Protests Break The First-Month Benchmark

Image caption: Protests continue in large numbers for more than a month (Photo by Armenia Alliance).

The protests demanding the resignation of RA PM Pashinyan have been ongoing for more than a month now. Officially, the protests started following Pashinyan’s vague statements in regards to Artsakh’s future of sovereignty and self-determination on April 16.

Since the last week to week recap, here’s what happened:

On the 18th of May, another large number of protestors were arrested (more than 300), journalists have been pushed around and asked not to record, brutality was on the rise, and – as funny as it sounds – a policeman mocked one of the protestors’ Western Armenian and called it “non-proper” Armenian.

Main lines of the streets of Yerevan continue to face closures by cars, trucks, and/or groups of protestors ever since then. High-level Armenian ruling party authorities have yet to react on a formal level.

The protests increased in volume after Pashinyan’s meeting with Aliyev in Brussels, with EU mediation. The Supreme Judicial Council was also a zone of protests due to a potential lawsuit against high-ranking military generals, voiced by parents of martyred servicemen during the 2020 Artsakh war.

The 26th of May saw the largest number of policemen and forces.

France Square continues to be blocked in the heart of Yerevan.

Armenia Launches Its First Satellite to Space

Image caption: SpaceX launched Armenia’s first ever satellite into Earth’s orbit (Photo by Armenpress).

Armenian state-owned Geocosmos (under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Transportation & Communication), in collaboration with Spanish company Satlantis, launched the first Armenian satellite into space on Wednesday night Armenia time. This was announced by PM Pashinyan during a parliament session on Thursday.

The satellite will be used to monitor the situation on Armenia’s borders, urban planning, and environmental monitoring, as per the PM.

Armenia has previously played a significant role in space exploration during Soviet times, when many scientists and facilities in Soviet Armenia, such as the Byurakan Observatory, had large contributions in the field.

Armenian Minister of High-Tech Industry Robert Khachatryan and Armenian Ambassador to the United States Lilit Makunts attended the launch in Florida, where the satellite was launched by famous US company SpaceX.

Only last month, the state budget contribution to Geocosmos was increased by 3.3B AMD, approximately $7.3 million USD.

Notable News:

Image caption: PM Pashinyan hosts President of Montenegro Milo Đukanović in Armenia.

• Artsakh Human Rights Defender Gegham Stepanyan indicates that Azerbaijan has not yet disclosed the full number of Armenian prisoners of war.

• President of Armenia partakes at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

• Armen Grigoryan, Armenia’s Security Council Secretary, says Pashinyan continues to hold the support of the majority of Armenians and that the protests have not garnered enough popularity.

• PM Pashinyan hosts President of Montenegro Milo Đukanović in Armenia.

• The Armenian Educational Foundation raises more than half a million US dollars to enhance educational initiatives in Armenia.

• Number of job opportunities in Armenia have increased by 123.31% since 2018.

• Armenia to boost economic ties with Kurdistan.

• Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad receives Catholicos Aram I.

• Armenian PM congratulates UAE’s new President

• Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan indicates that his government’s top goal remains to be to achieve international recognition of the Republic of Artsakh.

• Kremlin spokesperson not happy with EU mediation between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

• Zangezur corridor not the way to unblock comms with Azerbaijan, says MFA Mirzoyan.

• UEFA Europa Conference League won by AS Roma, of which Henrikh Mkhitaryan is a part of.

• Lithuanian President welcomed in Armenia.

Multimedia Corner

Image caption: Experimental and modern, read on Alan Semerdjian’s beautiful and timely piece below. (Graphic by h-pem.com, courtesy of Nooneh Khoodaverdyan).

• Read: Algorithms for loss: By Alan Semerdjian. Read this beautiful piece here.
  
• Listen: Gisher (transl. Nighttime) is a very beautiful and solemn song by an all-female young Armenian band called Tiezerq (transl. Space). Listen to it here.
  
  
• Watch: What happened when Sirusho tried to film a music video in the ancient city of Ani, in modern-day Turkey? Watch the short documentary here to learn all about the journey.
  
  
• Learn: The Museum of Printing of Armenia and space exploration meet, somewhere, somehow. What? Learn all about their ventures here.