Republicans Win Majority in National Assembly, Controversy Anticipated
YEREVAN (A.W.)—In what will either be viewed as a memorable political triumph or the start of an endless campaign of protests, the Republican Party of Armenia claimed victory in the Armenian National Assembly elections on May 6.
Scenes from the elections (Photo by Aaron Spagnolo, The Armenian Weekly)
Although international news reports had predicted a win for [...]
Garbis: A Defeatist Nation
With the Armenian National Assembly elections slated for May 6, I am obliged to reflect upon the political situation of the last four years and contemplate where Armenia is headed. These elections will be the most important in this republic’s brief history as a test for the functioning of democracy, yet most people don’t realize [...]
Garbis: Notes on Emigration
Emigration is the single most detrimental threat to the Armenian nation today, even more so than governmental corruption. The National Statistics Service insists that the population of Armenia is still 3.2 million, a figure it has maintained since 2001 since the last census was taken. Meanwhile, behinds closed doors rumors are heard that there are [...]
Garbis: Reflecting on 20 Years of Independence
Twenty years ago when Armenia declared itself independent from Soviet rule, it was not only claiming statehood, it was calling for a restoration of values. The Armenian people would be able to think and create freely in a fledgling democracy that was both naive and highly optimistic. Many people believed that prosperity was on the [...]
An Opposition Astray
YEREVAN (A.W.)–The Armenian National Congress, a block of oppositional parties led by former president Levon Ter-Petrossian, has been actively engaged in negotiations with the ruling Republican Party. The main item on the agenda is the holding of early presidential elections, citing those held in February 2008 as having been marred by electoral fraud. Snap elections [...]
Garbis: Opposition’s Demands Met: Now What?
The three demands of the Armenian National Congress put before the government—namely the release of all “political prisoners,” the right to hold public rallies at Liberty Square, and a new (although fruitless) investigation into the events of March 1, 2008 that left 10 people dead— have now all been surprisingly met. The most popular jailed [...]
Exclusive Interview with Raffi Hovannisian
‘Armenians in our own country have to be liberated,’ says Heritage Party leader
YEREVAN, Armenia (A.W.)—It is the fifth day of Raffi Hovannisian’s hunger strike in Freedom Square. An Armenian American, he is a former foreign minister of the Republic of Armenia and is the leader of the Heritage political party, serving as one of [...]
Garbis: Can ‘Revolution’ in Armenia Be Real?
Last week a peaceful protest in front of the Government Building in Yerevan turned ugly when a swarm of police officers that actually outnumbered the protesters themselves came on the scene. The people collected there were voicing their objections to the highly controversial ban on street trade throughout Yerevan, forcing grandmothers selling cilantro and lemons [...]
Trying to Make a Buck in Armenia: A Man Struggles to Stay in Business
Garegin Habajian, who goes by the nickname Gagik, operated his own fuel business from his home garage on Davit Bek Street in the Aresh district of Erebuni. One by one, cars would pull up in front alongside an old oak tree that wraps around the frame of a bench missing its wooden seat.
Two oversized funnels [...]
Garbis: Armenians React to ‘Failing’ Turkish-Israeli Relations
With recent news reports about renewed efforts to have official resolutions recognizing the genocide passed by the U.S. Congress—with the support of Jewish interest groups—and even in the Knesset, Yerevan Armenians are trying to make sense of the changing political tide in the region.
One school of thought is that in both U.S. and Israeli lawmaking [...]
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