By Tigran Grigoryan and Aram Tadevosyan
Following the March 29 rally organized by displaced Artsakh Armenians in Yerevan’s Freedom Square, the Armenian authorities and their affiliated media have continued a sustained campaign of hate speech and defamation against the participants. The primary cause of the demonstration was the government’s decision to scale back a social assistance program that covered housing expenses. During the rally, speakers also addressed the right of return and other related issues.
The scale of the hate campaign targeting Artsakh refugees by Armenian officials and pro-government media outlets has grown to such an extent that it underscores the urgent need to document the most egregious cases of incitement and hate speech. These instances can generally be divided into two categories: hate speech disseminated by public officials, and that spread by media outlets either owned by or affiliated with the ruling party.
Ruling Party Officials Against Refugees
On March 29, Taron Chakhoyan, Deputy Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister of Armenia, made a Facebook post in which he referred to the rally participants as “cannon fodder” and claimed that they were being used by the opposition for regime change. He added: “Even more noteworthy is that the majority of those demanding regime change are not even Armenian citizens, and many of them declare they will never become citizens.”
Chakhoyan’s post not only clearly contains hate speech, but also disinformation, since no domestic political demands were voiced during the rally, and it is important to emphasize here that there is nothing condemnable in making political demands either; all people residing in Armenia have that right. Moreover, portraying refugees as a “resource” or “tool” has become a dominant narrative in Armenia’s public discourse since the 2023 forced displacement. It is also notable that Chakhoyan does not respond in any way to the numerous comments under his post that spread hatred and hostility toward Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians.
Another problematic aspect of Chakhoyan’s post is that, as a civil servant, he is obligated to maintain political neutrality in his public conduct. We previously addressed this official’s problematic behavior in a separate piece within the Democracy Watch initiative.
Another official who began spreading harmful stereotypes about refugees immediately after the rally was Arsen Torosyan, an MP from the ruling Civil Contract party. In a Facebook post, Torosyan wrote that the Artsakh issue had always served as a means for seizing and retaining power. He added: “And now the same political strategy is being pursued in Armenia by the followers of those same people, after all the sacrifices of the Armenian people, forgetting even how the Armenian people welcomed their brothers and sisters after the displacement.”
By blurring the distinction between refugees and the Karabakh elite, and without clarifying the terminology he uses, Torosyan fuels hatred, also implying that the rally participants are ungrateful. By making such insinuations in a post about a rally that was primarily focused on social issues, Torosyan contributes to the spread of the propaganda narrative about “ungrateful Karabakhis.”
The most egregious case of hate speech by ruling party officials in recent days came from Khachatur Sukiasyan, a ruling party MP and businessman, in his comments about NK refugees. Responding to a 24News.am journalist’s question, he stated: “There were no casualties in Karabakh in 2023. Ten people died… if you are talking about the gasoline storage explosion, that’s another thing. There were no casualties, it was just that one initial fight where a few people died.”
Sukiasyan’s statement is entirely false. According to the Artsakh Information Center, 265 soldiers and 21 civilians were killed, and 14 civilians went missing during the September 2023 military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Sukiasyan later acknowledged this, and his representative made a post “apologizing”- but not for targeting refugees, only for giving the wrong number. Moreover, the next day, during a press briefing, Sukiasyan made misleading claims about the participation of NK residents in the Second Karabakh War. He said: “During the 44-day war, most didn’t fight, some even engaged in sabotage, some gave intel… everybody knows this.”
These statements, aside from being blatant disinformation- 763 servicemen and 72 civilians from Nagorno-Karabakh were killed during the 44-day war- also legitimize and amplify the propaganda narrative of “deserter Karabakhis,” contributing to growing hatred toward refugees.
It’s important to note that this is not the first time senior government officials have used such narratives to target refugees. Months ago, Speaker of the National Assembly Alen Simonyan stated in a press conference that Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians should have “stayed and fought” in September 2023.
The anti-Karabakh campaign in pro-government media
Pro-government media actively exploit all anti-Karabakh narratives and often directly disseminate blatant hate speech. Medianews.site, a media outlet associated with Taron Chakhoyan, Deputy Chief of the Prime Minister’s Staff, reveals its attitude toward Karabakh Armenians by reprinting various Facebook posts that contain hate speech and disinformation. One such article titled “Do we have ‘hambal’ written on our foreheads? Go work and live”- with “hambal” being Armenian slang for someone easily taken advantage of- was taken from Hayk Toroyan’s Facebook page. Another post by Toroyan, titled “In just 1.5 years, the government allocated nearly $292 million to the people of Artsakh, and they’re still complaining?” was also published.
Facebook user Natali Aleksanyan’s posts have also appeared in Medianews, with headlines like “You lost. Take responsibility. Stop demanding. It’s time to stop playing the victim and accept that Armenia cannot keep paying the price for your mistakes” and “Enough with wrapping Karabakh around the necks of our children while you enjoy your lives.” Another example is a post by Vahagn Khachatryan, who wrote: “Dear Artsakh people, you want your homes back, and we want our lost loved ones, lost forever. Tell us, who should we demand it from?”
Beyond Facebook posts, Medianews also publishes its own editorial content targeting Karabakh Armenians. One article titled “Why are Artsakh Armenians avoiding Armenian citizenship? Only 8,437 have applied so far” states: “Sources close to the Artsakh community say that most avoid applying for Armenian citizenship mainly to avoid mandatory military service.” In addition, the outlet disseminates other anti-Karabakh content published by other pro-government media.
One of the main figures featured in recent days by the ruling party-owned Haykakan Zhamanak, civic.am, and the same Medianews is political commentator Harutyun Mkrtchyan. His main thoughts regarding the Artsakh people’s rally are that it is directed against the Republic of Armenia and that the people of Artsakh “are no better than the Armenians” and should not be in a privileged position. A targeted approach to their issues should not be allowed. His Facebook post on the Karabakh Armenians’ rally was published in Haykakan Zhamanak, titled “Very clearly to those organizing the rally: We will not allow social ‘lawlessness’ in Armenia.” In an interview with civic.am, he said, “Making housing for Artsakh Armenians a top priority will lead to social inequality,” adding: “And who said the citizens of Armenia must sweat and generate taxes while non-citizens receive privileges and financial support from the state budget?”
Similar comments were made by Mkrtchyan in an interview with Haykakan Zhamanak, where he claimed: “They are not accepting citizenship en masse… The goal is to destabilize Armenia’s domestic political situation as much as possible and await signals from outside. For example, some Azerbaijani provocation at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.”
After making these divisive statements, Mkrtchyan was invited to appear on Armenian Public Television, where he reiterated his views on the country’s most popular news platform. In his interview with Petros Ghazaryan, he once again targeted Karabakh Armenians. Referring to the social support provided to them, he said: “There is still the disaster zone (in Gyumri [authors’ note]) today. Haven’t those people lost their homes too? Let me go further: at the very least, they haven’t handed over state-purchased weapons to Azerbaijan with ribbons tied around them.” This statement can be characterized not only as misleading but also as inciting hatred between different social groups living in Armenia.
Besides publishing Facebook posts and commentary, Civic.am also has its own editorial pieces summarizing the anti-Karabakh campaign. One article titled “The Karabakh clan has moved to Plan B for the destruction of Armenian statehood” states: “Karabakh Armenians must clearly understand that they must stop being freeloaders, get to work. Citizens of Armenia are not obligated to work day and night to feed capable-bodied Karabakh Armenians. The large campaign against accepting Armenian citizenship sadly proves that many Karabakh Armenians place zero value on Armenian statehood.”
It is also noteworthy that several pro-government bloggers and public figures known for their anti-Karabakh rhetoric have been received at the highest levels. For example, a short video posted months ago on the Prime Minister’s wife’s Facebook page shows Anna Hakobyan meeting with several of the main figures spreading hate against Karabakh Armenians, dubbed as “public opinion makers,” to discuss education issues. Participants in that meeting included the aforementioned Harutyun Mkrtchyan, Hayk Toroyan, former ruling party nominee for the Supreme Judicial Council Alexander Sirunyan, and Roman Baghdasaryan. The latter is one of the front-runners of the anti-Karabakh hate campaign. In a recent Facebook post, for instance, he wrote: “Aid has gone to honest people who haven’t committed crimes. That accounts for only about 12–14% of those forcibly displaced from Artsakh.”
All these examples clearly show that there is a serious campaign of disinformation and hate targeting refugees which has intensified in recent weeks. It is also evident that the Armenian authorities are not only failing to take steps to prevent this campaign but are among its most active participants. Targeting forcibly displaced people from Nagorno-Karabakh for domestic political purposes deepens existing divisions in Armenia, makes the displaced population more vulnerable, and undermines social cohesion.
Democracy Watch is a joint initiative by CivilNet and the Regional Center for Democracy and Security, a Yerevan-based think tank.
Read the article in Armenian.
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