Your Namak for Friday, May 6
Opposition protests continue for second week, Armenia and U.S. launch strategic dialogue, and Armenian currency on the rise.
Hi there, here’s your weekly briefing of Armenian news in English, curated, reported and fact-checked by journalists Astrig Agopian and Maral Tavitian.
Opposition Protests Continue for Second Week, Hundreds of Demonstrators Detained
Armenia’s parliamentary opposition demanded that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan resign before walking out of Pashinyan’s question-and-answer session at the National Assembly on May 4, as anti-government protests continued in Yerevan for a second week. In civil disobedience actions aimed at highlighting what they have dubbed the “Resistance Movement,” protestors blocked major thoroughfares and held sit-ins at key locations throughout the capital.
According to Armenia’s Ministry of the Interior, more than 400 demonstrators have been arrested since May 2, as police faced accusations of using excessive force. In a statement, Armenia’s Human Rights Defender Kristine Grigoryan recorded cases of police brutality against protestors, including “dragging citizens while putting them in police cars, causing bodily injuries (in the case of two persons, broken bones were registered), twisting hands unnecessarily, and pushing the heads of citizens down.”
The mass demonstrations come in response to recent remarks by Pashinyan that many in Armenia interpreted as signaling his willingness to cede control of Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan. The opposition blame Pashinyan for Armenia’s defeat in the catastrophic 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, and accuse him of failing to secure the safe return of Armenian prisoners of war and address systemic economic issues plaguing the country.
Armenia and United States Launch Strategic Dialogue
Following a meeting in Washington on May 2, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the launch of the U.S.-Armenia Strategic Dialogue. The program aims to strengthen bilateral relations in various sectors and support the development of Armenia’s civil society. According to a statement by Armenia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the parties also signed a Nuclear Cooperation Memorandum of Understanding, a mechanism through which to build stronger ties between nuclear experts, industries and researchers in the two countries.
Armenia Submits Six-Point Peace Proposal to Azerbaijan
On May 5, Secretary of Armenia’s Security Council Armen Grigoryan said that Yerevan has submitted a six-point peace proposal to Baku. In mid-March, Azerbaijan published a set of five requirements to reach a peace treaty with Armenia. Grigoryan said that Armenia’s proposal comes in response to these demands, the goal being to combine the two packages to reach a long-term settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Armenia’s Currency on the Rise
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has rattled the global economy, Armenia’s currency has increased sharply in value. After hovering at its usual rate of just under 500 to the dollar, the Armenian dram dropped to about 518 to the dollar in mid-March before rising to 450 on May 4, a 15 percent gain in roughly six weeks.
In a press conference on May 3, President of Armenia’s Central Bank Martin Galstyan partially attributed the currency’s rise to the influx of Russian migrants in Armenia. “We have international visitors in Armenia,” Galstyan said. “When these people spend money in our resorts or restaurants, it is considered an export growth from the perspective of the balance of payments in Armenia.” To mitigate the effects of international sanctions on the Russian economy, Armenia also recently began purchasing natural gas from Russia in rubles rather than dollars.
Zhanna Oganesyan: “I am only 21 years old and I have seen two wars in my life”
In lieu of a traditional profile this week, we are pleased to publish a personal essay by Ukrainian-Armenian Zhanna Oganesyan, who writes about experiencing two wars in her young lifetime.
I am only 21 years old and I have seen two wars in my life. The first in my ancestral homeland, in Nagorno-Karabakh, the second in Ukraine, where I was born and live. I tried to write this text to gather my thoughts and tell you about how I am going through these wars.
The war in Nagorno-Karabakh began in the fall of 2020. I would describe my feelings during the 44 days of the war in one word: agony.
During the war in Artsakh I did not want to live. I said to myself: am I worse than those 17-year-old, 20-year-old boys who are dying there now? I am not better than them. Why do I live and they do not? I said to myself: this is unfair.
It was hard for me. Hard to eat, sleep, study and work, as everyone else next to me in Ukraine did. People did not understand that my soul was in hell and I could not condemn them. I had no idea what others thought when they saw me, but I knew they could not even begin to imagine what was happening inside of me and how deeply terrible I felt.
You have to volunteer if you do not want to become a complete madman.
I volunteered during every day of the 44-day war in Nagorno-Karabakh. Volunteering is throwing all your strength into battle, squeezing it to the last drop. I disseminated information, wrote to international organizations. I collected material aid for war victims and refugees.
During the Nagorno-Karabakh War, I was too young and too emotional. I watched a lot of negative videos, wrote aggressive comments, entered into discussions and read a lot of news about death during the day. I was killing my nervous system.
In wartime, it is more important than ever to be assembled, to store your energy, to direct it in the right way.
After the bloody war in Nagorno-Karabakh ended, we continued to help. In the spring, I realized I wanted to go to Armenia and work with children who were close to the war zone. My friend and I went together.
We helped not only the children, but also ourselves. Such volunteering restored our faith and gave us peace of mind. It was serious therapy for our soul that changed the way we had lived.
I was already experienced when the war started in Ukraine. I knew what to do and knew I would not influence the situation globally. Despite the fact explosions were heard in my city every day and we were constantly in the bomb shelter –– I was not afraid. I did not feel anything.
I knew: you just have to do everything you can do.
From the first day of the war, I just opened my laptop and wrote to my friends, “What are you doing now? I’m joining.” And we started working. We translated texts about the situation in Ukraine into other languages, helped in various charitable foundations, collected money for bulletproof vests and looked for humanitarian aid for those who needed it.
It was not easy to do volunteer work in war conditions. My city Mykolayiv is also a combat zone –– the constant sirens and explosions and bad news distracted me from my work. With each sound of the siren, my family and I descended from the ninth floor to the shelter. Finally, on the 43rd day of the war, I decided to evacuate to a safer city in Ukraine.
I heard explosions constantly. I have always had mixed feelings about this city. I have never been close to the mentality of people, their behavior and habits. Maybe it is because I felt a little overwhelmed. However, at the same time, I have many wonderful memories connected with this city. First of all, these are the memories of friendship, books, studies and work. These are walks under the rain, parties, photo shoots with a friend. It is a long search for yourself in the world.
During this war, I have a feeling of constant deja vu. Yes, I was already experiencing something familiar. But now I am not 19 years old. I react calmly when I read death statistics, when I see destroyed infrastructure. Strange to say, but this time I came to terms with human pain. However, I did not understand: is it a stage of acceptance of the situation or a stage of disappointment?
When the war comes, you do not care about material things, you do not care about your own development. You just want peace. This is the similarity of any war.
Now, as I write this, the 57th day of the war is unfolding in Ukraine. Today I ran into Kharkiv residents who fled their hometown only on the 53rd day of the war. They say, "We stayed to the end."
War has become the main reason that motivates me to fight for the rights of the people I love.
To watch: Gyumri Without Cars: Will the Proposal Pass?, a video about an ambitious plan to build a pedestrian-friendly landscape in the center of Armenia’s second largest city.
To listen: Who are the “Aghpar?” With Nare Kupelian, a podcast unpacking the history behind this slur used to describe Western Armenians who repatriated to Soviet Armenia in the mid-20th century. After being exiled from their homes during the genocide, thousands of Armenians arrived in the motherland with dreams of rebuilding their lives. Those expectations did not match the hostile reception many received from their own countrymen –– scars of which can still be seen today.
To watch: Le Piano, a short film by filmmaker Levon Minasian. Thirteen years after the 1988 earthquake that devastated Gyumri, a talented orphan receives a piano. But the trailer where she lives is too small to store the instrument.
That’s it for today, see you next week!
Questions? Story ideas? An urge to say barev/parev? You can send us a secure email at namaknews@protonmail.com.