{"id":342071,"date":"2025-11-08T20:36:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T16:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/epress.am\/?p=342071"},"modified":"2025-11-23T00:11:37","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T20:11:37","slug":"cash-map-sorrow-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/2025\/11\/08\/cash-map-sorrow-christ.html","title":{"rendered":"Samvel\u2019s Campaign Cash, Robert\u2019s Map, Nikol\u2019s Sorrow, and Gagik\u2019s Christ"},"content":{"rendered":"

Against a backdrop of clerics being arrested and priests competing in liturgies, local self-government elections will be held on November 16 in Vagharshapat (\u201cHoly Etchmiadzin\u201d). The main theme is the confrontation between the political authorities and the church elite – a conflict playing out ahead of the 2026 parliamentary elections. For most political forces, municipal elections are a secondary event; many are already looking toward June next year.<\/span><\/p>\n

The most popular topic is <\/span>peace<\/span><\/i>. In the ruling party\u2019s imagination, it has already been achieved. Every opposition force has its own \u201cbut.\u201d Some demand peace – \u201cbut with dignity,\u201d others peace – \u201cbut with Russia,\u201d or peace – \u201cbut with Western mediation,\u201d peace – \u201cbut with the return of the captives,\u201d \u201cbut with Karabakh on the agenda, with the right of Artsakh Armenians to reclaim their homes.\u201d Recently, this last demand has grown noticeably weaker, even in the rhetoric of <\/span>the loudest patriots.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the social track: promises of jobs, high pensions, low taxes, targeted benefits. Parties that previously focused exclusively on foreign policy have recently discovered that a significant portion of the population, in addition to spiritual and patriotic sentiments, also has social problems.<\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

In early October, Robert Kocharyan<\/strong>, a former president of both Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, held a press conference. He showed up to meet journalists with an electronic map depicting Karabakh as part of Armenia. A few days later, his ally Garnik Danielyan was already speaking not about <\/span>returning Karabakh<\/span><\/i>, but about <\/span>returning to Karabakh<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kocharyan\u2019s remarks covered everything, but especially the TRIPP project – a corridor-road through Meghri that would connect Azerbaijan with Nakhichevan. After a recent rebranding, it was renamed in honor of U.S. President Donald Trump. Kocharyan hinted that if elected, he would hand the road over to the Americans on more favorable terms.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"hq720\"<\/a>
\nRobert Kocharyan at a press conference \/ October 7, 2025<\/span><\/p>\n

The ex-president spoke about Pashinyan\u2019s \u201cdefeatism\u201d (<\/span>\u201cNikol gives everything away\u201d)<\/span><\/i>; about corruption, with which he himself is often associated\u00a0 (<\/span>\u201cthere has never been corruption like this before\u201d)<\/span><\/i>; and even about Poghos Poghosyan, whom his bodyguard beat to death for a too-familiar \u201chi, Rob\u201d (<\/span>\u201cby that time I was already gone, even my mother called me Rob\u201d).<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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The former president spoke about Pashinyan\u2019s \u201cdefeatism\u201d (\u201cNikol gives everything away\u201d), about corruption \u2014 with which he is often associated himself (\u201cthere has never been corruption like this before\u201d) \u2014 and even about Poghos Poghosyan, who was beaten to death by his bodyguard for an overly familiar \u201cHi, Rob\u201d (\u201cby that time I had already left; even my mother called me Rob\u201d).<\/p>\n

Kocharyan has no plans to wage war; there will be no revanche. According to \u201csociological estimates,\u201d he said, Pashinyan will step down after the elections, and his own bloc, along with the team of arrested Russian billionaire and owner of Tashir Group Samvel Karapetyan – with whom Kocharyan is ready to cooperate – will enter Parliament. Later, Karapetyan\u2019s nephew stated that they are not planning to cooperate either with Kocharyan or with the third president, Serzh Sargsyan.<\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Samvel Karapetyan\u2019s \u201cIn Our Way\u201d movement already has pre-election offices in several regions. They have received the church\u2019s blessing, but the party itself has not yet been registered. First, their leader is in prison. Second, he is a Russian citizen and cannot become Armenia\u2019s prime minister. The movement is now busy looking for a formal leader and a legally eligible candidate.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"photo_2025-11-06_02-23-16\"<\/a>
\nA banner on the fa\u00e7ade of the Tashir department store in Yerevan calling for the release of Karapetyan, known by the nicknames Tashir-Samo and Samo Kaluzhsky<\/span><\/p>\n

The elder Karapetyan is represented by his nephew Narek, who promises re-industrialization and an economic miracle: dozens of new factories, jobs \u2014 to the unemployed, guaranteed markets \u2014 to the farmers, circuses \u2014 to circus lovers<\/span>, and Soviet-style prosperity for Armenia\u2019s regions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"572488533_25739787918942369_6100184402741097607_n\"<\/a>
\nRecently, Narek Karapetyan visited the United States to give a pre-election interview to Tucker Carlson<\/span><\/p>\n

On social media, Karapetyan\u2019s supporters have a recognizable style: uniform profiles generate enthusiastic comments in Armenian – clearly machine-translated. Offline, the \u201cIn Our Way\u201d movement has mostly attracted those who split off from other opposition initiatives. For example, former Kocharyan lawyer Aram Vardevanyan, who was a deputy from the <\/span>Armenia<\/span><\/i> faction and an active participant in the <\/span>Resistance Movement<\/span><\/i>. Or lawyers Roman Yeritsyan and Arega Hovsepyan, who usually speak on behalf of Karabakh refugees. Recently, they targeted Karabakh civic activist Lianna Petrosyan, who had dared to discuss the social problems of displaced people with the new Minister of Social Affairs. <\/span>\u201cIn Our Way\u201d<\/span><\/i> focuses on domestic politics. Even Arega Hovsepyan\u2019s statements have become noticeably more restrained: at the movement\u2019s congress, she made just one statement on behalf of the Artsakh Armenians – <\/span>\u201cthe issue of return is not closed.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

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Robert Kocharyan\u2019s votes are also expected to be siphoned off by former team member Andranik Tevanyan. At one point, he was part of the <\/span>Armenia<\/span><\/i> faction, but he entered Yerevan\u2019s City Council as the leader of the new <\/span>Mother Armenia<\/span><\/i> bloc – with the support of the Dashnaktsutyun party and Kocharyan personally. <\/span>Mother Armenia<\/span><\/i> has decided to run independently in the 2026 elections. The party\u2019s new abbreviation, <\/span>MaHaK<\/span><\/i>, translates as \u201cclub\u201d or \u201cbaton.\u201d According to Tevanyan, it refers to the saying: <\/span>\u201cbefriend the dog, but don\u2019t let go of the stick.\u201d<\/span><\/i> Tevanyan promises that if he wins, he will deliver <\/span>\u201cnational, democratic changes of a peaceful nature,\u201d<\/span><\/i> replace <\/span>\u201coligarchic capitalism with people\u2019s capitalism with a human face,\u201d<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>\u201ccreate a system of global Armenianhood.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\"92e2753f-7437-464d-b4b2-adf7a7572728-1758462269055-770x_\"<\/a>
\nAndranik Tevanian and his baton<\/span><\/p>\n

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And although Kocharyan\u2019s party backbone is the Dashnaktsutyun, the party has already suggested it could run in the elections without him. The Dashnaks will not join <\/span>In Our Way<\/span><\/i> either, as Karapetyan\u2019s team does not want them to. Dashnak Ishkhan Saghatelyan has been asserting for six years that <\/span>\u201cNikol Pashinyan will not be able to achieve peace,\u201d<\/span><\/i> while they can, because if elected, they will negotiate better. He called the Armenian-Azerbaijani declaration renouncing military confrontation, signed on August 8 in Washington, unacceptable. On other issues, there is no clarity.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"IMG_3540\"<\/a>
\nARF Dashnaktsutyun symbols (\u201cDeath or Freedom,\u201d \u201cVengeance, Vengeance\u201d)<\/span><\/p>\n

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In early October, former commander of the Artsakh Defense Army and leader of the Liberal Party, Samvel Babayan, was considering forming a coalition with former head of Armenia\u2019s National Security Service, Artur Vanetsyan. Babayan described Vanetsyan as a <\/span>\u201cyoung figure,\u201d<\/span><\/i> promising to help him establish himself. Vanetsyan\u2019s party responded that their leader had no problem with that. Whether the collaboration actually took place remains unknown.<\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Disagreements are apparent among the pro-European parties. Aram Sargsyan\u2019s <\/span>Republic<\/span><\/i>, Arman Babajanyan\u2019s <\/span>For the Republic<\/span><\/i>, and Tigran Khzmalyan\u2019s <\/span>European Party of Armenia<\/span><\/i> no longer agree on everything. Unlike Sargsyan and Babajanyan, Khzmalyan is not enthusiastic about Trump\u2019s road. In his view, it undermines the sovereignty of the Armenian state. He wants American mediation replaced purely with European mediation. In any case, their parties are ready to form a coalition with Nikol Pashinyan\u2019s <\/span>Civil Contract<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"photo_2025-11-06_13-44-43\"<\/a>
\nEuro-renovation (Euroremont<\/em>)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The national civic association <\/span>Hayakve<\/span><\/i>, which previously acted as an <\/span>\u201cindependent monitoring organization,\u201d<\/span><\/i> is also preparing for the 2026 elections. The frontman of the association is Avetik Chalabyan, a civilization researcher and mining industry expert.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even former ombudsman Arman Tatoyan has decided to run. To avoid associations with ex-presidents, his allies have been encouraging him since 2022 to run as a separate, undiscredited candidate. Now, many of them are disappointed by the ex-ombudsman\u2019s slowness \u2014 and especially by his latest interview.<\/span><\/p>\n

The symbol of his movement <\/span>Wings of Unity<\/span><\/i> is a winged bull \u2014 <\/span>\u201cstrong and nonjudgmental.\u201d<\/span><\/i> In a CivilNet interview, Tatoyan indeed did not judge. He spoke of his intelligence, his studies in the U.S., Europe, and Russia, and promised that, if he came to power, he would lower taxes, grant benefits to investors from the Diaspora, avoid increasing the national debt, make healthcare free, and so on. Lately, his favorite topic has been <\/span>\u201cWestern Azerbaijan.\u201d<\/span><\/i> This propagandistic thesis of Ilham Aliyev seems to frighten Tatoyan more than anything else.<\/span><\/p>\n

The block of Shant Harutyunyan \u2014 a political prisoner from Tatoyan\u2019s ombudsman days \u2014 is ready to cooperate with him.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"photo_2025-11-06_02-07-35\"<\/a>
\nTo the left of Arman Tatoyan is Shahen Arutyunyan, the son of Shant Arutyunyan<\/span><\/p>\n

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The new constitutional movement <\/span>Njar<\/span><\/i> (<\/span>\u201cThe Scales\u201d<\/span><\/i>) is not registered as a party. It was founded by former human rights advocate Nina Karapetyants, former member of the <\/span>Citizen\u2019s Decision<\/span><\/i> party Garegin Miskaryan, and co-owner of the Mediamax news agency, entrepreneur and inventor Artashes Ikonomov.Two months after its founding, Miskaryan left Njar.Now Karapetyants and Ikonomov promise a female prime minister, a new Constitution, and declare their intention to radically change the system of government.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"photo_2025-11-06_02-11-14\"<\/a>
\nIkonomov, Karapetyants, Miskaryan<\/span><\/p>\n

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Soon, the <\/span>Brotherhood in Arms<\/span><\/i> order of former Armenian National Congress member Grant Ter-Abramyan will become the <\/span>National Revolution<\/span><\/i> party. Whether they are preparing to participate in the elections is unknown. <\/span>Brotherhood in Arms<\/span><\/i> promises to take radical measures if Pashinyan dares to amend Armenia\u2019s Constitution to accommodate Aliyev\u2019s demands.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"470034228_587444760346015_630774736200984750_n\"<\/a>
\n\u00abBrotherhood in Arms\u00bb<\/span>; second from the right is Grant Ter-Abramyan<\/span><\/p>\n

Oligarch Gagik Tsarukyan is returning to politics. In recent years, he has been preoccupied with a monument to Jesus Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n

His <\/span>Prosperous Armenia<\/span><\/i> party will run in the elections with the <\/span>Proposalto Armenia<\/span><\/i> platform, seeking to unite everyone who wants <\/span>\u201cthe country to prosper, to be strong, independent, and powerful, and the people \u2014 wealthy.\u201d<\/span><\/i> Tsarukyan will join forces with the <\/span>Democratic Alternative<\/span><\/i> party, whose leader Suren Surenyants occasionally appears on Public TV under the opposition quota.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\u054d\u056b\u0580\u0565\u056c\u056b\u00b4<\/a>
\nGagik Tsarukyan and the monument to Jesus Christ (unfinished<\/em>)<\/span><\/p>\n

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The <\/span>Armenian National Congress<\/span><\/i> of first president Levon Ter-Petrosyan will also compete for voters\u2019 support. It is not opposed to an alliance with the <\/span>In Our Way<\/span><\/i> movement. The Congress is currently seeking funding for its election campaign, focused on criticizing Pashinyan\u2019s \u201cdefeatism\u201d and preventing a shift in the country\u2019s geopolitical direction.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

\"photo_2025-11-06_13-48-16<\/a>
\nIn 1991, the Mexican TV series \u201cThe Rich Also Cry\u201d<\/em> premiered on Soviet central television<\/span><\/p>\n

A Tale of One Impeachment<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Republican Party of Serzh Sargsyan exudes passivity and apathy. Sargsyan believes it is too early to talk about elections. For the most part, the Republicans have been occupied with remote arguments with Kocharyan\u2019s supporters. The teams of former presidents spent several months trying to figure out who actually brought Pashinyan to power.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Then the Republican faction <\/span>\u201cI Have the Honor\u201d<\/span><\/i> announced it would try to remove the prime minister before the elections through impeachment. This strange process has been dragging on for seven months.<\/span><\/p>\n

The opposition had been talking about impeachment since the period of the <\/span>\u201cSacred Struggle\u201d<\/span><\/i> of the arrested Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan. Everyone understood that the initiative would lead nowhere: there were not even enough votes to bring it onto Parliament\u2019s agenda. Later, the topic of impeachment was taken up by former Armenian ambassador to Poland, blogger Edgar Gazaryan, and former adviser to ex-police chief Vova Gasparyan, Narek Malyan. They called on the parliamentary opposition to start the impeachment process, and the Republican faction got to work. It soon became clear that none of them had a candidate for the post of prime minister.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"4d81fc4a-ebcd-4e0e-0499-08dd82022d88_cx0_cy32_cw0_w1023_r1_s<\/a>
\nNarek Malyan and Edgar Gazaryan called for impeachment<\/span><\/p>\n

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The opposition parliamentary forces \u2014 the <\/span>I Have the Honor<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Armenia<\/span><\/i> blocs \u2014 declared that they were ready to vote for each other\u2019s candidates but would not put forward their own. In other words, the Republicans wanted Kocharyan to run, while Kocharyan\u2019s team wanted the Republicans, who had initiated this saga, to find someone from among themselves. No solution was found, and expelled members of the parliamentary majority \u2014 Hovik Aghazaryan and Hako\u0562 Aslanyan \u2014 stepped in. They proposed Edmond Marukyan as a candidate. Kocharyan\u2019s and Sargsyan\u2019s blocs rejected the proposal. Marukyan, in turn, suggested the arrested Archbishop Mikayel Adjapayan, who declined.<\/span><\/p>\n

I Have the Honor<\/span><\/i> then proposed David Hambartsumyan \u2014 mayor of Masis, recently sentenced to six years and three months in prison for beating protesters in 2018. Ambartsumyan is now behind bars; at the time, he was free. The opposition needed four months to navigate the technical procedures required to submit the candidate\u2019s nomination documents.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the impeachment to proceed, at least 18 deputies had to support the opposition initiative. <\/span>I Have the Honor<\/span><\/i> claimed it had found these deputies. But when the impeachment project reached Parliament, not even the opposition voted for it: 10 of the 34 opposition deputies did not attend the session at all.<\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

\"photo_2025-11-06_02-24-21\"<\/a>
\nIn the center is Garegin II, to the right \u2014 Mikael Adjapayan<\/span><\/p>\n

Last year, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan\u2019s <\/span>Sacred Movement<\/span><\/i> failed to bring about a change of power through street protests and announced its participation in the 2026 elections. But Galstanyan and his associates have been arrested on charges of attempting a coup.<\/span><\/p>\n

Previously, the Armenian Apostolic Church supported Kocharyan; now it has a new favorite. The Catholicos has already blessed the movement of Russian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, and clergymen take part in their rallies, pray, and speak from the podiums.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"photo_2025-11-06_02-19-22\"<\/a>
\nThe prime minister on public transport<\/span><\/p>\n

Nikol Pashinyan\u2019s <\/span>Civil Contract<\/span><\/i> is particularly energized after the <\/span>\u201cpreliminary peace signing\u201d<\/span><\/i> in Washington, presented as a kind of rehabilitation following defeat in the Karabakh war, clashes on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, thousands of casualties, and the expulsion of Armenians from Karabakh. The propaganda remains the same: <\/span>if we are gone, tthere will be war.<\/span><\/i> But the reasons for scandals keep changing: conflict with the church, <\/span>\u201cthe government is me,\u201d<\/span><\/i> \u201cthe taste of the state will remain in your mouth,\u201d<\/span><\/i> and so on.<\/span><\/p>\n

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At the same time:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014 The prime minister publishes short daily videos: <\/span>enjoying music by Zemfira, Vysotsky, and Armenian and English-language hits; looking pensive, smiling kindly, making heart gestures with his fingers.
<\/span> \u2014 Continues riding his bicycle.<\/span>
\n<\/span> \u2014 Reads fables.<\/span>
\n<\/span> \u2014 Grills shashlik on camera.<\/span>
\n<\/span> \u2014 Shows off new hats.<\/span>
\n<\/span> \u2014 His deputies mock opposition colleagues.<\/span>
\n<\/span> \u2014 His wife tirelessly photographs herself reading books.<\/span>
\n<\/span> \u2014 Deputies work as hosts on a news site serving <\/span>Civil Contract<\/span><\/i>.<\/span>
\n<\/span> \u2014 They talk about the emergence of the <\/span>Fourth Republic<\/span><\/i>, apparently replacing the <\/span>Real Armenia<\/span><\/i>, which itself replaced previous declarative concepts (<\/span>\u201cstate-hearth,\u201d \u201cendless referendum,\u201d \u201cNew Armenia,\u201d \u201cAgora,\u201d<\/span><\/i> etc.).<\/span>
\n<\/span> \u2014 Opposition members in Armenia are illegally wiretapped, with occasional leaks.<\/span>
\n<\/span> \u2014 Arrests of opponents of the government continue.<\/span>
\n<\/span> \u2014 Pashinyan is obsessed with a war against the Catholicos, participates in performances of the defrocked priest, and continues reading psalms.<\/span>
\n<\/span> \u2014 The government sometimes initiates reforms (often half-measures): a new medical insurance project, promises to raise civil servants\u2019 salaries,amnesty for taxi drivers\u2019 accumulated fines, and a shorter military service.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s going on in pre-election Armenia?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341989,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tstyn_error":""},"categories":[65981,10,66041,66058],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342071"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epress.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}