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Armenia: Fears After Nationalist Firebombers Released on Bail

Following the firebombing of of an 'alternative' and gay-friendly bar in Yerevan, the Armenian capital, LGBT and other civil society activists are concerned by the rise of nationalism and hate-speech in the country.

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Armenia: Chaos as Balloons Explode at Election Campaign Rally

Turkey: Armenian Genocide Commemoration in Istanbul

Turkey: Post-Murder Trial, Thousands Remember Hrant Dink 20 January 2012
Turkey: Hrant Dink Murder Trial Closes 18 January 2012
Bethlehem: Armenian and Greek Clergy Clash at Christmas 28 December 2011
Caucasus: Frozen Conflicts, Forgotten Lives? 12 December 2011
Video Highlights: Identity, Refugees, Conflict and Open Technology 7 December 2011

Latest stories about Armenia

17 May 2012

Armenia: Homophobic Firebombing Controversy Continues as Officials, MPs Promote Hate Crime

Written by Onnik Krikorian · Freedom of Speech, Governance

Controversy continues to surround the firebombing of a gay-friendly bar in Yerevan, the Armenian capital, as officials and politicians praise the arsonists. Online, however, many are instead speaking out against those nationalists doing so.

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9 May 2012

Armenia: Bar Targeted By Suspected Nationalists In Arson Attack

Written by Onnik Krikorian · Freedom of Speech, Human Rights

At around 5.30am on 8 May, a bar in Yerevan found itself the target of an arson attack. Popular among alternative types and widely known for its gay-friendly policy, it is believed that nationalists were responsible for the attack on D.I.Y.

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2 May 2012

Armenia: Backhanded Victory for Environmental Activists

Written by Liana Aghajanian · Elections, Environment

Just days before Armenia's crucial parliamentary elections, environmental activists have scored yet another victory in their campaign to save one of the last remaining green spaces in the country's capital, Yerevan.

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22 April 2012

Armenia: Human Rights Organizations Concerned by Film Festival Obstruction

Written by Onnik Krikorian · Freedom of Speech, Arts & Culture

After threats, intimidation and incitement to violence led to the cancellation of a film festival to be held in Armenia's second largest city of Gyumri, nationalists have attacked a human rights organization for the same, prompting concerns about freedom of expression.

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14 April 2012

Armenia: Support for Georgi Vanyan

Written by Onnik Krikorian · Freedom of Speech, Arts & Culture

Following the cancellation last week of a festival of Azerbaijani films in Armenia amid threats of violence, alternative voices online comment on the campaign targeting the organizer, peace activist Georgi Vanyan.

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12 April 2012

Armenia: Nationalist Threats Against Local Activist

Written by Onnik Krikorian · Freedom of Speech, Arts & Culture

Just weeks after one example of censorship in Armenia comes another with local peace activist Georgi Vanyan receiving abuse and death threats from nationalists opposed to screening Azerbaijani films in the country.

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6 April 2012

Armenia: Straight to the village

Written by Onnik Krikorian · Arts & Culture, Development

With a GDP per capita estimated at just $5,400 in 2011, Armenia is one of the poorest countries in the former Soviet Union. The situation is particularly noticeable in the villages of the landlocked country, but one foreign diplomat hopes to change all that.

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4 April 2012

Armenia: Young Author Faces Military Censorship

Written by Onnik Krikorian · Freedom of Speech, Arts & Culture

Hovhannes Ishkhanyan, a 24-year-old former conscript in the Armenian military, has found himself in hot water in the former Soviet republic after penning a literary work detailing life in the country's army.

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22 February 2012

Armenia: Activists #Occupy Yerevan Park

Written by Liana Aghajanian · Development, Environment

Green spaces in Armenia continue to dwindle at an alarming rate, but a small yet dedicated group of environmental activists has also grown. Now, in order to prevent further damage, they are attempting to occupy a Yerevan park.

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2 January 2012

Caucasus: The Year in Review

Written by Onnik Krikorian · Freedom of Speech, Arts & Culture

As popular uprisings spread through the Middle East and North Africa in 2011, opposition forces tried to replicate the Arab Spring in the South Caucasus. However, they failed.

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Updates about Armenia

18 May 2012

Armenian

Following support from government officials and representatives of the nationalist Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashanktsutyun (ARF-D) for two Neo-Nazis accused of firebombing a gay-friendly bar in Yerevan, Unzipped: Gay Armenia asks if the country is moving towards a form of state sponsored fascism that threatens the rights and well-being of its own citizens.

• Onnik Krikorian

Armenian

Unzipped: Gay Armenia comments on the continuing controversy surrounding Artsvik Minasyan, an MP from the nationalist Armenian Revolutionary Federation–Dashnaktsutyun (ARF-D). The blog says that in addition to bailing out a Neo-Nazi arsonist in police custody, Minasyan continues to make homophobic statements in the media following the 8 May firebombing of a gay-friendly bar in the Armenian capital by labeling homosexuality a threat to the country's national security. Elected under the proportional system in Armenia, and thus lacking a specific mandate in the majoritarian system, Unzipped: Gay Armenia calls on the ARF-D to remove Minasyan from their ranks immediately.

• Onnik Krikorian

14 May 2012

Armenian

During the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh, hundreds of thousands of ethnic Azeris and Armenians were displaced. With hundreds of settlements also razed, and thousands of monuments destroyed, Conflict Voices looks at the issue of cemeteries, some of which were destroyed, but also preserved during the war as well as in the 18 years since the 1994 ceasefire.

• Onnik Krikorian

English

Le Retour in 3 Parts comments on last week's firebombing of D.I.Y., a gay-friendly bar in Yerevan, the Armenian capital. Believed to be the work of Neo-Nazis, the blog says fears are running high in the LGBT community that hate crime is on the increase.

• Onnik Krikorian

11 May 2012

Armenian

Unzipped: Gay Armenia posts the text of a statement by a group of NGOs including the Helsinki Citizens Assembly in Vanadzor, Women's Resource Center, and Pink Armenia, among others, condemning the 8 May arson attack on D.I.Y., a gay-friendly bar in Yerevan. The blog also reports that two members of a Neo-Nazi group, Dark Ravens Armenia, have been arrested [EN/AM].

• Onnik Krikorian