Tavush

Last updated: May 29, 2026

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.

Markus Ritter - The European Union Mission in Armenia | Ep 322 - Mar 29, 2024 [EP322]

Posted on Friday, Mar 29, 2024 | Category: EU, Armenia, Artsakh, Nagorno Karabakh, Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia, European Union, Turkey, Georgia | Series: cog, video

Topics:

  • Mission Details
    • Mission & Goals
    • Operational Details
    • Communication
    • Immunity
  • Perceptions from Neighboring Countries
  • Incidents
    • August 15 ,2023
    • Nerkin Hand

Guest:

Episode 322 | Recorded: March 26, 2024

Tevan Poghosyan - Political Prisoners in Armenia | Stoltenberg in the South Caucasus | Pashinyan in Tavush | Ep 320 - Mar 24, 2024 [EP320]

Posted on Monday, Mar 25, 2024 | Category: Armenia, Artsakh, Politics, Nagorno Karabakh, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Russia, Iran, NATO, Georgia, Ukraine, Genocide, Human Rights, Economy | Series: wir

Guest:

Topics:

  • Terror Attack in Moscow
  • Growing List of Political Prisoners in Armenia
    • Narek Samsonyan & Vazgen Saghatelyan brutally arrested
    • Narek Malyan Exonerated, Remains Jailed
  • Pashinyan in Tavush
  • Stoltenberg’s in the South Caucasus

Episode 320 | Recorded: March 25, 2024

Arthur G Martirosyan - Impressions of Canadian Amb. Interview | More Concessions by Pashinyan | EU Resolution for Armenia | Systemic Corruption | Ep 318 - Mar 18, 2024 [EP318]

Posted on Tuesday, Mar 19, 2024 | Category: Armenia, Artsakh, Politics, Nagorno Karabakh, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Russia, Iran, Artsakh Blockade, European Union, Ukraine, Georgia, Genocide, Economy, Middle East, Syria, Human Rights | Series: wir

Guest:

Topics:

  • Reactions to Interview with Canadian Ambassador
  • More Concessions Signaled by Pashinyan
  • EU Parliament Resolution on Armenia
  • Fish Rots from the Head

Episode 318 | Recorded: March 18, 2024

Dziunik Aghajanian - Vazgen Sargsyan | Stalled With Enemies and Allies | Looking for New Friends | Ep 313 - Mar 10, 2024 [EP313]

Posted on Tuesday, Mar 12, 2024 | Category: Armenia, Artsakh, Nagorno Karabakh, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Russia, Iran, European Union, Israel, Ukraine, Economy, Georgia, NATO | Series: wir, video

Guest:

Topics:

  • Armenia Stalled
    • Stalled with Enemies
    • Stalled with Allies
  • Economic Diversification
  • Fish Rots from the Head

Episode 313 | Recorded: Mar 11, 2024

Karen Vrtanesyan - Illusion of Normalcy | Political Prisoners & Judicial Harassment | Negotiations | Military Capacity | What Next | Ep 302 - January 14, 2024 [EP302]

Posted on Monday, Jan 15, 2024 | Category: Armenia, Artsakh, Politics, Nagorno Karabakh, Azerbaijan, Armenian Church, Armenian Genocide, Genocide, Turkey, Georgia, Russia, Human Rights, Iran, NATO, India | Series: wir

Guest:

Topics:

  • “Forced Illusion of Normalcy”
  • Political Prisoners and Judicial Harassment
  • Negotiations and “Peace Treaty”
  • Armenia’s Military Capacity
  • What Need to be Done?
  • Thoughts from the Participants

Episode 302 | Recorded: January 14, 2024

Arthur G Martirosyan - Artsakh Surrenders, Armenia Watches | What 'Peace Treaty' in Granada? | Arrested Artsakh Leaders Held Hostage [EP281]

Posted on Monday, Oct 2, 2023 | Category: Armenia, Artsakh, Politics, Nagorno Karabakh, Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkey, Genocide, USA, Artsakh Blockade, European Union, China, Human Rights, Middle East, Ukraine | Series: wir

Guest:

Topics:

  • Artsakh Surrenders, Armenia Watches
  • What “Peace Treaty” in Granada?
  • Arrested Artsakh Leaders Held Hostage

Episode 281 | Recorded: October 1, 2023

Varuzhan Geghamyan: Artsakh Under Blockade: Day 11 [EP191]

Posted on Friday, Dec 23, 2022 | Category: Artsakh, Politics, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkey, Artsakh Blockade, Nagorno Karabakh, Iran, Genocide, NATO, Georgia, Human Rights, Syria, Ukraine, European Union, Middle East, India | Series: cog, video

“Turkish threats are going to disappear only when there is no Armenia” - Varuzhan Geghamyan

Guest:

Topic:

  • We continue our coverage of the crisis in Artsakh by developments in the UN Security Council as well as Turkish and Iranian concerns in the region.
  • More than 120 thousand people, including 30 thousand children, are under siege. Today is the 11th day of the crisis.
  • This interview is a continuation of the collaboration between ANN/Groong and 168 Hours aiming to bring you more English-language coverage on the developments of this very serious humanitarian
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State of The Opposition | Update on Am/Az Border Positions | State of the Artsakh LoC (Ep #40) [EP40]

Posted on Monday, Jan 11, 2021 | Category: Armenia, Russia, Georgia, Middle East, Turkey, Ukraine | Series: wir

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

Opposition Talks: Arthur Khachatryan - ARF Dashnaktsutyun (Ep. 34) [EP34]

Posted on Saturday, Dec 19, 2020 | Category: Armenia, Russia, Armenian Genocide, Economy, Genocide, Turkey | Series: cog

Conversation with ARF’s Arthur Khachatryan

Following the trilateral Karabakh ceasefire of Nov 9, the Armenian opposition has nearly universally condemned Nikol Pashinyan’s agreement to the deal. The largest opposition grouping, called Movement of the Salvation of the Homeland (Հայրենիքի փրկության շաժում in Armenian), composed of 17 political parties including the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), Prosperous Armenia, and the Republican Party, are demanding Pashinyan’s immediate resignation and the appointment of their unified candidate, Vazgen Manukyan

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