RE:PUBLIC PRESS

Advocating for Artsakh • Exposing Azerbaijan - Karabakh conflict, Turkish aggression & ongoing genocide • Follow @republicpressFr • [email protected]

[RE:PUBLIC PRESS @REPUBLICPRESS_]

#Azerbaijan|i soldier is deliberately shooting at the Christian Armenian Stone Cross (Armenian Khachkar) in the occupied #Hadrut Province of the Republic of #Artsakh. #Azeriwarcrimes #AzerbaijanWarCrimes

[Rasmus Canbäck @CanbackRasmus]

Interviewed Vicken Euljekjian, an Armenian-Lebanese citizen, who was held captive in Azerbaijan for over five years.

We spoke about his time in Azerbaijani prison, where the only human contact he had was with representatives from the @ICRC every 40th day.

Story is coming.

[Aurore Bruna @AuroreBruna1]

Contre un sponsor de l’#Azerbaïdjan, la région sud annule l’étape de snowboard cross à Isola 2000.
Merci @RenaudMuselier et @cestrosi pour cette sage décision.

Que l’Azerbaïdjan garde son argent sale !
Nous pensons aux otages qui croupissent injustement dans les prisons azéries

[RE:PUBLIC PRESS @REPUBLICPRESS_]

Armenia’s Central Election Commission Completes Vote Count

Driving the news:

The Central Election Commission of Armenia has completed the counting of votes from the country’s parliamentary election.

A total of 2,503,976 citizens were eligible to vote. According to the commission, 1.458.677 voters participated, resulting in a turnout of 58.97%.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s ruling Civil Contract party received 727.160 votes, or 49,85%% of the total vote, securing 61 seats in the 105-member National Assembly.

The Strong Armenia Alliance, led by Russian-Armenian businessman Samvel Karapetyan, who is currently under house arrest, received 340,062 votes, or 23.31%, winning 28 seats.

The Armenia Alliance, led by former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan, received 145,097 votes, or 9.95%, securing 11 seats.

The Prosperous Armenia Party received 58,368 votes, or 4%, securing 5 seats.

Why it matters:

A parliamentary majority requires 53 seats. With 61 seats, Civil Contract holds a governing majority and does not need to form a coalition government.

The big picture:

Although Civil Contract secured a majority, its 61 seats fall short of the 70-seat threshold required for a constitutional majority.

As a result, the ruling party would be unable to pass constitutional amendments on its own. Constitutional changes required by Azerbaijan would require support from opposition lawmakers, as the government lacks the votes necessary to amend the constitution without cross-party backing.

#Armenia

[RE:PUBLIC PRESS @REPUBLICPRESS_]

Preliminary results from 1596 polling stations out of total 2005 show:

• [Civil Contract/Pashinyan] — [49.56]%
• [Strong Armenia/Karapetyan] — [23.50]%
• [Prosperous Armenia/Tsarukyan] — [3.79]%
• [Armenia Alliance/Kocharyan] — [10.08]%

The figures remain preliminary.

The results are based on 1.101.355 ballots counted out of 1,476,597 votes cast as of 8:00 p.m

[RE:PUBLIC PRESS @REPUBLICPRESS_]

Preliminary results from 1596 polling stations out of total 2005 show:

• [Civil Contract/Pashinyan] — [49.56]%
• [Strong Armenia/Karapetyan] — [23.50]%
• [Prosperous Armenia/Tsarukyan] — [3.79]%
• [Armenia Alliance/Kocharyan] — [10.08]%

The figures remain preliminary.

The results are based on 1.101.355 ballots counted out of 1,476,597 votes cast as of 8:00 p.m

[RE:PUBLIC PRESS @REPUBLICPRESS_]

Preliminary results from 129 polling stations show:

• [Civil Contract/Pashinyan] — [52.5]%
• [Strong Armenia/Karapetyan] — [25.4]%
• [Prosperous Armenia/Tsarukyan] — [4.6]%
• [Armenia Alliance/Kocharyan] — [11.6]%

The figures remain preliminary.

Results are based on ballots counted from 129 polling stations out of a total of 2,006.
Source Infocom.

[RE:PUBLIC PRESS @REPUBLICPRESS_]

Preliminary results from 413 polling stations out of total 2006 show:

• [Civil Contract/Pashinyan] — [54.69]%
• [Strong Armenia/Karapetyan] — [22.12]%
• [Prosperous Armenia/Tsarukyan] — [5.32]%
• [Armenia Alliance/Kocharyan] — [8.59]%

The figures remain preliminary.

#ArmVote26 #Armenia

[RE:PUBLIC PRESS @REPUBLICPRESS_]

Preliminary results from 1159 polling stations out of total 2005 show:

• [Civil Contract/Pashinyan] — [50.88]%
• [Strong Armenia/Karapetyan] — [23.23]%
• [Prosperous Armenia/Tsarukyan] — [4.16]%
• [Armenia Alliance/Kocharyan] — [9.60]%

The figures remain preliminary.

The results are based on 701.848 ballots counted out of 1,476,597 votes cast as of 8:00 p.m

#Armenia

[RE:PUBLIC PRESS @REPUBLICPRESS_]

Pashinyan Declares Civil Contract Victory in Elections

Driving the news:

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said the ruling Civil Contract party (CC) has won the elections and will form the government on its own.

“Civil Contract will independently form the government. I thank all citizens of Armenia who participated in the elections and exercised their free will through voting,” Pashinyan said at the start of a press conference shortly after polls closed.

He emphasized that Civil Contract received more votes and greater public trust than it did in the 2021 elections.

“This is a responsibility. It means that the citizens of Armenia have stood by the state, stood by independence, stood by the future, and stood by peace,” Pashinyan said.
#Armenia

[RE:PUBLIC PRESS @REPUBLICPRESS_]

Four Armenian POWs Returned by Azerbaijan; Two Syrian Mercenaries Transferred to Syria

Driving the news:
Azerbaijan has transferred four Armenian prisoners to Armenia via the Hakari (Khakari) Bridge, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced. All four are now on Armenian territory and undergoing initial medical checks.

At the same time, Armenia’s Ministry of Justice said it handed over two Syrian nationals to Syrian authorities via Turkey. The men had been serving life sentences in Armenia for crimes related to the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.

What they’re saying:
Pashinyan confirmed that Gevorg Sujyan, Davit Davtyan and Viken Euljekjian showed no health issues in primary evaluation, and Vagif Khachatryan’s condition is preliminarily assessed as satisfactory.

The big picture:
Three of the returned Armenians were detained in the aftermath of the 44-day 2020 war; the fourth, Vagif Khachatryan, was abducted in 2023. They had been convicted by Azerbaijani sham courts on charges including “espionage and other offenses”.

Armenia’s justice ministry said it transferred two Syrian mercenaries, Yousef Alaabet al-Hajji and Muhhrab Muhammad al-Shkhari, back to Syrian jurisdiction after they had been sentenced to life imprisonment in 2021 on terrorism-related charges.

Dozens more Armenian prisoners remain in Azerbaijani custody.

[RE:PUBLIC PRESS @REPUBLICPRESS_]

Catholicos Aram I to Pashinyan: “Antelias does not need directives from Yerevan”

Driving the news
Since Armenia’s independence, the position of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia has been “clear and consistent in the face of internal and external crises,” said Catholicos Aram I. He added: “Therefore Antelias does not need dictates or instructions from Yerevan. Antelias decides for itself what it must say and do, guided always by the common and highest interests, values and ideals of our people and homeland.”

Earlier, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan dismissed Aram I’s statements as “scenes not included in the film,” referring to them as leftover fragments of a narrative about Armenia’s destruction. “When Armenia is not dying, they cannot engage with her,” Pashinyan said.

What they’re saying
— Aram I insisted the Catholicosate acts independently, without needing “dictates or instructions from Yerevan.”
— Pashinyan mocked the Catholicosate’s remarks as irrelevant extras: “They resemble interesting moments from filming or scenes not included in the film about Armenia’s destruction.”

[RE:PUBLIC PRESS @REPUBLICPRESS_]

Pashinyan invites Erdogan and Aliyev to Yerevan for 2026 EPC summit

Driving the news
Armenia has extended verbal invitations to Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan to attend the 8th summit of the European Political Community (EPC), slated for May 2026 in Yerevan.

Armenia’s Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan told reporters: “We have conveyed the invitations. The documents have not been sent yet, but we have verbally invited participation at the highest level.” He added that it is too early to say whether the two leaders will attend — “all of this is very fresh.”

What they’re saying
Mirzoyan stressed that Armenia is engaged in “intensive dialogue” with Turkey and pointed to Aug. 8’s Washington-brokered Armenia-Azerbaijan normalization agreement as a turning point. On the possibility of visits by Aliyev to Yerevan or Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to Baku, Mirzoyan said: “I am not saying we are ready to see Aliyev in Yerevan or Pashinyan in Baku today, but one day this will happen.”

@REPUBLICPRESS

[RE:PUBLIC PRESS @REPUBLICPRESS_]

Azerbaijani MP Claims Armenian Territory “Belongs to Us”

Driving the news
Hikmet Babaoglu, a member of parliament from Azerbaijan’s ruling New Azerbaijan Party, declared in a recent interview that the territory of the Republic of Armenia “belongs to us.”
He linked his remarks to personal experience, stating he was born and raised in what is Armenia’s Shirak Province and claimed strong memories tied to the land.

He also said that although Azerbaijan can build economic and trade relations with the people living now on what he described as “our historical lands,” “we must never forget the crimes committed by Armenians against the Azerbaijani people.”

What they’re saying
In the interview, Babaoglu said:

“Armenia is my homeland. This place where I was born, grew up, studied and which was my home. The fact that the state is called Armenia doesn’t change reality: this geographical territory belongs to us.”

He added that he wants “to physically touch those memories again, to see the great material and cultural heritage left to us by our ancestors.”

He emphasized: “We can build any economic or trade relations with the people who today live on our historical lands … but we must never forget the crimes committed by Armenians against the Azerbaijani people.”

[RE:PUBLIC PRESS @REPUBLICPRESS_]

Ruben Vardanyan Rejects His Private Counsel

Driving the news
Ruben Vardanyan announced in Azeri sham trial on October 21 2025 that he is dismissing his private lawyer, Avraam Berman, citing dissatisfaction with the trial’s proceedings and claiming that he could not mount an adequate defence.
A court in Baku accepted Vardanyan’s petition to waive his private attorney and assigned a state-appointed defence counsel.

What they’re saying
Vardanyan stated that he “cannot participate in this farce” and labelled the presence of a contract lawyer as creating merely “the illusion of defence.”
According to his statement via family channels, the lawyer’s dismissal stems from “the absence of conditions necessary for professional defence” and “violations of legal norms.”
The Azerbaijani prosecution acknowledged his right to waive representation but noted he must either engage another lawyer or accept the appointment of a state-assigned one.

[RE:PUBLIC PRESS @REPUBLICPRESS_]

Armenia Reduces Mandatory Military Service to 18 Months as Defence Budget Cuts Loom

Driving the news
Armenia will shorten the duration of compulsory military service from two years to 18 months starting January 1, 2026.

At the same time, the government plans to cut defence spending by about 15 % in 2026 — allocating roughly 563 billion drams (≈US$1.46 billion) to the Ministry of Defence of Armenia, down from 664–661 billion drams in 2025.

What they’re saying
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said the earlier start date (winter draft 2026) reflects the government’s assessment that “the law will take effect earlier” and underscores that reforms are underway.
Deputy Defence Minister Arman Sargsyan reassured that despite budget cuts, “all the positive reforms that have begun will not be suspended.”
Military analyst Leonid Nersisyan warned: “At this stage we cannot afford to cut the budget. The army is in a phase of transformation … Growth should remain strong for at least a few more years.”

[ANCA @ANCA_DC]

President Trump supports the right of Armenians to return to Artsakh - the restoration of indigenous Christians to their ancient homeland

You can help:

House: Azerbaijani Sanctions Review Act: https://t.co/AeCmmo8lwA

Senate: Azerbaijan Sanction Letter: https://t.co/I9MR2d84Wz

[RE:PUBLIC PRESS @REPUBLICPRESS_]

Catholicos Convenes with Artsakh Leaders Over Displacement, Prisoners, Heritage Shielding

Driving the news:

Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II met with state figures and political representatives of Artsakh at the Mother See in Echmiadzin.

Topics included challenges facing displaced Artsakhiots, defending their rights, freeing hostages and prisoners, locating the missing, and preserving Artsakh’s spiritual and cultural heritage. The Mother See announced the meeting.

What they’re saying:
According to the Mother See, participants reaffirmed “the importance of consistent joint actions in international forums to advocate for the rights of the people of Artsakh, ensure the release of hostages and prisoners of war held in Azerbaijan, determine the fate of the missing, and preserve Artsakh’s spiritual and cultural heritage.”

[RE:PUBLIC PRESS @REPUBLICPRESS_]

Turkic States Endorse “Zangezur Corridor” in Gabala Declaration

At the 12th summit of the Organization of Turkic States in Gabala, Azerbaijan, leaders adopted the Gabala Declaration, which explicitly references development of the so-called “Zangezur Corridor.”

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said the declaration “confirms strengthened solidarity in the Turkic world, increased mutual trust, and commitment to sovereignty, independence, and statehood.”

Bayramov also highlighted the corridor as part of the Middle Corridor transport route, saying it will boost trade, intraregional economic cooperation, and connectivity among Turkic-speaking nations.