On Insights, Eric Hacopian examines the electoral stakes at home, the geopolitical risks abroad, and how both could reshape Armenia’s political future.
#CivilNet #ՍիվիլՆեթ #insightswitherichacopian
On Insights, Eric Hacopian examines the electoral stakes at home, the geopolitical risks abroad, and how both could reshape Armenia’s political future.
#CivilNet #ՍիվիլՆեթ #insightswitherichacopian
As agreed during U.S. Vice President JD Vance’s visit to Yerevan earlier this month, Armenia plans to invest up to $9 billion in American-built small modular reactors (SMRs) to replace its aging Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant.
26.02.2026 07:33 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0On the night of December 31, 2023, an unprecedented New Year’s fireworks display lit up Republic Square in Yerevan. Just two months earlier, more than 100,000 people had been forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh.
19.02.2026 10:05 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Armenia has deported a Russian citizen of Chechen origin who was detained earlier this month for threatening to kill his daughter. Human rights defender Artur Sakunts told CivilNet on Monday that the man has also been barred from re-entering Armenia.
16.02.2026 12:47 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0In January 2025 in Baku, Azerbaijani writer Akram Aylisli gave an almost two-hour interview to well-known South Caucasus expert Thomas de Waal and literary translator Katherine E. Young. The recording is being published only a year later.
13.02.2026 11:23 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0After decades of sourcing most of its weapons from the Soviet Union and later Russia, India has nearly tripled its domestic arms production since 2013 as part of a push to turn itself into a global defence supplier.
10.02.2026 13:36 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0On his final day on his historic visit to Yerevan, US Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha visited the Armenian Genocide Museum. The visit on Tuesday was followed up with a post on the Vice President’s X account.
10.02.2026 13:33 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0JD Vance will bring up the Armenian prisoners with Aliyev #shorts
10.02.2026 12:53 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Armenia aims to become a global hub for artificial intelligence with the launch of Phase Two of a massive AI supercomputing project, the U.S.-based AI cloud and infrastructure company Firebird announced Tuesday in a press release provided to CivilNet.
10.02.2026 12:34 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0US Vice President J.D. Vance has visited Armenia, holding talks with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and announcing major agreements on nuclear energy, advanced technology, and defense cooperation.
10.02.2026 12:14 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Azerbaijan has filed a complaint over an Armenian figure skating pair’s choice of music for their performance at the Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, the country’s National Olympic Committee announced on Friday.
06.02.2026 12:30 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Seven former Nagorno-Karabakh officials held by Azerbaijan were sentenced Thursday by a Baku military court, with five receiving life imprisonment and two receiving 20-year terms, Azerbaijani media reported.
05.02.2026 12:12 — 👍 0 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Episode 200 of Insights with Eric Hacopian turns the camera inward
In a personal conversation, Lara Tcholakian and Eric Hacopian discuss the values, experiences, and worldview behind Insights with Eric Hacopian.
Armenia’s government on Thursday approved plans to redevelop the Noragyugh neighborhood just outside central Yerevan into a large-scale, multi-functional international business and residential hub known as “Yerevan Downtown.”
29.01.2026 11:47 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Former Armenian president Robert Kocharyan said on Thursday that Armenia has once again found itself at the center of competing great power interests, warning that current geopolitical shifts could expose the country to new risks if not carefully managed.
29.01.2026 10:34 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Gevorg Sujyan, one of four Armenians released from Azerbaijani custody earlier this month, has described what he says were years of unlawful detention, fabricated trials, and complete denial of legal rights while imprisoned in Baku.
26.01.2026 05:37 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Eleven residents of Nagorno-Karabakh who remained in the region after Azerbaijan’s September 2023 offensive have moved to Armenia, the country’s Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Arsen Torosyan announced on Friday.
23.01.2026 10:46 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Chairman of the Board of Peace Donald Trump flanked by members Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Ilham Aliyev
at the ceremony launching the initiative at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Armenia’s parliament voted on Tuesday to establish a new public holiday honoring those who died defending the nation, adding January 27 to the country’s calendar as a day of solemn remembrance.
20.01.2026 11:18 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
In this episode of the CivilNet podcast, commentator Eric Hacopian examines where the unrest in Iran may be headed and which outcomes are realistically possible.
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Azerbaijan has released four Armenian captives, Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced on Wednesday.
14.01.2026 13:06 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Iran’s ambassador to Armenia criticized Armenian law enforcement on Wednesday for allowing members of Yerevan’s Iranian community to hold daily protests near the country’s embassy, accusing the authorities of tolerating actions he described as offensive and hostile to Tehran.
14.01.2026 12:48 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Armenian authorities say they have been unable to establish contact with ethnic Armenians in Iran for several days, raising concern as anti-government protests and communications blackouts continue across the country.
12.01.2026 12:04 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0An action by Armenian cross-country skier Mikael Mikaelyan during the Tour de Ski has prompted Azerbaijan’s State Tourism Agency to formally appeal to the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS).
12.01.2026 11:51 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0#DemocracyWatch - As the 2026 parliamentary elections draw closer, every sphere of Armenia’s public life is gradually turning into an instrument of domestic political struggle.
09.01.2026 12:42 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0In this episode of the CivilNet podcast, CivilNet’s Eric Hacopian sets the record straight on some of the most contentious disputes in Armenia, from tensions between the government and the Armenian Apostolic Church to debates over foreign influence and electoral interference.
09.01.2026 05:47 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
In this special year-end episode of Insights, host Eric Hacopian shares his Christmas wish list for Armenia in 2026: from peace and security to better governance, institutions, and public discourse.
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As 2025 comes to an end, Armenia’s foreign and security policy can be described in one word: adaptation.
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The Armenian Apostolic Church’s television channel Shoghakat will cease operations on January 1 following the withdrawal of its public funding under a bill adopted by parliament in October. The Armenian government on Thursday approved a decision to disband the legal entity managing the channel.
29.12.2025 06:16 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0In this episode of Insights, host Eric Hacopian breaks down Turkey’s repeated insistence on linking normalization with Armenia to the signing of an Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty, and explains why Ankara’s long-standing promises to open the border are unlikely to be kept.
19.12.2025 08:06 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0