aghajanian argues the September 2022 Jermuk fighting was orchestrated by Western actors, Azerbaijan, and Pashinyan to draw Russia into a second front.

Aghajanian says Armenia has no judicial system left, with 75% of judges appointed by the ruling group and orders coming from above.

Aghajanian says Armenian soldiers fought back at Jermuk against government commands, pushing Azerbaijan back from a strategic corridor toward Nakhijevan.

In this episode of Conversations on Groong, we speak with Dziunik Aghajanian about shifting geopolitical pressures on Armenia following Russia’s September 2026 parliamentary elections. We discuss Putin’s strengthened domestic position, the Armenia-Russia confrontation over the 102nd base, asset confiscation and anti-corruption efforts targeting Russian interests, and how Middle East escalation and the Iran War reshape Armenia’s strategic environment amid ongoing Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Process tensions.

Arthur Khachatryan warns that Pashinyan’s threats and talk of mob justice signal Armenia is racing toward dictatorship.

Hovik asks a simple question about TRIPP that no one will answer: can an Armenian board a train in one village and get off in the next?

Khachatryan compares Civil Contract’s rhetoric about eradicating the ARF to a 1915 Turkish line about keeping one Armenian in a museum.

Khachatryan details how confiscated hotels and villas are resold at deep discounts to Pashinyan-linked buyers while families get nothing.

Khachatryan flips the question on Western journalists: if the Russian base leaves and Armenia is attacked, will NATO react?

Hovik breaks down a fivefold hike in Armenian citizenship fees and a tenfold increase to renounce, and argues it is deliberate diaspora policy.

Hovik recounts how Goris mayor Arush Arushanyan, jailed for protesting Pashinyan, saw his case dropped a week after allying with Civil Contract.

Hovik argues the Turkey-Azerbaijan bond is uniquely strong and that Armenia kept Turkey out of the conflict for 26 years until Pashinyan.

Hovik demands the names of those killed in the 2020 war and after, arguing the government’s silence hides a story of betrayal.

In this week’s Groong podcast episode, Hovik and Asbed reflect on Armenia’s 35th independence anniversary amid ongoing regional tensions and unresolved conflicts. We discuss the state of Armenian statehood three years after the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, Armenian prisoners of war still held in Baku, rising citizenship costs, government opacity over war casualties, and deepening Turkey-Azerbaijan strategic coordination.

In this episode of Conversations on Groong, we speak with Arthur Khachatryan, MP from Armenia Alliance, about opposition strategy following the June 2026 Armenian Parliamentary Election. We discuss the Established Opposition’s plans to counter Pashinyan’s agenda, territorial concessions including Tigranashen, Azerbaijani attacks on Armenian heritage, the role of TRIPP and Azerbaijan’s control over transit corridors, the future of Russia’s 102nd military base, and escalating threats against opposition parties.

A Wall Street Journal report says the U.S. dangled NVIDIA AI chips to get Armenia to sign the TRIPP corridor. The hosts weigh revocable chips against a 99-year deal.

Artsakh analyst Alen Ghevondyan was jailed over Facebook posts, then freed months later as a court dismissed the case. The hosts call it a repeating pattern.

As Pashinyan attends a Paris space summit, Hovik notes France helped build and launch Azerbaijan’s satellites, later used against Armenia in war.

On the 35th anniversary of Artsakh’s independence, the hosts mourn a homeland emptied of its people and call it the cause of every Armenian generation.

Non-combat deaths in Armenia’s army are rising sharply since the declared peace. The hosts detail a case of conscripts run over while forced to jog at night.

Pashinyan reportedly explains rising army deaths by saying that with no enemy shooting, soldiers grow lax and fight over who sleeps on watch.

The EU says Armenia can export 6,500 tons of cucumbers tariff-free. Armenia only produces 1,100. The hosts break down the export illusion.

The hosts read Arman Grigoryan’s 2012 words calling concessions to Azerbaijan a betrayal, then reveal he was born in Martuni, Artsakh.

In this week’s Groong episode, Hovik and Asbed review September 2026 developments across Armenia and the South Caucasus. We examine Artsakh’s remembered independence declaration on September 2, 1991, and its unresolved cause following the 2023 ethnic cleansing; Putin’s signaling on Russia’s military base presence; ongoing Armenian Church prosecutions; EU trade negotiations; mounting non-combat military deaths; and political pressures ahead of local elections. We also analyze U.S. envoy Witkoff and Kushner’s diplomatic shuttle through Moscow and Kyiv.

Suren Sargsyan analyzes why both Putin and Pashinyan publicly defer the decision on the 102nd Russian military base in Gyumri, avoiding responsibility while maintaining the status quo.

School administrators forced underage students to attend Pashinyan campaign rallies during elections. The government declined to prosecute, issuing only administrative reprimands, a stark contrast to treatment of opposition figures.

Putin congratulates imprisoned Robert Kocharyan on his birthday while ignoring Pashinyan’s reelection. The hosts decode the geopolitical message behind this selective honor.

In this week’s Groong news roundup, Hovik and Asbed examine Armenia’s position at the SCO Summit amid intensifying global conflicts. We discuss Russia’s escalation in Ukraine, unprecedented Western diplomatic visits to Moscow, the renewed US-Iran War, and Pashinyan’s meetings with regional and global leaders including Aliyev and Putin. We also address the ongoing persecution of former Artsakh leaders and the selective justice targeting Armenia’s political landscape.

Pashinyan intensifies crackdown against opposition figures post-election. Tsarukyan, Kocharyan, and Karapetyan face arrest and asset seizures as regime consolidates power.

Pashinyan plans 300 MW AI facility but would shut Metsamor nuclear plant, losing net power while creating dependency on Azerbaijani electricity imports.

Pashinyan frames the Third Republic as failed and proposes a Fourth Republic based on rejecting Artsakh claims and Armenian diaspora ties. Expert analysis reveals this mirrors Atatürk’s identity transformation strategy.

Pashinyan explicitly stated Armenia comprises 29,743 sq km, excluding Tigranashen. Expert analyzes this strategic territory’s importance and why Azerbaijan uses Jermuk occupation as leverage.

Pashinyan intensifies attacks on Armenian Apostolic Church after Catholicos speaks about Artsakh rights. Expert analysis reveals this targets the church’s diaspora ties and identity independence.

In this episode of Conversations on Groong, we speak with Arthur G. Martirosyan about Armenia’s post-election political crisis and Pashinyan’s governance agenda. We discuss the arrest of opposition leaders including Robert Kocharyan, attacks on the Armenian Church, border concessions including Tigranashen, the TRIPP corridor, and how the Established Opposition is strategizing under state repression in the Fourth Republic.