EVN Report

One month after Armenia’s 2026 parliamentary elections, what do the results of the vote reveal about the country’s evolving political landscape? Has Armenia entered a new phase of democratic development? What does the “cost of ruling” mean and why does a decline in support for the governing Civil Contract party not necessarily signal democratic decline?

In the summer of 2023, a convoy of trucks pulled up to the back entrance of the Yerevan Zoo. There were no public announcements, no press conferences, and no visible environmental oversight, just an offloading. Fourteen brown bears and 12 griffon vultures, species listed in Armenia’s Red Book of Endangered Species, were loaded and sent to Jamnagar, India.

But it is the sleek, black He by She (mirror polished steel, aluminum, fiberglass, urethane, paint, and secret object, 42″ x 84″, variable dimensions) that seduces the most. Here Peligian collapses oppositions between mind and body, masculine and feminine, interiority and external presence. Stretching seven feet in length, the sculpture consists of two dark, wave-like forms that meet and support one another at their apex, their mirrored silhouettes turning downward toward the earth.

Gear in hand, Anna Arzumanyan, Arthur Zeitounian and David Gevorkian hike up the rocky hill, careful not to slip. Across the Akhuryan River, just 380 meters away, the adhan, or the Muslim call to prayer, echoes from the minaret of a mosque in Turkey. Their destination is just a few steps away—the abandoned St. Shushanik Church near the ancient village Bagaran, on Armenia’s border with Turkey.

There is something very few people know about me. It’s something I’ve never spoken about publicly. But readers have told me how much they appreciate that, with every article, I give a little piece of myself. So today, I’m trusting you with something especially vulnerable and sharing a deeply personal part of my story, in the hope that it might help someone else reading this feel less alone. Twelve years ago, I went to rehab. I don’t like to talk about it.

In EVN Report’s news roundup for the week of July 3: The European Union announces tariff-free regime for 80% of Armenian exports; Armenia and Iran launch construction on the Kajaran tunnel, a key component of the North-South Highway; Armenia’s Government approves a $650 million public investment package for three major infrastructure projects and more.

Listen to the AI generated audio article. Your browser does not support the audio element. When Azerbaijan launched the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020, Armenia had no meaningful drone fleet. It had a handful of reconnaissance aircraft, virtually no loitering munitions, and a military leadership that had dismissed the threat posed by Azerbaijan’s drones, despite the lessons of the April 2016 Four-Day War.

Listen to the AI generated audio article. Your browser does not support the audio element. The 2026 Armenian Parliamentary elections were perhaps the most competitive and electorally complex in Armenia’s post-independence history, as the electorate demonstrated pluralistic aspirations, pocketbook voting, and narrowing of the urban-rural divide.

Հայաստանի և Ադրբեջանի անկլավների ծագմանը, իրավական կարգավիճակին, միջազգային զուգահեռներին և խաղաղության գործընթացի շրջանակներում քննարկվող հնարավոր տարբերակներին անդրադարձող հոդվածի ՁայնաԳիրը: