As a new border commission prepares to start work, it will have to reckon with persistent disagreements over what to do with a handful of quirks of Soviet border-drawing.
The dram has gained about 15 percent against the dollar in recent weeks, bolstered by an influx of Russians to Armenia and a move to buy gas in rubles rather than dollars.
Even as opposition mounts to the government’s negotiating strategy with Azerbaijan, it’s unclear whether the protest leaders can offer a credible alternative.
They say that the parliament is standing aside while the executive branch unilaterally makes consequential decisions about the future of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Many Armenians fear that the government is preparing to cede control over Nagorno-Karabakh and are demanding that their prime minister renounce such a concession.
One Armenian-populated village was evacuated and taken – at least temporarily – by Azerbaijani forces, as Russia criticized Baku for breaching the ceasefire.
Many Armenians sympathize with the Ukrainians under attack, but are tightly bound to Russia and resentful of Ukraine’s long-standing pro-Azerbaijan position on Karabakh.
The two lawmakers brought up the contentious history of the city’s most famous Islamic monument, and Azerbaijan’s president suggested they were in physical danger.
Even as tech has created good opportunities for a small middle class in Armenia, the sector’s effect on the country’s economy as a whole has grown less noticeably.
The Ministry of Culture issued a new statement responding to international criticism of an earlier announcement that it intended to “remove” Armenian “forgeries” from churches on its territory.
In his attempts to maintain neutrality, Armen Sarkissian managed to alienate both the old regime that appointed him and the post-revolution government.
Many object that the CSTO didn’t aid Armenia when it asked for help, and pointed at the irony of the current government coming to power as the result of street protests.
