Tavush

Tavush is Armenia’s northeastern province, bordering Georgia and Azerbaijan. In early 2024 it became the center of a major political crisis when the Pashinyan government announced a border delimitation agreement transferring several villages in the Tavush region to Azerbaijan. The government argued the transfers were necessary for progress toward a peace agreement; critics argued they were unilateral concessions with no reciprocal benefit to Armenia.

The Tavush delimitation sparked the Srbazan Movement, a protest campaign led by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan of the Armenian Apostolic Church, which drew tens of thousands of demonstrators to Yerevan and provincial cities in the spring and summer of 2024. The movement was the largest sustained opposition mobilization since Pashinyan came to power in 2018, and it ended when the Archbishop stood down amid what supporters characterized as a crackdown. Several movement leaders, including Galstanyan himself, were subsequently arrested.

Groong covered the Tavush delimitation and the Srbazan Movement extensively, tracking the protest escalation, the government’s response, the legal challenges to the border transfers, and the arrests of movement figures. Episodes in this category address the territorial implications, the political dynamics, and what the crisis revealed about the state of Armenian democratic institutions.

EU Interference and Armenia's 2026 Elections | Ep 543, May 10, 2026 [EP543]

Posted on Sunday, May 10, 2026 | Category: Armenia, Politics, Armenian Church, Nagorno Karabakh, Artsakh Blockade, Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkey, Georgia, Human Rights, NATO, European Union | Series: cog, video

Groong Links:

Guest(s):

Topics:

EU role in Armenia’s elections
Fact-checkers and political bias
Dissent labeled as disinformation
Lawsuits, pressure, and intimidation
Censorship and social media control

Episode 543 | Recorded: May 7, 2026

#Armenia #ArmenianElections #EU #Disinformation #FactChecking #Censorship #CivilSociety #FreeSpeech

EU Interference and Armenia's 2026 Elections | Ep 543, May 10, 2026 [EP543]

Posted on Sunday, May 10, 2026 | Category: Armenia, Politics, Armenian Church, Nagorno Karabakh, Artsakh Blockade, Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkey, Georgia, Human Rights, NATO, European Union

Groong Links:

Guest(s):

Topics:

EU role in Armenia’s elections
Fact-checkers and political bias
Dissent labeled as disinformation
Lawsuits, pressure, and intimidation
Censorship and social media control

Episode 543 | Recorded: May 7, 2026

#Armenia #ArmenianElections #EU #Disinformation #FactChecking #Censorship #CivilSociety #FreeSpeech

Transcript: EU Interference and Armenia's 2026 Elections | Ep 543, May 10, 2026 [EP543]

Hovhannes Ishkhanyan and Nare Navasardyan discuss the growing role of the EU, fact-checking networks, and counter-disinformation programs in Armenia’s 2026 election environment. The conversation examines claims of foreign interference, the use of “hybrid threats” and “disinformation” labels against domestic dissent, and the political bias of Armenia’s fact-checking ecosystem. The guests also share personal experiences with lawsuits, public confrontation, protest, and censorship, raising broader questions about free speech, election fairness, and the management of Armenia’s information space.