Pashinyan showed aggression towards Karabakh refugees twice in one day.
In response to questions from refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan resorted to insults and threats during meetings with voters. After this, Armine Soghoyan, a clinic employee who asked about casualties in the Karabakh wars, was offered her resignation, and Artur Osipyan was detained on suspicion of hooliganism after an altercation with the prime minister.
As reported by the "Caucasian Knot", the Central Election Commission of Armenia registered all 19 political forces that submitted applications to participate in the parliamentary elections. On May 14, the Central Election Commission annulled the registration of 45 candidates for deputies of the Armenian parliament who submitted statements of self-withdrawal, including candidates included in the lists of "Wings of Unity" and "Bright Armenia".
Samvel Karapetyan's "Strong Armenia," along with Robert Kocharyan's "Armenia" bloc and Gagik Tsarukyan's "Prosperous Armenia" party, is one of the most pro-Russian parties in the Armenian parliamentary elections. The "Caucasian Knot" has prepared a report "2026 Elections to the National Assembly (Parliament) of Armenia".
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was campaigning today in the Arabkir district of Yerevan. He lost his temper after a woman told him, "You stole my homeland. You destroyed an entire young generation of the nation. You took my children, you took my brother. You tried to bring us to our knees, but we did not kneel." - writes Aysor.Am.
The situation escalated, and Pashinyan's supporters began pushing the woman.
The Prime Minister declared that the people "wearing masks and with a Karabakh accent" were fugitives.
"They fled the war at the speed of a Ferrari, abandoning our children. Hey, you with a Karabakh accent, take off your masks, scoundrels, fugitives. You are cowardly brutes who fled the battlefield. Take off your masks - I will bring you all to your knees, and I will shove your masks back where they belong," his words are quoted in the publication.
In the heat of the argument, the head of government snapped at the woman: "Have you spoken your mind? Now listen, listen to the answer." "First of all, be thankful you weren't beaten up in the nearest restroom right now."
He then called the sons of former presidents Kocharyan and Sargsyan, as well as representatives of the opposition parties Prosperous Armenia and Strong Armenia, Tsarukyan and Karapetyan, "degenerates who fled the battlefield," Baza writes.
A Karabakh refugee was required to write a resignation letter
Arpine Soghoyan, an employee of Yerevan Polyclinic No. 16 who got into an argument with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in the Arabkir district, was forced to write a resignation letter, Armenia Today reported, citing the woman's daughter, lawyer Tatevik Soghoyan.
According to the daughter, her mother noticed the prime minister's team on her way to work and took the opportunity to personally address Pashinyan. Tatevik Soghoyan claims that the dismissal order came from the Yerevan City Hall, but did not specify who exactly contacted her mother.
Commenting on Armenia Today's report, David Karapetyan, head of the Yerevan City Hall's Health Department, denied any direct dismissal order. He confirmed the call to the employee, but stated that the purpose was to find out the reasons for her being 1 hour and 20 minutes late for work, the publication says.
Armine Soghoyan is the sister of military doctor Hrant Papikyan, who left Armenia to serve in Hadrut and has been missing since 2020, Yerevan Today writes.
Pashinyan's second conflict with a refugee from Karabakh led to the detention of the prime minister's opponent
At a meeting in Abakir, Pashinyan also clashed with Artur Osipyan, a refugee from Nagorno-Karabakh.
Artsakh public figure Artur Osipyan has been detained after an incident with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Armenia Today writes.
According to lawyer Roman Yeritsyan, Osipyan is in the police department. Arabkir administrative district.
"The citizen in question was detained on suspicion of hooliganism and taken to the Abakir community police department," Novosti-Armenia quoted Interior Minister Narek Sargsyan, the press secretary, as saying.
The detention was preceded by an altercation with Pashinyan.
The Karabakh issue could only be resolved within Azerbaijan, Pashinyan stated at the meeting. "The Karabakh issue was a trap to keep Armenia trapped," News.Am. quotes him as saying.
Osipyan emphasized the need to advance Armenia's interests, as outlined in Armenia's Declaration of Independence. To which Pashinyan responded that he does not accept the Declaration of Independence, as it is anti-state.
"While you were paying the Karabakh clan billions of drams and supporting them, we were fighting against this clan," Osipyan stated.
Pashinyan responded that those billions were used to pay pensions in Karabakh.
Osipyan stated that Azerbaijan is setting a condition for the settlement of Azerbaijanis in Armenia.
After this, Pashinyan, in a raised voice, declared that such an issue is not on Armenia's agenda. "Why did you come and promote Azerbaijani narratives?" he asked.
We have never discussed and are not discussing the issue of settling 300,000 Azerbaijanis in Armenia, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated on April 30. According to him, Armenia and Azerbaijan have not discussed the return of Armenians to Karabakh, Baku, or other places for some time. He added that discussing such an issue on both sides is provocative and increases tensions, News.Am reported on April 30.
"You yourself are promoting Azerbaijani narratives," Osipyan responded, calling for a lower tone in the conversation.
The situation escalated further, and bodyguards escorted Osipyan away. "Get out of here. These Karabakh pseudo-elites should get out of here. You, the fugitives. What are you even doing here? Who are they? These Karabakh pseudo-elites are wagging their fingers. Get out, who are you? Artur Osipyan, bang your head against the wall. "He would have gone and died instead of our children," Pashinyan said after him.
He also threatened the state structures of Nagorno-Karabakh operating in Armenia. "Why is Shahramanyan alive? Others. Why are your so-called members of parliament alive? Why haven't they died? Armenia has a National Assembly, a Karabakh government. I will eradicate them all," Pashinyan noted.
The former leaders of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic have effectively lost control of the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh since the fall of 2023. Following the mass exodus of Nagorno-Karabakh residents to Armenia, the president of the unrecognized republic signed a decree terminating its existence. Civil servants were dismissed, but senior officials continued to work in Yerevan.
The opposition called Pashinyan's manner of communicating with citizens unacceptable
Prime ministerial candidate from the Wings of Unity party, former ombudsman Arman Tatoyan, is outraged by Pashinyan's manner of communicating with citizens.
"The way he speaks to people! "In the presence of bodyguards... He's yelling and being rude to a person, an Armenian woman, who has lost everything and now comes here and wants answers," Tatoyan said.
He sees the problem in the country's leader speaking brazenly to citizens and remaining unpunished, thereby setting an example for other government bodies.
"He does this because he's confident in his own security. We must change the long-standing, vicious, dirty practices we're witnessing right now," Novosti Armenia quotes Tatoyan as saying.
Meanwhile, Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Alen Simonyan admires Pashinyan's composure.
"I'm amazed at the prime minister's nerves. I think they're made of concrete. I'm amazed at how he tolerates everything we're going through. Sometimes I can't stand it. The prime minister inspires love and trust among the people with his relaxed, Armenian demeanor. "People consider him a member of their family," the speaker of parliament commented on the incidents during the campaign.