Real Armenian News

Oct 2

Pashinyan Offers No Public Tribute on Sixth Anniversary of Start of 2020 Artsakh War

Two days after the sixth anniversary of the start of the 44-day war, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has yet to publicly commemorate the date or issue a message honoring the thousands of Armenians killed in the fighting. September 27 passed without a statement from Pashinyan marking the anniversary, and as of Tuesday, no such message has appeared on the prime minister’s official website. Pashinyan also made no publicly announced visit to Yerablur Military Pantheon, wh

Sep 29

Hampig Sassounian Becomes a Father at 63, Names Children Artsakh and Shushi

More than four decades after his life became intertwined with one of the most controversial chapters of the Armenian struggle for genocide recognition, Hampig Sassounian has entered a new chapter: fatherhood. The 63-year-old Sassounian has welcomed children named Artsakh and Shushi — two names carrying profound historical and emotional meaning for Armenians around the world. Sassounian spent nearly 40 years in a California prison for the 1982 killing of Turkish Consul General

Sep 28

Armenians Remember Six Years Since the Start of the 2020 Artsakh War

On the morning of September 27, 2020, Azerbaijan launched an attack on Artsakh, beginning a 44-day war that took thousands of Armenian lives. Six years later, Azerbaijan occupies indigenous Armenian Artsakh, and families who buried their sons still return to their graves. For thousands of Armenian families, the anniversary is measured not only in years, but in lives that never returned from the battlefield. Armenia’s Investigative Committee said this month that 3,833 people o

Sep 26

Mural of 2020 Artsakh War Hero Albert Hovhannisyan Removed From Yerevan’s Victory Park

The father of Albert Hovhannisyan, the 19-year-old Armenian artilleryman whose photograph became one of the defining images of the 2020 Artsakh War, has condemned the removal of a mural depicting his son from Yerevan’s Victory Park, saying his memory cannot be erased by taking down photographs. The mural had stood near the park’s main entrance, where visitors regularly left flowers in Hovhannisyan’s memory. It was still visible on Sept. 20 but had disappeared by the time visi

Sep 26

Armenian Officials Walk Out of Parliament Hearing After Artsakh Lawmakers Are Introduced by Their Former Titles

Armenian government officials and ruling party lawmakers walked out of a parliamentary hearing in Yerevan on Wednesday after objecting to participants being introduced as representatives of Artsakh’s former parliament, showing a deepening dispute over the status of Nagorno-Karabakh’s displaced Armenian institutions. The hearing focused on the economic, social and legal challenges facing Armenians displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh after Azerbaijan took full control of the region

Sep 23

Three Years After Azerbaijan’s Attack Forced More Than 120,000 Armenians From Artsakh, No Known Armenian Civilian Community Remains

Three years ago, the world watched in horror as more than 120,000 Armenians were forced to flee Artsakh, their indigenous homeland, after months of blockade and Azerbaijan’s Sept. 19, 2023, military offensive. Endless lines of families escaping with children, elderly relatives and the few belongings they could carry evoked the haunting images of Armenians driven from their ancestral homes during the 1915 Armenian Genocide. Today, as we remember that horrific day, the emergenc

Sep 19

Bipartisan U.S. Lawmakers Demand Release of Armenian POWs and Right of Return to Artsakh

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers called on Azerbaijan to release Armenian prisoners held in Baku and allow Armenians displaced from Artsakh to return to their homes, bringing the unresolved humanitarian consequences of the 2023 exodus back into focus on Capitol Hill. A dozen members of Congress joined Armenian American advocates, clergy and human rights experts Tuesday for “Accountability | 2026 — Artsakh: Justice. Freedom. Right of Return,” a Capitol Hill program organiz

DIASPORA

Sep 16

Pashinyan Threatens ‘Toughest Measures’ Against Any Attempt to Maintain an Artsakh Government in Armenia

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan warned Wednesday that his government would use the “toughest measures” to stop any attempt to maintain a separate Artsakh government or parliament in Armenia, while also calling for the Artsakh representative office in Yerevan to be placed under state control. The warning came during a tense exchange in parliament over housing for Armenians displaced from Artsakh, where more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians fled to Armenia following Azerbaijan’s Se

Sep 16

Ruben Vardanyan’s Wife Offers to Travel to Baku — Azerbaijani Media Warns She Could Face 5 Years in Prison

An Azerbaijani media outlet says Veronika Zonabend, the wife of imprisoned Armenian philanthropist and former Artsakh State Minister Ruben Vardanyan, could face up to five years in prison if she travels to Baku, citing a 2022 visit she made to Nagorno-Karabakh. The report surfaced as Zonabend renewed her push for direct access to Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan. On Sept. 8, Zonabend wrote to Armenia’s National Security Council Secretary Alen Simonyan after learning of h

Sep 9

Azerbaijan Begins Blasting at Its Occupied Artsakh Section of Armenia’s Sotk Gold Mine

Azerbaijan has begun blasting operations at the Zod gold deposit along its border with Armenia and is considering construction of a new ore-processing complex, moving ahead with large-scale development of a mine that has been at the center of years of military tension and cross-border fire. AzerGold, Azerbaijan’s state-owned mining company, said Sept. 7 that it carried out its first drilling and blasting operation at the deposit, known as Soyudlu in Azerbaijan and Sotk in Arm

Sep 7

Artsakh Declared Independence 35 Years Ago as Armenian Heritage Faces Destruction Under Azerbaijani Occupation

Thirty-five years ago, Artsakh declared itself a republic. Today, the anniversary comes nearly three years after Azerbaijan occupied the region and forced virtually its entire ethnic Armenian population to flee to Armenia. For decades, Sept. 2 was commemorated in Artsakh with official ceremonies and public events celebrating the establishment of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. In 2026, the anniversary is being observed without an Armenian population living in the region and am

Sep 2

‘Imprisoned, but Not on Our Knees’: POW Davit Babayan Speaks From Azerbaijani Custody

Former Artsakh Foreign Minister Davit Babayan has accused Azerbaijan’s courts of staging a predetermined legal process against him and other imprisoned Armenian officials, saying the record of the proceedings will now form part of their case before international courts. Babayan made the allegations in a message sent from Azerbaijani custody through his family and provided to News.am. His remarks came after an appeals court upheld the verdicts against him and other former Arts

Aug 19

Armenia’s Parliament Speaker Calls Return of Artsakh Armenians a ‘Conflict-Generating’ Goal, Says Armenia Must Accept ‘Current Reality’ for 100 Years of Peace

Armenia should not make the return of displaced Armenians to Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) an official state goal because it could reopen the logic of conflict with Azerbaijan, National Assembly Speaker Ruben Rubinyan said during a parliamentary debate. Rubinyan made the remarks while responding to opposition lawmakers who argued that recent agreements with Azerbaijan do not address the roots of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. He said the conflict should not be viewed as begi

Aug 13

Azerbaijan Destroys Prominent Armenian Cathedral in Stepanakert, Artsakh

Azerbaijan has destroyed a prominent Armenian cathedral in Stepanakert, with satellite imagery showing the church was demolished between March 3 and April 2, 2026, according to an Armenian cultural heritage specialist monitoring endangered sites across Artsakh. Hovik Avanesov, the Cultural Heritage Ombudsman of Artsakh and vice president of the Azgayin Cultural-Historical NGO, identified the destroyed building as the Holy Mother of God Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral o

Aug 12

Expedia, Viator and European Travel Platforms Sell Tours Through Artsakh After 2023 Armenian Exodus

Major international booking platforms are selling trips to Stepanakert, Shushi and other parts of Artsakh, often giving travelers little information about the Armenian population that lived there before Azerbaijan occupied the entire region in 2023. Less than three years after more than 120,000 Armenians were forced from Artsakh, international travel companies are selling day trips through cities where Armenians lived until Azerbaijan’s September 2023 military offensive. Expe

Aug 11

Baku Appeals Court Upholds Life Sentences for Former Artsakh Leaders and Other Armenian Prisoners

A court in Azerbaijan has upheld the convictions and prison sentences of former Artsakh leaders and other Armenian prisoners, rejecting their appeals and leaving in place the harsh penalties imposed earlier this year. According to Azerbaijani media, the Baku Court of Appeals ruled on Aug. 6 to uphold the Feb. 5 verdicts issued by the Baku Military Court. The appeals filed by former Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan, former Presidents Arkadi Ghukasyan and Bako Sahakyan, Par

Aug 6

Marriott Removes Controversial Artsakh Tour After Global Armenian Advocacy Campaign

Marriott Bonvoy has removed a controversial tourism package to Azerbaijan-occupied Artsakh after a five-day international advocacy campaign led by the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), Armenian National Committee organizations around the world and coalition partners. The tour, which had been available through Marriott’s activities platform and was eligible for Marriott Bonvoy rewards points, offered travelers a guided visit to occupied Artsakh, including the citi

Aug 1

Michael Doran, Who Rejected Claims of Ethnic Cleansing Against Artsakh Armenians, Hosts Armenia's U.S. Ambassador

Armenia's ambassador to the United States, Narek Mkrtchyan, appeared at the Hudson Institute on Wednesday for a discussion on the future of U.S.-Armenia relations, joining one of Washington's most influential foreign policy think tanks at a time of growing American engagement in the South Caucasus. The event, titled "The U.S.-Armenia Relationship and the Future of the South Caucasus," was moderated by Michael Doran, director of the Hudson Institute's Center for Peace and Secu

Jul 30

11-Year-Old Displaced Artsakh Girl’s Painting Carried to Mount Ararat After Removal From School Exhibition

A painting by an 11-year-old girl forcibly displaced from Artsakh has been carried to the summit of Mount Ararat, weeks after it was removed from a school exhibition in Yerevan. Eva Danielyan’s artwork, titled “Dedo-Babo,” was displayed at the Anushavan Ter-Ghevondyan Music School before school officials took it down. Social media posts alleged that the school’s director had described the painting as an “anti-state act.” The school administration did not publicly address the