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ANN/Groong Week in Review - Jan 24, 2021

Topics Covered:

• Supreme Judicial Council Appointments
• Turkish-Azerbaijan Military Exercises in Kars Region
• Incoming US Secretary of State Tony Blinken on Armenia

Guests

• Aram Hamparian
• Asbed Kotchikian
• Emil Sanamyan

Your Hosts:

• Asbed Bedrossian
• Hovik Manucharyan

Website: https://groong.org/podcasts/WiR-20210124.html Episode 45 | Recorded on January 24, 2021

Groong Links:

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Guest:

• Armen Ashotyan, MP, VP Republican Party of Armenia (HHK)

Topics:

• What took place in 2018?
• Why did RPA support Vazgen Manukyan as PM candidate?
• Nov. 9/10 ceasefire agreement & Jan 11 statement
• Is the RPA truly serious about removing Pashinyan? Why hasn’t the opposition mobilized more people onto the streets?
• Lessons learned from Dec. 2018 elections.

Episode 44 | Recorded on January 17, 2021

ANN/Groong Week in Review - Jan 17, 2021

Topics Covered:

• Outcomes from Nikol Pashinyan’s trip to Moscow
• What is Azerbaijan’s geo-political situation after the war?
• Domestic politics in Baku
• Azerbaijan’s losses from the second war in Artsakh

Guests

• Edgar Elbakyan
• Asbed Kotchikian
• Emil Sanamyan

Your Hosts:

• Asbed Bedrossian
• Hovik Manucharyan

Website: https://groong.org/podcasts/WiR-20210117.html Recorded: January 17, 2021

Former Artsakh Ombudsman Ruben Melikyan - 01/18/2021

We’ll be discussing various legal and human-rights topics within the context of recent developments in Armenia.

Guest:

• Ruben Melikyan was formerly Artsakh’s Human Rights Ombudsman and prior to that rector of the Justice Academy of Armenia. In 2019, Melikyan co-founded and currently leads the “Path of Law” NGO.

Topics:

• Why are there Armenian POWs still in Azerbaijan so long after the Nov. 9 ceasefire agreement?
• On Constitutional Court judges being forced to resign
• On Parliament’s endorsement of Gagik Jahangiryan’s appointment

Conversation with Aram Vardevanyan - 01/13/2021

Since Nikol Pashinyan came to power in 2018, and prior to the Artsakh war of 2020, issues around the Armenian constitution and constitutional court have been in the center of public attention. These issues have been partly fueled by one of the most prominent legal cases in recent Armenian history, the March 1 trial against Armenian president Robert Kocharyan and military leadership at the time. We’ll explore issues surrounding the March 1 case, as well as legal and specifically constitutional questions related to the Nov. 9 ceasefire

ANN/Groong Week in Review Episode 40 - Jan 10, 2021

Topics Covered:

• The State of the Opposition and their demands
• Update on the Border Positions between Armenia & Azerbaijan
• The State of the Line of Contact around Artsakh

Guests

• Asbed Kotchikian
• George Tabakian

Your Hosts:

• Asbed Bedrossian
• Hovik Manucharyan

Website: https://groong.org/podcasts/WiR-20210110.html Recorded: January 10, 2021

Since the end of the first Nagorno-Karabakh war in 1994 and for over quarter of a century, Armenia has engaged in diplomatic activity with Azerbaijan, Turkey, Russia and the West. The aim of those diplomatic initiatives was to find a solution to the conflict by engaging in direct diplomatic negotiations as well as track two diplomacy.

In September 2020, diplomatic initiatives gave way to a military one resulting in a war that reversed Armenia’s military successes and led to the signing of a cease-fire agreement which completely undermined Armenia’s position vis-a-vis Azerbaijan and Turkey.

Conversation with Bright Armenia’s Edmon Marukyan

Following the trilateral Karabakh ceasefire of Nov 9, all major political forces in Armenia (except for the ruling party) condemned Nikol Pashinyan’s agreement to the deal. While the dissatisfaction with the agreement is widespread, the opposition is not entirely unified on what to do next.

We’ll talk with the leader of one of the 2 parliamentary opposition factions, Bright Armenia about his, and his party’s vision and subsequent actions to be taken by Armenia.

What is Bright Armenia’s vision for post November, Armenia? Listen to

ANN/Groong Week in Review Episode 35 - Dec 20, 2020

Topics Covered:

• Life in Artsakh
• Update on Hin Tagher & Khtsaberd
• Internal Political Situation in Yerevan
• Kapan Border Tension

Guests

• Asbed Kotchikian
• Irina Safaryan
• Emil Sanamyan

Your Hosts:

• Asbed Bedrossian
• Hovik Manucharyan

Website: https://groong.org/podcasts/WiR-20201220.html Recorded: Dec 20, 2020