Pashinyan and the Instrumentalization of Hate Speech Against NK Refugees

26.03.2026
 

By Tigran Grigoryan

#DemocracyWatch - In July 2025, when our think tank—the Regional Center for Democracy and Security—published a report on hate speech targeting refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh, we identified several important patterns related to this phenomenon. The first was that the volume of hate speech against refugees increases during periods of domestic political tension. In this regard, one of the main concerns ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections was that refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh would once again become targets of attacks and disinformation spread by political actors.

Following the effective start of the pre-election period in Armenia, these concerns have begun to materialize. On March 22, 2026, during a campaign event in the Yerevan metro, Nikol Pashinyan approached a forcibly displaced woman from Nagorno-Karabakh (Armine Mosiyan) and her child and offered them a pin featuring the map of the Republic of Armenia. The woman refused, explaining her reasons, after which Pashinyan continued to argue with her despite her request not to do so. He then raised his voice and spoke to her while pointing his finger. 

Moreover, after the woman urged him not to raise his voice or gesture in that manner, he responded that he would speak that way, stating that billions earned by the citizens of Armenia had been spent on sustaining Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, and added: Next time, you runaways, don’t try to say that I gave away Karabakh.” Notably, the woman had made no such claim during the entire incident.

Over the course of that day, Prime Minister Pashinyan initially denied calling the woman from Nagorno-Karabakh a “runaway,” stating that such a thing was impossible. After some time, he attempted to justify and interpret his remarks, and by the end of the day, he issued an apology with certain reservations to Armine Mosiyan.

Nevertheless, even after Pashinyan’s apology, several media outlets under the ruling party’s control continued to target Armine Mosiyan. Araratnews and Medianews attributed statements to Mosiyan that she had not made during the incident with Pashinyan. Specifically, these outlets claimed that she had told Pashinyan that she “does not accept Armenia, does not care about it, and that neither she nor her child need the Republic of Armenia.” This falsehood was likely fabricated to rationalize and justify Pashinyan’s behavior.

It is noteworthy that in the aforementioned report published by the Regional Center for Democracy and Security, we had identified a well-developed mechanism through which pro-government media disseminate hate speech by collectively amplifying posts containing such rhetoric from pro-government bloggers on Facebook. The role of these media outlets was thoroughly documented in the report.

Following the incident involving Pashinyan, a number of civil society organizations in Armenia issued a joint statement condemning the behavior of Pashinyan and pro-government media and calling for concrete steps to curb hate speech against people from Nagorno-Karabakh.

Pashinyan’s conduct during this incident triggered a new wave of hate toward refugees. This was further fueled by discriminatory and refugee-targeting posts and interviews by pro-government media and various pro-government figures.

It is also noteworthy that during the incident, Pashinyan used two common narratives applied against refugees, which had also been documented in our report last year. These narratives portray people from Nagorno-Karabakh as deserters and as ungrateful. His reference to billions spent and his assertion that he had the right to speak in a raised tone to refugees reproduced the narrative of the “ungrateful Karabakhis.” By calling forcibly displaced persons “runaways,” he echoed the narrative of “deserter Karabakhis,” which had previously been used by other high-ranking officials, particularly Alen Simonyan, the Speaker of the National Assembly.

The articulation of these discriminatory narratives by Pashinyan legitimizes them and contributes to their wider dissemination at the societal level. The same effect is produced by media outlets targeting refugees and spreading disinformation about them. For example, after Araratnews and Medianews published the fabricated claim attributed to Armine Mosiyan, it was widely used by numerous social media users as a justification for Pashinyan’s behavior.

Hate speech against refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh, and its instrumentalization by political actors, is one of the main challenges undermining social cohesion in Armenia and may also pose a serious obstacle to the country’s democratic development. This problem becomes particularly acute during periods of domestic political tension. Addressing this challenge requires both broad public and coordinated international pressure on all actors who exploit this issue with impunity in order to deflect responsibility for their own mistakes and pursue narrow political objectives.

 

Democracy Watch is a joint initiative of CivilNet and the Regional Center for Democracy and Security.

 

This material has been funded by UK International Development from the UK government; however, the views expressed do not necessarily reflect the UK government’s official policies.